George's Odhni | Cora Ginsburg

The lessons I've learned from my godfather George continue, even two years after his death. This lovely textile of his recently sold at Cora Ginsburg—the notable New York City dealer of antique textiles + historic clothing. My godfather highly regarded the shop and [now] owner Titi Halle, lugging many pieces he collected over the years to Titi for her expert knowledge of textiles from all over the globe. This particular piece is an Odhni, a woman's veil-cloth or head covering. The intricately embroidered silk from India [Banni, Kutch region, Gujarat, circa 1900] was made perhaps, as part of a dowry. At the center of the design is a large diamond-shaped medallion of mitered stripes of branching triangles, worked in running stitch. Each corner is finished in a geometric embroidery studded with shimmering mirrors, and the entire textile is covered in minute, embroidered eyelets. The embroiderer limited the scheme to just four colors of silk thread: garnet red, dull gold, cream, and black. According to Halle, a similar example is in the Victoria & Albert Museum collection. A serious art collector, my godfather volunteered at the Metropolitan Museum in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Library from 1992 until months before his death at age 88, in 2009. He was a life-long scholar of the arts and luckily for me... a teacher, too.

FASHION | SUPER MODELS AS MUSE

A stunning Peter Lindbergh photo of Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford in tops by Giorgio di Sant’Angelo," published in British Vogue, January 1990.
photo via artnetdotcom


The Metropolitan Museum
The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion
May 6, 2009–August 9, 2009
The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor


The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

A TRIBUTE TO EXTRAORDINARY GEORGE

In the last weeks of my godfather George's life he told me he loved the actress Louise Brooks. He told me to learn about Maggie Lane's needlepoint kimonos and Anne Ryan collages. We talked about Cora Ginsburg and antique textiles, William Spratling and Alexander Calder jewelry, 17th & 18th century European paintings, Moghul drawings, Iranian jewelry, and Japanese prints. I read him articles from the New York Times. He asked me to tell him about my dog and he closed his eyes and smiled as he listened. I held Freesia up to his nose so he could smell its peppery sweetness. We held hands. We talked about blogs and blogging. We talked about how The Met glows in the evening. He gave me instructions for thank you notes. I got to know his nurses and aids. We looked through postcards of paintings and he thought the Dutch pastoral scene with the cows was "a bore." He was a consummate New Yorker but had also lived in Rome and Paris. When I attended art school in London he gave me a list of his friends to visit in Europe with priceless descriptions of each one. He began his career in the antiques department at Lord & Taylor, then as a silver buyer for Tiffany & Co. Later, he started the original museum gift shop at The Brooklyn Museum and then The Crafts of all Nations shops at The United Nations. He volunteered in the European Design & Decoration Library at The Met for eighteen years, with a few of them spent in the Costume department. He was a serious art collector. When I told him on Monday that I would be back at the end of the week he said "you better call first" with a smile. He died on Wednesday, March 11th after a spin around the hospice halls in a wheeling recliner. He was 88. I was lucky.