collectors and collecting

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Horizontal rectangle. Architectural ruins, open to the sky, used as setting for the Nativity group, seen near center, middleground. Rays of light rise from the figure of the Child. Shepherd kneels in foreground. Woman with bundle on her head, at right.
Cooper Hewitt Short Stories: Collecting Before the Alarm Clock Rings
This month in Cooper Hewitt Short Stories, Caitlin Condell, Associate Curator and Head of Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design at Cooper Hewitt, takes us to Italy to discuss one of the most significant contributions of European drawings in the early days of Cooper Hewitt's collection: the addition of the Giovanni Piancastelli collection.
Cooper Hewitt Short Stories: Alexander Drake
Last month in Cooper Hewitt Short Stories, Dr. Gail Davidson wrote about how American drawings by Winslow Homer, Frederic Church, and Thomas Moran entered the museum’s collection. February’s Short Story twitters romance! A passionate collector pursued beautiful homes for birds. Enamored, Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt bought his birdcages for their museum. Chirp! #HewittSisters Margery Masinter,...
Giovanni Piancastelli, Collector and Artist
While this drawing is the sole example in the Cooper Hewitt’s collection of Giovanni Piancastelli’s work as an artist, his impact on the museum as a collector is astronomically greater: over 12,200 of Cooper Hewitt’s drawings and prints came directly or indirectly from his personal collection. Born in a town near Ravenna, Italy in 1845,...
An Undercover Drink
This flask is not the kind you use to sneak liquor into your family get-togethers. At 7.5 inches tall, this Swiss flask is much larger than the flask you might be used to, and it is earthenware. This glazed ceramic object from the eighteenth century mimics a book. The attention to detail is especially apparent...
Screenshot of the Pinterest homepage, with a grid of different photos
Collections Candy: Very Pinteresting!
If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, let me try to paint the picture a bit for you. It’s a pretty low-commitment social networking site with a simple signup process and an easy-to-use interface. The logo is swirly and red like a peppermint candy. People mostly use it to create visual mood boards for projects, like...