December 13: GUEST SPEAKER:
ELENA PHIPPS

Elena Phipps

Elena Phipps

Meeting Information
Date
Wed., December 13, 2017 at 7 pm

Admission
Free for TSGNY’s Full, Donor, and Under35 Members. $15.00 for Newsletter Subscribers and Guests. Admission fees support TSGNY’s Nancy and Harry Koenigsberg Award.

Meeting Location
Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist 40 E. 35th St. (between Park & Madison Avenues), New York, NY. (Entrance at street level on the far right of the church itself; doorway marked #40.)

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

January
TBA

February
TBA

March
Jo Stealey

April
TBA

May
Michael James

Dried cochineal insects. Photo: E. Phipps

Dried cochineal insects. Photo: E. Phipps

Detail, Recuay Tapestry Fragment, Peru, 4th-6th c. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.35.88.

Detail, Recuay Tapestry Fragment, Peru, 4th-6th c. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.35.88.

Evening Jacket, 1950s, Venice. House of Fortuny. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.186b.

Evening Jacket, 1950s, Venice. House of Fortuny. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.186b.

Dr. Elena Phipps, Scholar, Curator, Author

Dr. Elena Phipps, an independent scholar currently teaching in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Fowler Museum, will speak on “Cochineal Red: the global art history of a color,” the title of her book published in 2010. Formerly with the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Senior Museum Conservator in the Textile Conservation Department, she was President of the Textile Society of America (2011-2014).

 “Red—associated with blood, fire, fertility, and life force—was extremely difficult to achieve and always highly prized,” Dr. Phipps states. Based on historical and scientific research, her talk will cover the origin of the insect red colorant cochineal and its early use in Precolumbian ritual and textiles; it will trace the spread of the American dyestuff through global cultural interchange following the Spanish arrival in the New World. Examples shown will include Precolumbian textiles, European tapestries, Chinese hangings, and paintings by Rembrandt and VanGogh.

Dr. Phipps was a curatorial consultant for the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, for its 2015 exhibition, The Red that Colored the World, inspired in part by her book.  At the Met, Dr. Phipps curated several important textile exhibitions including The Interwoven Globe: worldwide textile trade 1500-1800 (2013) and  The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork  1430-1830  (awarded both the Alfred Barr Jr. Award for best exhibition catalogue 2004-2005 from the College Art Association, and the Mitchell Prize, 2006).


The 6pm Pre-Meeting Program: Holiday Cheer!

Please bring some (finger-smacking!) good cookies or sweets and TSGNY will provide soda and wine! 

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If you have an idea or suggestion for an upcoming 6:00pm Pre-Meeting Program, contact Joan Diamond to discuss your presentation and available dates.  
joan.mann.diamond@gmail.com