January 15, 1931
The first showing of a collection of life-like mannequins wearing period costumes will occur at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, January 15th in the Old Masters' gallery, when Lucile Marsh gives the first of a series of four lectures on Costume Design, arranged by the Decorative Arts Department of the Museum. The lecture will be on "Influential Periods in the History of Costume". It will be illustrated by 28 mannequins each about 18" tall and consisting of cardboard silhouettes with every detail of the costume and figure painted on them, thus showing the front and back.
These figures will remain on view for a month in the Costume Gallery as a loan by Miss Harriet Sartain, Dean of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. This will be the first of a series of exhibitions of these figures, as the will go later to other cities. The Brooklyn Museum was chosen for the initial showing because of its cooperation with the School which sends several classes a year to the Museum to study the large and growing costume collection which the Department of Decorative Arts is building up.
The periods covered by the mannequins are: Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine, Early Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages, Italian and English Renaissance, Spanish, Elizabethan, Dutch, Louis XIV., XV., Empire, Incroyable, Puritan, 1860, 1870, 1890, 1904, 1913, 1928 and 1930 which includes Bride and Bridesmaid, Sports Costume, Lounging Pajamas and Evening Dress.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1931 - 1936. 01-03_1931, 006-7. View Original
