Charles Frederick Worth (French, born Britain, 1825–1895) or Jean-Philippe Worth (French, 1856–1926). Evening Dress, 1893. Blue silk satin patterned with gold chrysanthemum petals, red silk velvet, ecru machine-made lace, beadwork, and metallic passementerie. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Formerly Collection of Emma Frink Perry; Gift of Edith Gardiner, 1926 (2009.300.622a–c)
Japonism (the borrowing of Japanese motifs, principles, and techniques by Western artists) was prominent in Worth’s textile patterns of the 1880s and 1890s. Here individual petals of chrysanthemum, the flower that has symbolized the Japanese throne since the eighth century, are so expertly designed and woven as to capture the implicit pull of gravity as they fall through the air.
Previous
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
