Death Becomes Her

[L Verge]

There is a great new exhibit in the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that explores the subject of mourning attire from the 1830s through 1915. "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire" will be on display through February 1.

Harold Holzer just told me that they had 4,000 visitors to the exhibit just last Saturday! I had hoped there was an exhibition booklet to accompany it, but unfortunately there is none. Today's issue (Friday, November 14) of The Washington Post does have a nice article on the history, however. See their Style section C, pg 1 and continued on pg. 8.

[Dave Taylor]

Laurie,

I had read this article about in on CNN and it definitely sounded interesting.

KateH and I are hoping to view this exhibit in the near future (possibly around Thanksgiving). If we do, I'll be sure to post pictures here.

[BettyO]

This looks like a fabulous exhibit on an important social custom in the Victorian era. I only wish that there was a catalog or exhibit book - what a shame! Someone really missed the boat there....

Please do let us know if you see the exhibit and post photos, Dave!

Thanks -

[KateH.]

I would have thought creating a special exhibit book would have been a no-brainer considering all the other art related books I have seen while wandering around the MET. But alas, that idea was never realized.

[Gene C]

Some photos from the museum's web site

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/lis...lery-views

http://finance.yahoo.com/photos/one-hund...slideshow/

[Jim Garrett]

The Museum of the Confederacy had an exhibit many years ago on mourning. Their is also an excellent PBS documentary "Death in the Civil War". It points out, among other things, the incredible effort by the government to go back to the battlefields after the war and recover remains of Union soldiers, try to identify them, and rebury them in the new National Cemetery system. The Federal government did nothing for the Confederate soldiers killed in action. This created a further divide and was an impediment to reunification of the country. Private associations, most women, put forth a remarkable effort to do the same in the South with no public funding. I highly recommend the video, available on Netflix.

[Gene C]

The PBS documentary was based a lot on the book "This Republic of Suffering"
I second Jim's recommendation of the video.

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...+suffering

[KateH.]

Dave Taylor and I saw the exhibit yesterday and, as promised, we took pictures of all the dresses in the collection. The dress made from both black and gray material was the one we found most interesting. It was the wedding dress of Amelia Carley (who married in 1868). The half mourning color honored those who died during the Civil War. The accompanying text read, "A subdued palette of gray and black may have felt more respectful than a showier bridal gown while so many families still grieved."

                   

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[Gene C]

Great pictures, thank you for sharing. More elaborate than I would have expected.
The first two pictures on the bottom row, seem to me like they might have raised an eyebrow or two for mourning apparel back in their day.