Metrovisual

Um.  So this weekend I didn’t have tons of time to sew or fit patterns (and oh man do my patterns need drastic fitting efforts).  I mean, I had to go to a hockey game and then I had to do some housework and then… uh… I had to watch some TV.  You know.  Important things.

Which is all to explain why I’m posting yet another of my (apparently) on-going series of Image Collection links.  Hey, at least I’m posting the ones that have fashion and/or textile collections.  So it’s, uh, moderately relevant.   Really.

This week’s Project Runway reminded me of something that I wanted to add back to the list.  So here’s a goliath of a resource: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Database.  Wowzer.  With just under 150,000 works cataloged online, there is plenty to look at.  And since most of us can’t make a quick run uptown to take a look whenever our fancy takes us, this gives us the next best thing (and to be honest, I find actually being at the Met a little overwhelming and I never seem to find my way to what I went to see in the first place—curse you ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and your mysterious power to ensnare us).  Plus, not everything is on view in the real world.  In the magical world of the Interweb you can see everything!

 

Dior Shoes, 1958

Worth Afternoon Dress, c. 1874

Zandra Rhodes Dress, 1969

 

There is some disadvantage to not seeing things in person.  I want to see the back of that Worth dress.  What kind of interesting bustle must it have?

Inclement Weather Day

I didn’t get one.  Awww, man!  What a gyp.

(What the heck does “gyp” mean, anyway??? I always wondered that when I was a kid.  Where does that word come from?  Seriously.  If you know the etymology of the word “gyp” I’d very much like to know.  I don’t think people say that anymore, so old people: step up and let your voices be heard.  Gyp?)

Anyway, schools are all 2 hours delayed but of course I’m a grown up (unlike my husband and my children) and I have to go to work.  On time.  Hmmph.

So you might not know this, but I’m something of a visual kleptomaniac.  I have been since I was a teeny tiny tot of less than two years.  I collect images.  Oh my dear lord, do I love images.  When I was painting every day (back, far back, in the hazy mists of time) I did mostly collage.  Most people thought it was because I like collage (well actually I do, I’ve been doing that since I was two years old also).  However, the real secret reason was, in fact, to facilitate my image hoarding. 

With the advent of the Interweb, my image collecting has changed somewhat.  Instead of perusing magazines and books and library collections, now I spend a lot of my online time searching for good image collections.  I used to have 110 (seriously, that’s one hundred and ten) links to online image databases.  Then my computer crashed and took the backup with it and I lost them all.  Oh, the humanity.

So I’m slowly piecing in new links.  Here’s the one I rediscovered today.  VADS (the Visual Arts Data Service) from University College for the Creative Arts in England.  These image collections are copyright free in the UK.  Awesomeness.

So here’s a little preview from a few of the many many collections.

turkish velvet, 17th C.

one of many many many pattern envelopes

William de Morgan ceramic tile,  c. 1888

Oooooo.  Pretty.  Again.

And now I have to slog my way to work.  Have a good snow day, all you Okie readers.

(edit at 8:48 a.m. to say:   Oh, sure.  Now the schools are closed for the whole day.  This is totally ridiculous as it is currently RAINING.  Oooo, water fall from sky.  Gods angry.  Must close schools.  But not place where people work.  People work, make gods happy.   Double-hmmph.)

Assemblage

And now for something random.  Again.

Did you know that the New York Public Library Picture Collection is available online?  I did not!  I don't know why I never thought to look for it until this week, but I didn't.

The NYPL Picture Collection (located in lovely Midtown Manhattan, parking not available) used to be one of my go-to places to hide out for an hour or two when I was sort of bored or needed something to jump-start a new idea for a painting.  I mean, how can you not love a place where you walk in, say to the lady behind the counter "I'd like to see... um... frogs!" and she magically brings you a file folder full of, well, frogs?  Frog pictures, that is.  Awesomeness. 

That was a long time ago.  Now through the wonders of modern science, you can tell the magic library lady inside your computer to bring you pictures of frogs.  And she does!  Neato.

So here's an image that I found when I told the magic library lady in my computer to bring me "fashion".

 Poiret Winter Coat illustration, 1913

Ooooo.  Pretty.  I want to dress like the Parisienne bohéme.  Don’t you?