Author: SeniorWomenWeb

Einstein at Home

The Historical Society of Princeton presents Einstein At Home, featuring family photographs, artwork, special memorabilia, and seventeen select pieces of Albert Einstein’s furniture from the Einstein Collection of the Historical Society of Princeton. The objects on display include upholstered armchairs, desks, a sideboard, and his Victrola.

The rarely seen personal items and furnishings offer a glimpse into Einstein’s personal life at his Mercer Street home in Princeton, where he lived from 1933 until his death in 1955. In addition to the furnishings on display are personal items, such as his pipe, games, and photographs of the scientist at home working at his desk, meeting with notable visitors, playing his violin, and sitting in his favorite chair. Together the exhibition portrays the personal story of the world-famous scientist and his life as a Princeton citizen.

This exhibition runs from February 8, 2011 through January 16, 2012, at Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau Street, open from noon to 4:00 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. The Historical Society receives an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.

Albert Einstein lived at 112 Mercer Street (c.1840) from 1936 until his death in 1955. His theory of relativity made him a world-wide celebrity and in 1921 he received an honorary degree from Princeton University. In 1930 he agreed to spend part of each year at the newly founded Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, an academic center where scholars could pursue their research free from the pressures of teaching. When the Nazis came to power, Einstein was forced to resign his position at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin and chose to settle in Princeton permanently. He assisted over 200 European scholars, scientists, and artists who appealed to him for help in emigrating. His house, originally located on Alexander Street, was moved to its present location c.1875. Today it is a private residence.

In 2003, the Historical Society was the recipient of a gift of 65 pieces of Albert Einstein’s furniture from his Mercer Street home, donated by the Institute for Advanced Study. An eclectic collection, the gift includes tables, chairs, chests, cabinets, a bed and other items from the 18th through 20th centuries.

The furniture is representative of several styles and eras. One of the earliest pieces is a Queen Anne table made in Austria between 1730 and 1770. An upholstered tub armchair from the early 20th century appears frequently in photos of Einstein at home. According to James R. Blackwood’s Einstein in the Rear-view Mirror, which appeared in Volume 14 of Princeton History, it was local jeweler Isadore Braveman who kept the Einstein’s 19th century Biedermeier-style clock in working order. Blackwood also described the efforts of the underground to send the furniture from Germany to the United States under a fictitious name, which led to difficulties with suspicious customs officials when the Einsteins went to New York to claim their things.

Another section about Einstein at the Princeton Historical Society allows more insights into the scientist’s family life:

February 8, 2011
Design Shopping: Placewares.com

The next time we’re near Gualala, we’ll drop into Placewares. “Lu and Maynard Lyndon met in 1971 at Design Research (Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes by Jane Thompson, Alexandra Lange)
the store many consider to have been the first modern design store in America. They soon developed a close working (and then personal) relationship which has carried forward to the present day. They are a good team — combining design and business talents with a shared vision of appreciating things done well.”

For children, Shapescapes: Developed by a sculptor this set of free-form shapes interlocks to create hundreds of interesting shapes. Pieces snap together to hold their shape. Brightly colored washable plastic. Over 90 pieces to a carton. Moulin Roty Nini Mouse from La Grande Famille of stuffed animals from France Price. And how about a Marimekko Boo Boo bib, Colorful cars, trucks and busses parade across this little bib to delight at mealtime. PVC coating is easy to clean; velcro closure.

Consider an architectural model of Charles Dickens’ House, London, made from British gypsum plaster.

Or the Baggalini Urban Backpack: Developed by two retired Delta Airlines flight attendants, this versatile bag converts from a shoulder bag to backpack by unzipping and rehooking the shoulder strap. Interior has numerous compartments for items you normally carry in your wallet plus slots for your cell phone and pen and zippered spaces for coins and cosmetics. Two exterior pockets zip shut. Magnetic catch at top of bag conceals the zipper ends of main compartment. And there’s still room for a small book and a bottle of water. Light-weight water-resistant crinkle nylon fabric.

This is another site that carries the sturdy and colorful goods from Marimekko, including T-shirts and a wonderful red tablecloth to lift spirits. JosephJoseph Hands On Salad Bowl: This family-size salad bowl has integrated servers which hook onto the side of the bowl for easy serving and storage. Then there’s the Menu-Soap-Brush: Save detergent but get your dishes scrubbed up with this handy washing brush. Put a few drops of detergent into the rubber base and add some water. Stainless steel plate on metal spring fits into base and provides a platform for the domed scrub brush.

For Games players: The latest version of TableTopics, this set asks provocative questions that can apply to any book you have recently read. Great for book clubs but also to use yourself to gain a better understanding of the book you are reading. 135 questions. We saw Table Topics mentioned on a recent episode of Parenthood.

Finally, how about a HUG ceramic salt and pepper pair … for Valentine’s Day?

February 7, 2011
MIT’s Age Lab: The Future is Gray, Small and Female

The New York Times began their most recent Sunday Business section with an article highlighted with Agnes, the acronym Age Gain Now Empathy System. What follows is from a lecture by Joseph F. Coughlin of MIT’s AgeLab:

About the Lecture

If the prospect of aging and infirmity seems remote, you could use some time with AGNES (Age Gain Now Empathy System), a wearable apparatus that approximates “what it feels like to be a 75-year-old woman.” Joseph Coughlin’s MIT AgeLab designed the suit to promote better understanding of the challenges of aging — part of a larger effort to address the evolving demographic reality in the US, where a baby boomer turns 64 every seven seconds, 85-year-olds are the fastest growing age cohort, and most of the longest-lived will be women. Coughlin believes society must anticipate the needs of this rapidly emerging population, particularly where transportation is concerned.

Coughlin draws from a flurry of statistics a vivid portrait of the near future when great numbers of people, mainly women, will not only live longer, but alone. In the US, many of these seniors expect to continue working and playing, sometimes battling chronic illness, but above all, maintaining independence and freedom. Given these expectations, “What is driving?” asks Coughlin. “Everything … It’s the glue that holds life together.”

Coughlin sees “transportation as a function of all the other activities you do.” How then will an aging, frequently ailing, isolated population meet its needs for healthcare, shopping, work, leisure, especially when driving becomes a challenge, if not an impossibility?

February 6, 2011
Criticism

by Liz Flaherty

Criticism is just a really bad way of making a request.

No, I didn’t say it, but I wish I had. Diane Sawyer quoted it from someone she’d interviewed, then pointed a pistol finger at the side of her head and said, “Genius.” She was right.

For the nearly 40 years I’ve been married, I have hated television. Not because all I think all TV is bad, but because in our house, it’s on every waking moment of the day. When the house was full of kids and noise, the TV was the loudest noise of all, because not only was it on, people were watching it. From my point of view, which is admittedly only half the equation now and was much less then, nothing that was said on TV was as important as anything that was said between us. This argument has been shot down for 40 years. I have complained about the one-eyed-monster that lives in three rooms of our house and criticized its watchers for … well, you know how long by now.

I, on the other hand, want to read the news. And everything else. I read the newspaper daily, but get most of my news from the Internet. I am annoyed when I want to read a news story and end up instead with a video. If I wanted video, I would watch TV. (Just another argument I’m losing.)

I also like to read for entertainment, not watch TV. Until Duane bought me a Kindle, my books and magazines cluttered every flat surface in the house as well as the bookcases, my car, and several boxes in the attic. Not being particularly neat in any event, this clutter has never bothered me. It has, on the other hand, driven Duane crazy for, yes, 40 years. Before he gave up — as I did with TV — he was critical of my clutter and of the fact that I have to read things to get them; I can’t always absorb what I’m being told.

