Makeup Museum (MM) Musings is a series that examines a broad range of museum topics as they relate to the collecting of cosmetics, along with my vision for a "real", physical Makeup Museum. These posts help me think through how I'd run things if the Museum was an actual organization, as well as examine the ways it's currently functioning. I also hope that these posts make everyone see that the idea of a museum devoted to cosmetics isn't so crazy after all – it can be done!
Since my last MM Musings post on what a permanent collection display might look like in an actual beauty museum, I've been thinking about ideas for special exhibitions. But I kept getting overwhelmed with the details of a specific exhibition's themes. After a while I realized my usual musings style wasn't going to work for a post on special exhibitions, so I changed tactics to bring you something much more interesting and enlightening than my usual reflections: an interview with Ashley Boycher, Associate Exhibition Designer at the Walters Art Museum here in Baltimore. Yes, I got to chat (email) with a real-life exhibition designer at one of the top museums in the country! Enjoy.
MM: What is the basic process of exhibition design? Does the curator tell you which pieces they want and you go from there? Who else do you work with besides the curator?
AB: Although sometimes exhibition ideas come from the public, certain museum trends, conservators, and/or museum educators, the seed of an exhibition is almost always planted by the curator, and the curator is academically responsible for the exhibition throughout the process. Once the seed is planted, the curator writes an exhibition narrative and begins to make a list of objects that s/he believes will best illustrate that narrative. Then there are lost of talks with conservators about which of the objects are in good enough shape and/or can be made into good enough shape for the exhibition given the timeframe. Also, when applicable, there are talks with registrars, who are responsible for the handling and logistics of moving and storing objects, and other institutions' representatives about the feasibility of bringing objects to our institution for the exhibition from other places. This happens with almost all large scale exhibitions and the negotiations with the other institutions often includes logistics about traveling the exhibitions to those institutions as well. In fact, grant funding is often dependent on the ability to collaborate with other institutions and travel the show domestically and/or internationally. Once many of these things are worked out, the curator and I begin conversations. This is usually about 18 months out from the exhibition opening. We do some preliminary ideation about object groupings and the look and feel of the show. During that time, the curator is also talking in a preliminary way with a museum educator about different didactic and interactive elements that might enhance the exhibition experience. At about a year out, the three of us come together and begin to really hash out the meat of the show. We also bring in representatives from the other museum divisions: IT, marketing, development, security, etc, when we need to collaborate on things like how we will advertise the show and what technology, if any, will benefit the exhibition message, both outwardly and inside the exhibition itself. All of the details come together in about 8 months, and for the last 4 months of the development process we are in production mode – labels being edited, graphics being printed, cases being built, walls being painted, etc – along with any straggler details that we miss beforehand, which always happens.
MM: Do you do some kind of prototype before the exhibition opens?
AB: It depends. Sometimes we're not exactly sure how a paint color will look in the space, so we'll slap it up on the wall and look at it for a few days and adjust where necessary. That is, if we have time. Often art is coming out of a space only a week before other art is supposed to go in, which means we don't always have the opportunity to do this. Other prototyping sometimes happens when we are trying out a weird or new display type. And we almost always prototype interactives, both low tech and high tech.
MM: Do you have experience with designing decorative object-based exhibitions and if so, how does it differ from designing exhibitions for other types of art?
AB: I've never designed a show that was purely dec arts objects, but they have been a part of shows i've designed. The new installation that opens here in October has lots of dec arts in it. I would say that in my experience one of the main differences is that many dec arts objects are heartier than other art, in better shape, and often made of less than precious materials, which means that conservation does not always make us put them under a vitrine. In this way they can help to create the look and feel of a space rather than just being purely on display. I suppose that was their original function anyway. 🙂
MM: What are some of the latest, cutting-edge developments in exhibition design?
