Spring Makes an Early Entrance in Historic Textiles Gallery

Charleston, SC - January 30, 2012 -

Spring comes early in the South Carolina Lowcountry, as do thoughts of gardens, garden parties and garden tours. The Charleston Museum celebrates the coming of the season with the first display in a year-long rotation in a portion of the Historic Textile Gallery. Seasonal Fashions: Springtime in Charleston, on exhibit February 19 - April 15, will include an array of white, embroidered and lacy fashions of the 1900s - 1920s, perfect for a lovely spring day. Huge hats and omnipresent parasols that completed the fashionable look will not be overlooked. Seasonal Fashions: Springtime in Charleston will be rounded out with examples of silk art embroidery, popular in the early 1900s, and beautiful silk batiks by Anna Heyward Taylor in the 1920s, reflecting the botanical themes enjoyed by artists and needleworkers of Charleston. For more information, please visit www.charlestonmuseum.org or call (843) 722-2996.

 

Photography

Each image within this press release represents a Charleston Museum collection piece and should not be reproduced without permission. We are happy to provide print-quality images and a wider variety upon request.

 

1. White cotton marquisette (mesh) dress, c. 1910-15, with fabulous embroidery, lace insertion and covered buttons made and labeled by dressmaker "Mrs. DeWitt / 5 West 31st Street, New York." It was worn by Mrs. Washington Augustus Roebling who was Cornelia Witsell Farrow (1866-1942) of Walterboro and Charleston. She married the Brooklyn Bridge engineer after his first wife died in 1903. Her first husband, Ashby Starke Farrow died in 1896.

 

2. Wide brimmed straw hat, c. 1910, worn by Mary Battey Nichols Wells (1889-1968) wife of jewelry store owner, Edward Descombe Wells, Sr. of Savannah, GA. This enormous hat is lined with black silk and trimmed with a huge red and while silk bow. We have a photograph of Mrs. Wells wearing this stunning hat.

 

3. Black and white silk parasol with wooden handle and ferule and ivory rib tips, c. 1924, owned by Gertrude Sanford Legendre (1902-2000). In 1924, the long, thin umbrellas and parasols of the previous decades were replaced by short stubby models. The new parasol had a thick handle, rib tips, and stub end (ferule) of wood, ebony, ivory, horn, Bakelite or celluloid. The shape and size of this parasol, along with the materials and its Art Deco-feeling design motifs place it clearly in 1920s fashion.

 

4. Silk batik hanging, 1920s, by Anna Heyward Taylor (1879-1956). Miss Taylor's beautiful batiks, including this one, were inspired by her travels to the jungles of British Guiana. She is especially known for her woodblock prints, which have similar expressionism and color. 

 

The Charleston Museum, founded in 1773, is America's first museum. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located along  Charleston's Museum Mile. Holding the most extensive collection of South Carolina cultural and scientific collections in the nation, it also owns two National Historic Landmark houses, the Heyward-Washington House (1772) and the Joseph Manigault House (1803), as well as the Dill Sanctuary, a 580-acre wildlife preserve. Museum hours are Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m. Museum admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children.

 

360 Meeting Street
Charleston, SC 29403
843-722-2996
www.charlestonmuseum.org