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In this issue:
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197th Annual Report Available Online
Current Exhibition- The Art of The Fan: Beyond The Victorian Lady
Exhibition Dates: February 1-March 15, 2013, Free Admission Special Events: Opening Reception. First Friday-February 1, 5:00-7:00PM. Free.
Right: The Busch Reading Room. Photo by Denise Fox. Lecture and Book Signing- Carl Rollyson, American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath
Thursday, February 28, 2013, 5:30PM Free for Athenaeum Members. RSVP to Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@PhilaAthenaeum.org. All others, $10. Online Payment.
Fan Book Workshop with Maria Pisano
Saturday, March 2, 2013, 10:00am-4:00pm Athenaeum Members $50, All others $75.
Hours: Monday-Friday: 9:00am-5:00pm First and Third Saturdays: 11:00am-3:00pm (excluding the summer months)
219 S. 6th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106
The building is accessible to persons with disabilities. Group tours and research visits are by appointment only.
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The
197th Annual Report of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia (for Fiscal Year
2011/2012) is now available on the Athenaeum website.
Writing
in 1711 for The Spectator, Joseph Addison commented that
"Women are armed with Fans as Men with Swords, and sometimes do more
Execution with them." Fans were an important and fashionable addition
to a lady's wardrobe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. That use of the
fan encouraged publications such as Godey's Lady's Book in the
19th century to illustrate fans in fashion plates and to publish accounts
where the woman sets up a "merry flutter" with her fan. This
exhibition will focus on a recently acquired fan collection with Athenaeum
books and periodicals expanding on the theme to understand the changing
art of the fan.
The
painters have arrived with their scaffolding to begin plaster repair and
painting in the Busch Room. Frank Welsh's new paint analysis reflects the
latest technology for paint examination and color choice. Although we
don't expect any major changes in color, the room will be refreshed with
the new coat of paint.
Marking
the 50th anniversary of her death and with access to the recently-opened
archive from her husband Ted Hughes, this new interpretation of the life
and poetry of Sylvia Plath comes at an opportune time. Plath’s
contributions in both poetry and fiction to American literature is
well-documented, but her work and her suicide have often combined to
present an impression of Plath that Rollyson disputes. Carl Rollyson is
professor of journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York
and the author of twelve biographies including Marilyn Monroe: A Life
of the Actress and, with his wife, Lisa Paddock, Susan Sontag:
The Making of an Icon. He reviews biographies regularly for The
Wall Street Journal, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The
Washington Post, The New Criterion, and other papers.
Reception and book signing to follow.
Fans
have been used to celebrate and commemorate special occasions, as daily
objects, to tease, attract, hide, etc. The Athenaeum is exhibiting their
collection of 19th and 20th century fans, which were an essential part of
a woman’s wardrobe. The Godey’s Lady’s Book showcases the fashion of
the time alongside instructions on how to make one’s own fan. Inspired
by these fashions, come and create an original fan book using flowers as a
theme. A variety of materials and techniques will be used to facilitate
the design of your pages alongside a poem(s) that you provide - at the
end, all your pages will be hand bound into a unique work.
Location: