Caitlin
Well-known member
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This looks like a fabulous show. I will google it after I post this and see if I can get an Itinerary.
There are some pictures of the pearls of the rich and famous mentioned in the article -and whose pearls contributed to the show- on the link.
http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/mar05/306310.asp
Strands of beauty
A priceless new museum exhibit glitters with the glamour of thousands of gems
By JACKIE LOOHAUIS
jloohauis@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 3, 2005
Audrey Hepburn adored them.
Marilyn Monroe loved them.
Mollusks hate them.
Pearls, radiant and rare, have reigned as eye-popping gems since the first time some prehistoric gourmand crunched down on one while slurping an oyster. Now these bivalve byproducts get their own show in a special exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum opening Saturday and running through June 26.
"Pearls: A Natural History," a traveling show sponsored by M&I Bank, would be enough to make a Rockefeller's jaw drop. More than 500,000 pearls are set in nearly 500 pieces of jewelry and art collected from all over the world. The exhibit is literally priceless. (But don't get any ideas - the show is guarded by the most sophisticated security system ever set up in the museum.)
Why do these bits of seashell so entrance us?
"A pearl has a rainbow quality when you see it, like light striking a crystal. It gives the effect of a soap bubble," said exhibit curator Joan Jass.
Elegance. Purity. Perfection. We associate pearls with all these qualities. And the exhibit spotlights another: When we think of pearls, we think of "celebrity."
This exhibit is as much about star power as it is about pearl power. Celeb-owned jewelry and the back stories that go with them glitter at the heart of "Pearls."
Among them:
The Marilyn Monroe Necklace. This is the strand that baseball slugger Joe DiMaggio gave the star on their 1954 honeymoon in Japan. There's no Hollywood glitz here, just an understated strand of cultured Akoya pearls. Part of their draw, however, is that the pearls are displayed in their original oval box, a box doubtless still containing the fingerprints of MM and Joltin' Joe.
The Audrey Hepburn Necklace. This is the prototype for the imitation pearl necklace Hepburn wore in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." This version is larger than the one Hepburn/Holly Golightly dons, with six strands of pearls alternating colors of pink, gray and white. Marquise-shaped rhinestones drip magnificently off the pearls, perfectly set to emphasize Hepburn's legendary swan neck as she gazes in the Tiffany's window.
"Hepburn did so much to popularize wearing pearls,"said exhibiting curator Martha Chaiklin.
The Chanel Cuff. Think "high class" and you think fashion maven Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The exhibit includes a bracelet made of 105 cultured Akoya pearls bound with diamonds and gold, designed by the House of Chanel - just the thing to wear to the Ritz. And, as no one could wear pearls like Coco, the exhibit includes an iconic photo of Coco and her strands.
Barbara Bush. Wife and mother to presidents, "Bar" set her own style with those pearls of hers. A strand of the famous baubles is on display here with a letter from Barbara herself explaining her fondness for the jewelry. In it, she admits she wears pearls constantly, except "when I golf, take a shower or go to sleep."
The letter also reveals a secret. "My pearls are not real. But they are very nice fakes."
Lillian Russell's Chrysanthemum Brooch. A celebrated singer, actress and beauty who reigned on stage in the late 19th century, Russell emerged as the essence of Art Nouveau style; her tastes are reflected in this brooch. One of the most famous pieces in the exhibit, its dog-tooth pearls shimmer with an inner light of their own.
And there is a local angle to the brooch. Those gems are Mississippi freshwater pearls, the type that might have been found right here in Wisconsin.
Queen Victoria's Brooch. The queen loved pearls because "they were one of the few gems you could wear with mourning dress," said Chaiklin. As Victoria spent more than 40 years dressed in mourning after the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert, pearls came in handy for royal accessorizing.
That background gives this brooch a special poignancy. The piece was designed by Albert himself, who gave it to the queen as an anniversary gift in 1843.
The exhibit also explains how the rich and famous gained acceptance for pearls as gemstones.
An 1861 picture of Mary Todd Lincoln tells how Abe's famously spendthrift wife pushed pearls forward.
"Most Americans didn't have elaborate jewelry until this time. Mary Todd Lincoln wore all these pearls and jewels to make up for what some called her lack of natural charm," Chaiklin said.
A mollusk 'kidney stone'
But the story of pearls isn't all Hollywood and royalty. The exhibit mixes science in with showbiz.
Pearls are, after all, the result of a living thing, a mollusk, taking action against an irritation.
"The pearl is essentially a kidney stone," said Jass, using a decidedly un-glam description.
But contrary to popular belief, pearls rarely are caused by a grain of sand bugging an oyster. As the exhibit explains, most often the irritant is a food particle or a small creature that becomes trapped in the mollusk (there's a fascinating shrimp-turned-into-a-pearl). The animal coats over this pain-in-the-glob with the same material used to build its shell. After enough coats, a pearl is born. The process may take years.
So what does the mollusk get for all its troubles? An oyster obituary. In natural pearl harvesting, the animal dies when humans go after the baubles; in cultured pearl farming, the mollusk only survives a small number of harvests.
"Pearls" also reveals some of the secrets of the cultured pearl industry itself, from the beads used to stimulate the mollusks into generating a pearl to the art of grafting that bead without causing the animal to bleed to death.
But mollusks tend to have the last laugh. Only 5% of the impregnated shells will produce gem-quality pearls.
Still, humans will continue to go to almost any length to get these riches from the sea, as the exhibit illustrates.
A giant clam nearly 3 feet wide, featuring a model of the largest pearl ever discovered, is on display. Legend has it that a diver reached into the real-life clam to seize the pearl, and the clam clamped down on his arm, nearly drowning him.
If that had happened, this likely would have been the most expensive pearl of all.
From the March 4, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Get the Journal Sentinel delivered to your home. Subscribe now.
There are some pictures of the pearls of the rich and famous mentioned in the article -and whose pearls contributed to the show- on the link.
http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/mar05/306310.asp
Strands of beauty
A priceless new museum exhibit glitters with the glamour of thousands of gems
By JACKIE LOOHAUIS
jloohauis@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 3, 2005
Audrey Hepburn adored them.
Marilyn Monroe loved them.
Mollusks hate them.
Pearls, radiant and rare, have reigned as eye-popping gems since the first time some prehistoric gourmand crunched down on one while slurping an oyster. Now these bivalve byproducts get their own show in a special exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum opening Saturday and running through June 26.
"Pearls: A Natural History," a traveling show sponsored by M&I Bank, would be enough to make a Rockefeller's jaw drop. More than 500,000 pearls are set in nearly 500 pieces of jewelry and art collected from all over the world. The exhibit is literally priceless. (But don't get any ideas - the show is guarded by the most sophisticated security system ever set up in the museum.)
Why do these bits of seashell so entrance us?
"A pearl has a rainbow quality when you see it, like light striking a crystal. It gives the effect of a soap bubble," said exhibit curator Joan Jass.
Elegance. Purity. Perfection. We associate pearls with all these qualities. And the exhibit spotlights another: When we think of pearls, we think of "celebrity."
This exhibit is as much about star power as it is about pearl power. Celeb-owned jewelry and the back stories that go with them glitter at the heart of "Pearls."
Among them:
The Marilyn Monroe Necklace. This is the strand that baseball slugger Joe DiMaggio gave the star on their 1954 honeymoon in Japan. There's no Hollywood glitz here, just an understated strand of cultured Akoya pearls. Part of their draw, however, is that the pearls are displayed in their original oval box, a box doubtless still containing the fingerprints of MM and Joltin' Joe.
The Audrey Hepburn Necklace. This is the prototype for the imitation pearl necklace Hepburn wore in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." This version is larger than the one Hepburn/Holly Golightly dons, with six strands of pearls alternating colors of pink, gray and white. Marquise-shaped rhinestones drip magnificently off the pearls, perfectly set to emphasize Hepburn's legendary swan neck as she gazes in the Tiffany's window.
"Hepburn did so much to popularize wearing pearls,"said exhibiting curator Martha Chaiklin.
The Chanel Cuff. Think "high class" and you think fashion maven Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The exhibit includes a bracelet made of 105 cultured Akoya pearls bound with diamonds and gold, designed by the House of Chanel - just the thing to wear to the Ritz. And, as no one could wear pearls like Coco, the exhibit includes an iconic photo of Coco and her strands.
Barbara Bush. Wife and mother to presidents, "Bar" set her own style with those pearls of hers. A strand of the famous baubles is on display here with a letter from Barbara herself explaining her fondness for the jewelry. In it, she admits she wears pearls constantly, except "when I golf, take a shower or go to sleep."
The letter also reveals a secret. "My pearls are not real. But they are very nice fakes."
Lillian Russell's Chrysanthemum Brooch. A celebrated singer, actress and beauty who reigned on stage in the late 19th century, Russell emerged as the essence of Art Nouveau style; her tastes are reflected in this brooch. One of the most famous pieces in the exhibit, its dog-tooth pearls shimmer with an inner light of their own.
And there is a local angle to the brooch. Those gems are Mississippi freshwater pearls, the type that might have been found right here in Wisconsin.
Queen Victoria's Brooch. The queen loved pearls because "they were one of the few gems you could wear with mourning dress," said Chaiklin. As Victoria spent more than 40 years dressed in mourning after the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert, pearls came in handy for royal accessorizing.
That background gives this brooch a special poignancy. The piece was designed by Albert himself, who gave it to the queen as an anniversary gift in 1843.
The exhibit also explains how the rich and famous gained acceptance for pearls as gemstones.
An 1861 picture of Mary Todd Lincoln tells how Abe's famously spendthrift wife pushed pearls forward.
"Most Americans didn't have elaborate jewelry until this time. Mary Todd Lincoln wore all these pearls and jewels to make up for what some called her lack of natural charm," Chaiklin said.
A mollusk 'kidney stone'
But the story of pearls isn't all Hollywood and royalty. The exhibit mixes science in with showbiz.
Pearls are, after all, the result of a living thing, a mollusk, taking action against an irritation.
"The pearl is essentially a kidney stone," said Jass, using a decidedly un-glam description.
But contrary to popular belief, pearls rarely are caused by a grain of sand bugging an oyster. As the exhibit explains, most often the irritant is a food particle or a small creature that becomes trapped in the mollusk (there's a fascinating shrimp-turned-into-a-pearl). The animal coats over this pain-in-the-glob with the same material used to build its shell. After enough coats, a pearl is born. The process may take years.
So what does the mollusk get for all its troubles? An oyster obituary. In natural pearl harvesting, the animal dies when humans go after the baubles; in cultured pearl farming, the mollusk only survives a small number of harvests.
"Pearls" also reveals some of the secrets of the cultured pearl industry itself, from the beads used to stimulate the mollusks into generating a pearl to the art of grafting that bead without causing the animal to bleed to death.
But mollusks tend to have the last laugh. Only 5% of the impregnated shells will produce gem-quality pearls.
Still, humans will continue to go to almost any length to get these riches from the sea, as the exhibit illustrates.
A giant clam nearly 3 feet wide, featuring a model of the largest pearl ever discovered, is on display. Legend has it that a diver reached into the real-life clam to seize the pearl, and the clam clamped down on his arm, nearly drowning him.
If that had happened, this likely would have been the most expensive pearl of all.
From the March 4, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Get the Journal Sentinel delivered to your home. Subscribe now.