AB: Well, unfortunately the latest cutting-edge development design aren't really happening at many art museums. Science museums and natural history museums are the ones that are usually on the cutting edge when it comes to design and technology. This summer I visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and one of their exhibitions had this amazing custom theatre system. It was made using custom craft carpentry, crazy projectors, and bit mapping. You can see a cool video about the making of it.
MM: What was your favorite exhibition you designed and why?
AB: That's a really hard question! The reason I got into exhibition design was because I was interested in too many different things to pick one thing to continue studying (I'm also just not that much of an academic eve though I really loved school). Working on exhibitions awards me the opportunity to learn about another fascinating different thing with each new project. So I guess my favorite is always whatever the latest project is. I suppose I have shiny thing syndrome.
MM: If money wasn't a factor, what would your “dream” exhibition be?
AB: When I was in graduate school, one of my big solo projects was an exhibition about the art, science, and history of tattooing throughout time and across the globe. I am fascinated by tattoos because they have so many different facets: cultural heritage, technology, biology, taboo, straight up beautiful artistry, the list goes on and on. I think a well planned and designed exhibition about tattooing could be interesting to just about everyone for one or more of these reasons. I'd love to be on a project like that.
MM: Do you have any ideas or suggestions regarding exhibitions that would have lots of small objects, i.e. makeup? I promise I'm not asking you to work for free – I'm just looking for any sort of general advice or tips off the top of your head!
AB: The hard thing about showing a bunch of small things is that the displays always want to look like retail rather than museum quality. My biggest advice would be to make sure you single out your best pieces. Put them on their own pedestals, maybe give them a bigger brighter pop of color, or a few more inches in height. Just make sure they actually stand out in a way that tells your visitor, "hey, you want to make sure you look at me and only me for a sec." If you want to do a display of a bunch of things together for impact or to get a certain point across, especially if it's several examples of one type of thing, make sure you save your 2nd and 3rd tier objects for those displays.
Thank you so much, Ashley, both for the peek into the life of an exhibition designer and for the invaluable advice!! (And I think we both have "shiny thing syndrome" – more literally for me).
Today I invite you check out what goes on behind the scenes of the Makeup Museum's exhibition installation (see part 1 for the more general blogging aspects.) I provided a brief glimpse into exhibition setup with Sweet Tooth, but that was for a one-of-a-kind show. This post will cover the process of setting up the basic seasonal exhibitions using the summer 2014 exhibition as an example.
In terms of "curation" I generally start thinking about the seasonal exhibitions months in advance. I don't just go pulling objects out of museum storage willy-nilly the day I install and photograph the exhibition – it's planned over months. I draft a blog post and list newly released items I want to include. Based on those, I work in items from previous years, and if it seems like I need to add more (I need to have enough for 16 shelves, after all), I start poking around for vintage items that would make good additions. I usually have no idea what objects will go on which shelves, but I always know the items and any additional materials (ads, pictures, etc.) that need to get installed prior to the actual installation. I also have to get the label text ready in advance, which is trickier than it sounds since most of the time when I write a post about an object I don't use the formal name of the product, so I have to go hunting it down. And sometimes for older items for which I can't remember the release date I have to look that up too. I put everything in a Word document and the husband lays out the labels in InDesign with the Museum's logo – how sweet is that?
Now let's look at how I physically install the seasonal exhibitions. First things first: I need to remove the items from the previous exhibition that are still on the shelves, and for that I employ some good old white cotton gloves for handling the objects. This way they don't get all fingerprint-y. Down with spring 2014, up with summer!
I arrange the objects into various piles either on the shelves or on the floor according to where they're stored. For example, all brands from A through G get stored in the top drawer in the master closet so I group them together.
All other brands except for Paul & Joe and Stila go in the hall closet, so here's that pile.
Then I take the labels off the shelves. As you can see, years of using double-sided tape to secure the labels have left a ton of residue which I can't seem to remove. (Any suggestions that won't take off the finish?)
Then I start gathering the objects I plan to use in the upcoming exhibition.
I print out any collateral materials and the labels in color.
Any pictures that are included in the exhibition are printed out on regular paper and then spray mounted to a sturdier cardstock.
And this is where the husband comes in (again). He's amazingly crafty – I'm not sure whether it's because he's a designer and has a lot of experience or because he's just naturally skilled, but he's very good at assembling the collateral materials. Here's the spray booth (and our little labbits!) located beneath the cork board in the office:
He sprays the picture backs with glue and then affixes them to the cardstock. When I try to do this it's always crooked or lumpy, and it takes me forever. He can do it perfectly in a matter of seconds.
Going over it with the roller gets it nice and smooth.
He then cuts out the pictures very straight with an Exacto knife. Again, when I tried to do this myself it was a disaster. Not only did I cut everything crooked despite using the ruler, I nearly chopped off a finger or two.
The labels don't get spray mounted since they will be attached to the shelves, so they just get cut out.
Et voilĂ !
So once I have everything – items, labels and pictures – I start putting stuff on the shelves. Some of them I know will have to be on the highest shelves due to the height of the pictures or ads. There was no way I could cram that Max Factor ad on a lower shelf!
This is the hard part. I generally spend about a half hour to 45 minutes rearranging the objects so that the format is both visually appealing and not repetitive in shape, theme or brand. For this exhibition, I wouldn't want the Armani and Dior next to each other (too much couture), and I wouldn't want the DuWop shell compacts and the Benefit shell compacts next to each other because they're too similar. And I didn't want mermaids sitting next to each other, and I don't like two items from the same brand next to each other. I make an exception for Shu cleansing oils, however – I don't mind having two on one shelf and two on the shelf next to it if they're from the same collection, as you can see from the spring exhibition. Anyway, I play around and sometimes I don't even have a reason as to why I want the items arranged a certain way. I just know when it looks "right".
Once I get everything in place, I start setting it up to be photographed, i.e., taking everything out of their boxes and attaching additional pictures to the wall. Depending on the height of the objects I can lean the picture against the wall behind it, but if it's an open palette that will block it, I have to tape the picture above it.
Generally speaking I prefer to hang up the vintage ads with metal clips. However, for the vintage ads used in the summer 2014 exhibition, those were cut and spray mounted because they were included in much larger magazine pages, and they looked better by themselves than being surrounded by text.
I make any final tweaks and once I've decided I'm satisfied with the placement, only then do the labels go up. Then I open any palettes that need to be opened and start shooting. The top row is difficult to photograph since I have to get on a ladder.
Here's the finished product. If you'll notice I switched the Wet 'n' Wild palettes and the Laduree items…the shapes (open round compacts) of the Wet 'n' Wild ones were too similar to the Chantecaille palettes to have in the same row. At least, that's how it seemed to me.
After I photograph everything I don't put it away. I close any open palettes and put them back in their boxes so they don't get dusty, but I just leave all the items on the shelves instead of putting them back into storage. The labels stay up until the next exhibition as well.
And that's how it's done! Questions? Comments?
Thanks to PJ at A Touch of Blusher, I was alerted to these events at the Japan Foundation in London. "Beneath the Surface: A Culture of Cosmetics in Japan" will feature two talks by Noriyo Tsuda, Chief Curator of the POLA Research
Institute of Beauty and Culture (how do I get that job?!)
(image from jpf.org.uk)
The first presentation is "Haniwa Beauty to Snow White – Japanese Cosmetic Culture from Ancient Times to Now" and will take place tomorrow at 6:30pm. The description: "From ancient customs to current trends, Tsuda will look at Japanese
cosmetic practices over the course of history and discuss how Japanese
cosmetics have developed through the centuries. Giving an overview of
the aesthetic ideals and reasons for the use of these cosmetics, this
talk will provide examples of how lifestyle and social circumstances
have influenced the culture of cosmetics in the past and affected
contemporary standards of beauty in Japan."
The second talk is "Beauty Icons – Primping and Preening in Edo and Meiji Japan," which will take place on November 8 at 6:30pm. "In this talk, Tsuda will compare and contrast two of the most
distinguishing periods of cosmetic culture in Japan, namely the Edo
(1603 – 1867) and Meiji (1868 – 1912) eras. Exploring the
characteristics of Japanese cosmetics in the Edo period, when
traditional cosmetics are thought to have matured, she will elaborate on
what cosmetics were used and who the trendsetters were. Moving on to
the Meiji period, Tsuda will discuss how grooming standards and notions
of 'beautiful women' were impacted by drastic social reform after the
opening of Japan to the West."
I did a little more digging and I found an event poster with these two pictures, the objects in which I'm assuming Tsuda will discuss.
(image from zo.uni-heidelberg.de)
I was greatly intrigued by this POLA Research Institute of Beauty and Culture so I gathered some basic information on it. The POLA Research
Institute of Beauty and Culture was founded in 1976 under the son of the founder of cosmetics company POLA Orbis Group, Suzuki Tsuneshi. It's now part of the POLA Museum of Art in Hakone, Japan, which displays Tsuneshi's personal art collection consisting of over 9,500 objects. While the museum boasts roughly 400 paintings by Western artists (Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Chagall), there is a section of the museum devoted to the beauty objects he collected as well. Some of these treasures include:
A silver dressing set with an iris pattern from the early 1900s:
A bride's wedding kit from the Edo period:
And a mid-19th century dressing case.
(images from polamuseum.or.jp)
I don't know about you, but I'm ready to hop on the next plane to London to catch both talks, then off to Japan to see the POLA collection! I really wish they had a museum catalogue for their beauty items available for purchase online…maybe Tsuda will spearhead the release of one eventually and/or a book based on the talks he's giving in London.
2013 truly was/is the year of punk revival, and since punk style and subculture are near and dear to the Curator, I decided to devote the fall exhibition to this glorious trend. It's a smaller exhibition than in years past, but I was committed to the theme and didn't want to do a bigger exhibition with non-punk-inspired pieces in it. This is basically a long way of saying I couldn't reconcile some of the fall pieces we've seen (Chantecaille Wild Horses palette, Dior Bonne Etoile) with the punk trend, and decided to sacrifice size in exchange for a more cohesive exhibition. Since it was on the small side I couldn't really go into the history of punk makeup, which would have been great to incorporate somehow, but I think overall it works.
So many magazine images inspired me. I was enthralled by the emphasis on plaid, tweed and houndstooth and the punk update most of the items in these fabrics received.
And as you can see in the exhibition, I added some magazine pages at the top – these were my favorite images.
Magazine images, left to right:
Top shelf, left to right.
Dior 5 Couleurs in Rose Ballerine and Les Tissages de Chanel in Amber:
Sephora Drop Dead Gorgeous makeup brush set:
Do you not love the skull pattern on the handles?!
Ardency Inn Punker Studs:
Givenchy Ecrin Privé palette:
Bottom shelf, left to right.
Lise Watier Tartantastique eye shadow palette:
Deborah Lippmann nail polish:
MAC Rebel Rock postcard and Benefit Rockateur blush:
Sephora eyelash curler and Urban Decay nail polish in Vice:
Thoughts on the exhibition? Are what do you think about the punk trend this season? When it comes to badass details like studs and skulls and chains, I can't get enough!
I was so pleased I was able to trek up to NYC last Thursday to see Makeup in New York's show and vintage lipstick exhibition! It was fun to walk around and see all the packaging companies, but the main draw for me, of course, was seeing some highlights from Lips of Luxury up close and in person.
The show was held at Center 548 in Chelsea, which is an area of NYC I'm not too familiar with – we normally stick to Soho and Union Square, with occasional jaunts to where all the department stores are (uptown? downtown?):
Nice little brochures were provided when you checked in.
I eagerly searched to find where the lipstick exhibition was.
Fortunately it was on the 2nd floor so I didn't have to climb too many steps to get there!
Right up front were the Revlon Couturines!!
Behind those was that crazy Lenox lipstick holder:
Some other treasures:
Why yes, that IS a mermaid-shaped lipstick case!!
Huge dork that I am, I had brought my copy of Lips of Luxury with me in the hopes of getting either Jean-Marie Martin-Hattenberg (the author) or Anne Camilli (Editorial Director) to sign it, if they happened to be at the exhibition. And I thought maybe I could give them my card. I did in fact meet Anne, but ultimately I was too chicken to actually ask for an autograph or start plugging the Makeup Museum. My husband pointed out that it may not have been as weird as I thought to ask her to sign the book, as she was the one who, you know, helped write it. But I thought I might come off as annoying or worse, some kind of creepy stalker, so I just said I was a big fan of the book and left her alone.
Overall, I thought it was a well-curated exhibition. The selections were definitely what I would have chosen from the book. I did think, however, that the presentation could use a little work. The glass jars with the pink tops were cute, but the acrylic stands that some of the lipsticks were sitting on within them looked pretty cheap. And the jar wasn't the best choice of display vessel for the Alberto Guardiani lipstick shoe – it looked squashed in there! I also would have made the label text nicer and with thicker paper. Good typography and quality paper goes a long way. Of course, I have little room to talk since I tend to cram items onto the shelves I use for my exhibitions and the shelves themselves aren't tremendously well-made. Still, I think for a formal exhibition in a "real" public space I'd go the extra mile to make sure everything looks amazing.
After I was done drooling over the exhibition, we explored the other booths and saw what conference sessions were taking place.
On the way out I helped myself to a goodie bag.
I thought this was cool – it's all the packaging companies that attended the expo in Pantone swatchbook form.
A bag of samples of the latest and greatest in packaging:
Copy of Beauty Packaging magazine and a pencil.
Then after that we hit up Soho for some shopping. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for my credit card balance) I didn't see anything I wanted, but as we were walking to catch a cab back to Penn Station I caught a glimpse of something very exciting – the space where a new outpost of LadurĂ©e will be!! It's supposed to open in mid-November and will be the biggest in the world!! It will definitely make staying in Soho all the sweeter once it opens, literally.
You can see more photos from the Makeup In New York show here. 🙂
Shiseido's been rolling out new products and doing lots of events in honor of their 140th anniversary this year. To add to the celebration, the company released this lovely camellia highlighting/blush compact.
With flash:
The Shiseido Corporate Museum (more on that tomorrow) hosted an exhibition on the company's use of the camellia. "In 1915, Shiseido's first president Shinzo Fukuhara replaced the hawk emblem trademark used by the company's original pharmacy business with a camellia blossom. Ever since, this camellia trademark has been closely and fondly associated with Shiseido as a company. What does the camellia mean for the Japanese people? What does it mean for Shiseido? As the camellias came into bloom to welcome Shiseido's 140th anniversary this year, the year's first planned exhibition considered the history of the Japanese people's relationship with the camellia, and looked back on the history of the company's camellia-related products and designs using the camellia motif." I would have given my right arm to see this exhibition, but Japan is a long way off for a quick museum visit! Fortunately, at their website Shiseido fills us in a little bit as to the meaning of the flower for their brand. "When the company was known as a pharmacy, its trademark was a brave hawk, but when it shifted its focus to cosmetics, it was thought that the stern image of a hawk was unsuitable. It is said that the camellia was chosen because the best-selling product was Koyu Hanatsubaki (hair oil; Hanatsubaki is Japanese for camellia). At that time, trademarks in Japan were typically traditional patterns from ancient family crests, but the Western design of the camellia mark was a great novelty. The camellia trademark was designed by the company's first president, Shinzo Fukuhara. The original nine camellia leaves were reduced to seven by the Design Department staff. In 1918 its design was near today's, and in 1919 the trademark was registered. Many small changes have been made since, and in 1974 the present design was decided on."
Additionally, there was once something called the Camellia Club – a membership service for loyal Shiseido customers that was launched in 1937. Club members received exclusive pamphlets and invitations to beauty classes. The biggest spenders received commemorative gifts – I'm thinking this is sort of like Sephora's VIB program in which customers can become "VIBs" after spending $350 in a given year. "The first year's gift was an art deco metal vanity case, the following year's was a Nishijin handbag, and in following years continued with ceramic sash clips and other luxurious items." While I enjoy the more modern perks of today's membership programs (free samples, discount codes, etc.), receiving keepsakes from the company sounds great to a collector like me.
Stay tuned for more on the history of Shiseido tomorrow, when I will highlight some pieces from their museum.
So exciting! There’s a new beauty exhibit at the Center for History in South Bend, Indiana called “Gizmos, Corsets & Concoctions: Our Obsession with Health & Beauty.” From the website: “Gizmos, Corsets & Concoctions: Our Obsession with Health & Beauty explores some of what has been experienced over time in the pursuit of health and beauty. Seeking to look or feel better, people have willing to imbibe, don and endure many interesting cure-alls throughout the years. A wide variety of medicinal and cosmetic offerings have been available, some hawked by fast-talking peddlers and others provided by highly respected institutions. Whether looking for better health, treatment for ailments, or transformation into the current pinnacle of beauty, people have turned to medical sources, even the ‘magic potions’ of sideshows. Some did the trick; others caused more harm than good.”
The exhibit contains beauty ads from the 19th and 20th centuries, contraptions like a “permanent wave” hair-styling machine from the ’30s, and even a replica of a doctor’s office with elixirs and tonics. Too bad I’m not going to Indiana any time soon! I’d love to see it.
(via The Beheld)
I’m pleased to see that the topic of beauty is slowly becoming a legitimate field of study.  It hasn’t been looked at as critically or academically yet the way fashion has, but we’re getting there. Recently I came across several things that I found to be very encouraging.
Musingonbeauty posted about this book. While I’m a bit chagrined someone else came out with a coffee table book on makeup, I’m not completely beat down – there’s plenty of room for more makeup books!Â
Then I read in the June issue of Lucky magazine that there’s an exhibition called Beauty Culture that’s going on at the Annenberg Space for Photography. The exhibition “examines both traditional and unconventional definitions of beauty, challenging stereotypes of gender, race and age. It explores the links between beauty and violence, glamour and sexuality and the cost (in its multiple meanings) of beauty” and “encourages a social discussion about the allure and mystique of the pursuit of female beauty, as well as its cult-like glorification and the multi-billion dollar industries that surround it.” A little different than what I’m trying to do, but it’s exciting to see a dialogue being started about the impact of the beauty industry.
Finally, I stumbled on the coolest blog on vintage compacts while researching an inquiry I received. It is so incredibly detailed and gives a thorough history of early cosmetic companies, many of which don’t exist anymore. Â
So, yay! It’s nice to see that makeup is finally being recognized as something more than to paint your face with – there truly is history and art involved, which is one of the things I strive to point out through the Museum.
It just goes to show I'm not totally crazy – here is a bona fide exhibition about beauty and cosmetics! Via Art History Newsletter, I learned that the MusĂ©e National de la Renaissance in Ecouen, France, presents Le Bain et le Miroir: Soins du corps et cosmĂ©tiques Ă la Renaissance. Alas, I cannot understand French and the website doesn't have an English option, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with beauty and cosmetics. From what I can gather (did you know Google has a translation function?), included are combs, perfumes, mirrors and I believe even some makeup. There are also paintings and sculptures depicting ideal Renaissance beauty to put these objects in context. The exhibition is in conjunction with another exhibit focusing on beauty in from antiquity to the Middle Ages at the Cluny Museum. What's really amazing about that one is that L'Oreal analyzed the cosmetics to understand their composition. How cool would it be to research what people used back then for makeup?
L'Oreal is also partially funding the exhibition..I'm thinking I should get in touch with them to see if they want to have a contemporary beauty exhibit stateside. 🙂
