Saturday, December 16, 2017

Idealized Domestic Spaces in 19th-century Europe

Rudolf von Alt
Library in the Apartment of Count Lanckoronski in Vienna
1881
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

the library of t-shirts

in order to upgrade the community's appreciation of poetry during the international year of cultural enrichment stage 2, members of the state's library progress committee decided to establish a small library of t-shirts on which would be printed quality verse in bold colours and lettering. the poems would be selected on the basis of one of three qualities: is the poem poignant, perspicacious, or pithy.

given the respectably researched fact that the wearing of words on t-shirts expresses a deep psychic desire for an intimate union of word and flesh, (and bear in mind the way "logo" nudges towards "logos") it is not surprising that this library of t-shirts has been a great success. no one seems to mind borrowing pre-worn clothing. of course the library's washing and ironing staff maintain the t-shirts in excellent condition. even after ten borrowings the shirts look brand new. and considering the phenomenal success of andrew lloyd webber's "cats" it is no shock revelation that t.s. eliot's "hollow men" has proved to be the library's most popular t-shirt so far. in fact there are now eight copies of this shirt on loan, most in metallic or fluoro colours.

a couple of the more entrepreneurial of the library's progress committee members are leading the push for diversification of the library's poetry program, into neck to knee anti-uv swimwear, with maybe slessor, shelly and stevie smith prints for starters; and into underpants, with their multiple attractions.

while the committee feels both these garments could increase poetry's appeal, they are worried about the practicability of adding these garments to the t-shirt poetry collection. would many members want to borrow pre-worn underpants, however compelling the poems' cadences and metaphors; while the wear and tear on the swimming costume fabric via chlorine and salt water would perhaps be too great. however they are interested in marketing and selling these articles from a stall in the library's foyer. the only committee member unenthusiastic regarding this proposal is an optometrist who has raised the issue of eye damage if the typeface of the lines of verse on the underpants were too small. a solution in the form of large print haikus is being considered.

 Joanne Burns from penelope's knees (University of Queensland Press, 1996)

George Pyne
George James Drummond's Room at Oxford
1853
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Wilhelm Amadeus Beer
Sitting Room with Writing Table
1867
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Friedrich Wilhelm Klose
Room in Schloss Buchwald
ca. 1840-45
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Friedrich Wilhelm Klose
Red Room in Schloss Fischbach
ca. 1846
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Friedrich Wilhelm Klose
Blue Room in Schloss Fischbach
1846
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Eduard Petrovich Hau
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's Sitting Room, Cottage Palace, Saint Petersburg
ca. 1835
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous Austrian artist
Bedroom
ca. 1853
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Elizabeth Pochhammer
Apartments of Queen Elizabeth of Prussia, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
1864
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Caspar Obach
Salon, Stuttgart
ca. 1850-60
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Ferdinand le Feubure
Bedroom of King Pedro IV of Portugal, Palace of Queluz
1850
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Franz Xaver Nachtmann
Dressing Room of King Ludwig I, Munich Residence Palace
1836
gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

M. Sekim
Room in the Governor's Residence at Hermannstadt
ca. 1840
watercolor, gouache
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Countess Schoenberg
Salon Siebleben near Gotha
1856
watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum