A Monumental 19th-century Achievement
Excerpt from the book 'Auguste Racinet's Le Costume historique'.
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In 1840-1854, he published Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters (Costume of the Christian Middle Ages) in Frankfurt - a French translation was published in Mannheim - and followed this with the ten volumes of his Trachten, Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften vom frühen Mittelalter bis Ende des achzehnten Jahrhunders mit gleichzeitgen Originalen (Costumes, Artworks and Implements from the Early Middle Ages to the Late 18th Century Based on Contemporary Originals). This appeared over the years 1879-1889, at the same time as Racinet's history, and a French translation followed soon thereafter (1880-1897).
Such historical endeavors acquired particular prominence at the World Exhibitions in the section entitled Retrospective Museum, whose conception was like that of the museums that grew up in so many towns during the 19th century. Having noted a certain poverty of invention in the decorative arts during the Great
Exhibition of 1851, a group of artists in 1858 founded the Société du progrès de l'Art industriel, which in 1864 became the Union centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'industrie. Fascinated by the example of the new South Kensington Museum, which had opened during the London World Exhibition of 1862, the Union centrale in 1865 presented a historical exhibition of art objects and furniture, divided into the categories ancient, medieval, renaissance, and "modern" (17th - 18th centuries), along with a large section of oriental art. The oriental arms of the Marquis of Hertford and the manuscripts of Ambroise Firmin-Didot were much admired, but textiles were barely represented and clothing not at all. The Union centrale subsequently elected to concentrate on a single theme, and the 1869 exhibition on oriental art was a considerable success. War, however, intervened, with its attendant turmoil, and it was not until 1874 that the Union centrale organized its fourth exhibition, which took the form of a museum of costume. This was in perfect accord with the spirit of the time. Clothing ancient and modern had been taken up by literature and the visual arts. From Gérôme to Tissot and Meissonnier to Roybet, painting was responding not merely to the essays of Baudelaire and the Goncourt brothers but to works contemporary with the exhibition, such as Mallarmé's La Dernière mode (The Last Cry, late 1874) and Charles Blanc's L'Art dans la parure et dans le vêtement (Art in Ornament and Clothing, 1875). The interest in costume was not confined to the artistic world. The wider public had flocked to see the display of Swedish costumes in the geographical section of the 1867 World Exhibition and the historical clothes from the Musée des Souverains presented in Paris and Versailles.
The Union centrale's 1874 exhibition enjoyed the patronage of conservators such as Du Sommerard and collectors like Dutuit and Baron Double, along with the Marquis de Chennevières and the distinguished painter Léon Gérôme, a member of the Institut and an advocate of a return to classical painting.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
In 1840-1854, he published Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters (Costume of the Christian Middle Ages) in Frankfurt - a French translation was published in Mannheim - and followed this with the ten volumes of his Trachten, Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften vom frühen Mittelalter bis Ende des achzehnten Jahrhunders mit gleichzeitgen Originalen (Costumes, Artworks and Implements from the Early Middle Ages to the Late 18th Century Based on Contemporary Originals). This appeared over the years 1879-1889, at the same time as Racinet's history, and a French translation followed soon thereafter (1880-1897).
Such historical endeavors acquired particular prominence at the World Exhibitions in the section entitled Retrospective Museum, whose conception was like that of the museums that grew up in so many towns during the 19th century. Having noted a certain poverty of invention in the decorative arts during the Great
Exhibition of 1851, a group of artists in 1858 founded the Société du progrès de l'Art industriel, which in 1864 became the Union centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'industrie. Fascinated by the example of the new South Kensington Museum, which had opened during the London World Exhibition of 1862, the Union centrale in 1865 presented a historical exhibition of art objects and furniture, divided into the categories ancient, medieval, renaissance, and "modern" (17th - 18th centuries), along with a large section of oriental art. The oriental arms of the Marquis of Hertford and the manuscripts of Ambroise Firmin-Didot were much admired, but textiles were barely represented and clothing not at all. The Union centrale subsequently elected to concentrate on a single theme, and the 1869 exhibition on oriental art was a considerable success. War, however, intervened, with its attendant turmoil, and it was not until 1874 that the Union centrale organized its fourth exhibition, which took the form of a museum of costume. This was in perfect accord with the spirit of the time. Clothing ancient and modern had been taken up by literature and the visual arts. From Gérôme to Tissot and Meissonnier to Roybet, painting was responding not merely to the essays of Baudelaire and the Goncourt brothers but to works contemporary with the exhibition, such as Mallarmé's La Dernière mode (The Last Cry, late 1874) and Charles Blanc's L'Art dans la parure et dans le vêtement (Art in Ornament and Clothing, 1875). The interest in costume was not confined to the artistic world. The wider public had flocked to see the display of Swedish costumes in the geographical section of the 1867 World Exhibition and the historical clothes from the Musée des Souverains presented in Paris and Versailles.
The Union centrale's 1874 exhibition enjoyed the patronage of conservators such as Du Sommerard and collectors like Dutuit and Baron Double, along with the Marquis de Chennevières and the distinguished painter Léon Gérôme, a member of the Institut and an advocate of a return to classical painting.
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Auguste Racinet, The Complete Costume History
Hardcover, 29 x 44 cm (11.4 x 17.3 in.), 636 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
"An indispensable work for all those who are interested in costumes." — The Sunday Times Culture, London
South Sea Islands: Blacks: Alfurus, Papus and Australians-Kanaks-Nuku-Hivians. Costume and toilette, arms and military ornaments