We have come to an easiness with the passage of time. He turns the TV down, though never off, and tries to listen to me even if what I’m saying lacks importance. I buy my books electronically and try to keep the magazines in semi-neat stacks, though I fail way too often. Because we like each other a lot, we’ve also learned to make some allowances for the other person’s quirks.

I can’t help but wonder if we’d have learned much faster if we’d just asked more often instead of criticizing.

We had elections in November, with all the newly elected people being critical of their predecessors and promising big changes and promising to keep their promises. Within two weeks of swearing in, we saw broken promises and heard constant disparagement of how the new folks were doing the jobs they hadn’t even learned how to do yet. The criticisms from both sides of the ideological table are vitriolic and downright mean. Fact-checking is tossed aside in favor of having the loudest voice.

Then an Arizona congresswoman was shot. During the same siege, six people died, including a nine-year-old. Before the blood was washed from the scene, before anyone knew if Gabrielle Giffords would live or die, blame, accusations, and criticism were being bandied about like stray bullets.

None of those things do either Ms. Giffords or the rest of us any good. Until we learn to respect each other and each other’s points of view on everything from religion and politics to butter versus margarine, we will neither grow nor grow up. It is not necessary that we agree, nor that we all like each other, though I admit it’s easier when we do.

I said — over and over — that I wasn’t doing New Year’s resolutions this year because goodness knows history shows I never keep them, but this is one I think I’ll work on. Instead of criticizing, I’m going to try requesting when I want something to be different, and maybe I’ll take a long look in the mirror while I’m at it.

Till next time.

©2011 Liz Flaherty for SeniorWomen.com

Liz’s most recent book is
Home to Singing Trees by The Wild Rose Press

February 5, 2011
A Creative Pair in Collage and Fashion

Our daughter mentioned the other day that our grandson was enamored of collage artwork. We thought we might find a book, other than

The World That Loved Books by Stephen Parlato, that we have in our library, for his source material. Our has a different cover … one that features a spritely horse.

And we did find another book for either our library: Paperwork by Peter Clark. The artist statement is at the gallery that shows his work, Rebbeca Hossack Art Gallery:

“In the medium of collage Peter Clark captures the essence of a chosen subject with various techniques by manipulating paper and working with a palette of colour, texture, weight, pattern and age which results in a wonderful three dimensional image.”

“Clark graduated from Manchester college of Art and Design has long been interested in making visual that which exists in words, his career started as an illustrator and designer of animation for television. A long time collector of ‘things’ Peter trawls the markets with his wife textile designer Karen Nicol and collects old stamps, faded maps, love letters, labels, buttons, dress making patterns, playing cards, textiles cotton webbing that binds books and paper boxes for the basis of his work.”

“Clark’s approach to paper collage is three dimensional. Peter first draws the outline in felt tip and then spends hours choosing from his collection of found ‘things’ the right materials and colours to define the muscles, features and tonal effects which finally bring to life the finished work. He rolls and sculpts specific areas creating texture at crucial points in the work and never far behind is Clark’s humor.”

The book, Paperwork: Peter Clark by Matthew Sturgis. may be ordered from Peter Clark’s website, PeterClarkCollage.com, or pre-ordered in paperback from Amazon.

But first, look at Clark’s wife’s website, KarenNicol.com. She’s an embroidery and mixed media textile artist working in gallery, fashion and interiors with a London based design and production studio that has been established for over twenty-five years. YSH London highlighted an interview with Karen that included photographs of their home and studio while she sketched the history of her career and inspirations for her work.

Karen specializes in Irish, Cornelly, Multihead, beading, lace and hand embroidery. She’s a Visiting Professor at London’s Royal College of Art, part of the Fashion and Textiles staff. One of her works at the College may be seen at the Materials for Living research hub. ‘Out of the blue into the black‘ was an art piece featured in an oceanography exhibition in Santa Fe. Currently, Ms. Nicol is also a Designer in Residence at Bath Spa University.

