D really liked the shirt I made him and wore it all day. I think the sleeves were a half inch to inch too long, but he doesn't want me to shorten them at all. Indeed, the fact that this shirt had long sleeves is a big reason he liked it so much.
We also went down to Albany to the Museum of History and Art to see the Currier and Ives exhibit that ends today. We both enjoyed it more than we thought we would. The exhibit, while not large, had works representative of the entire period the business was active. Some of the lithographs were familiar to us, but a surprising number were not. I think that's because a few are very popular and we may have unconsciously thought that's all the firm printed or the only style or subject matter they printed.
For the first time I was able to see a "chromolithograph" side by side with a regular lithograph. The color intensity in the former is much greater than in the latter and I had thought it must have been far more costly to color and then print (lithographs were hand-painted by workers who generally painted only one color on an etching and then handed it on the next person who painted another color), but I was wrong*.
Another reason for the success of the show for us was the information given about each print. Much of that had to do with the original artist of the piece. One of the most successful artists working for Currier and Ives was a woman, and I really liked her work. Neither of us had ever read anything about the artists before so this was a change. Before today I think the subject matter was what we knew more about than anything else.
Two of the prints, "Before the Marriage" and "After the Marriage", gave me a smile. In the first, the young lady is looking doubtfully at a string of pearls that she might wear on her wedding day. Nothing too remarkable about that. In the second, it's a year later. In this one the same young woman is seated by a sleeping baby in a cradle. She is doing some needlework as she keeps watch over the child - very appropriately showing how she has changed. She no longer worries about jewels like pearls; now her jewel is in the cradle. At first I thought she was stitching some baby clothes that would emphasize that point, but much to my delight when looking closer at the print, I saw she was holding a shuttle. The lady was tatting a lace edging! Of course, it might have been lace for a baby's cap, but it still seemed a bit frivolous and charming. And it also showed her position in society; she didn't need to mend baby clothing.
I know it's too late for you to go see the exhibit, but you might want to keep an eye on what's showing at the museum. They do have interesting exhibits, and it's a great way to spend a rainy couple of hours.
* for a good explanation of chromolithography see the following very helpful blog (complete with examples):
What a wonderful way to spend Father's Day. Sounds like I missed something really good!
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