One of her exhibitions, Exhibition Pieces, was recently featured at the Rebbecca Hossack Gallery. Her work has from creating an artwork celebrating plankton to an embroidered triptych. Nicol’s her current clients include Chloé, Clements Ribeiro, Julien Macdonald, John Rocha, Betty Jackson, Matthew Williamson and Michiko Koshino.

February 5, 2011
Book Review: You Came Here to Die, Didn’t You?

The Second Freedom Summer

A Review by Jo Freeman

You Came Here to Die, Didn’t You?
Registering Black Voters One Soul at a Time, South Carolina, 1965
by Sherie Holbrook Labedis
Roseville, CA: Smokey Hill Books, ©2011, 187 pp.
The book may be ordered directly from the author at www.sherielabedis.com.

Most people have heard of Freedom Summer, when a few hundred mostly white college students went to Mississippi in 1964 to try to break white opposition to local blacks becoming voters, to run freedom schools, and generally to defy Southern racial practices.

Few know that there was a second freedom summer in 1965. The first Freedom Summer was run by a confederation of civil rights organizations, though SNCC took the lead. The organizations went their separate ways in 1965, dividing up the states so they didn’t overlap or compete.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, best known as Dr. King’s organization, brought between three and four hundred young people to six Southern states for a project called SCOPE — Southern Community Organization for Political Education. Expecting the Voting Rights Act to pass in June, its purpose was to get local blacks registered to vote.

However, the VRA didn’t become law until August 6, so the young volunteers had to deal with numerous county boards of registrars, some more willing than others to process long lines of aspiring voters, and various state laws limiting who could register.

Sherie Holbrook was in her freshman year at Berkeley when the march on Selma caught her attention (and that of a lot of others). She signed up with SCOPE and in June went from Berkeley, California, to Berkeley County, South Carolina. Her book is about that summer, based on a journal she kept, her memories, interviews with people she worked with, and photographs.

It was like going to a foreign country. Local blacks spoke a Gullah dialect — a patois of English and West African languages handed down over time — which she didn’t understand. She hadn’t known any black people in the rural California town she was raised in and had never seen the poverty and sheer neglect of people’s needs that she saw in South Carolina.

There were lots of new experiences she had to adjust to: sharing a bed, eating fatback, being stared at as she walked down the street, children who wanted to feel her blond hair, watching a hog killed for dinner, and white Southern hostility.

Being a civil rights worker sounds glamorous, but it’s mostly drudgery punctuated by fear. Most days were rather routine – going door to door in oppressive heat and humidity talking to people “one soul at a time.”

Many people were afraid to register; standing in line at the courthouse is a public act; a list of registered voters is a public list. A lot were apathetic; they’d been told so long that voting wasn’t for them that registering just didn’t seem like something they needed to do. Some were illiterate and couldn’t meet the minimal requirements to register.

Then there’s the fear. The black elementary school down the block from the Freedom House where Sherie and her project workers lived was set on fire; a fire truck came but no water was available to put out the flames. Less than two weeks later, a black church only a little farther away was firebombed by two white men in a truck. The message was clear: Get Out.

February 3, 2011
The Shakespeare Portrait Question at the Morgan; Battle of Wills Documentary

In 2009, when the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-UponAvon unveiled a previously unidentified portrait with strong claims to be the only surviving contemporary likeness of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), it created an international stir. The Jacobean-era painting had hung unrecognized for centuries in an Irish country house belonging to the Cobbe family, and bore significant resemblances to the famous engraving of Shakespeare in the First Folio of his plays.

In a new exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum entitled The Changing Face of William Shakespeare, the Cobbe portrait, together with a recently identified sixteenth-century portrait of Shakespeare’s patron Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, are being presented in the US for the first time. Also on view will be three additional portraits of the playwright, including one acquired by Pierpont Morgan in 1910, an original copy of the 1623 First Folio, and a copy of Shakespeare’s 1593 poem Venus and Adonis, dedicated to the earl.

Together, the works offer insight into the questions surrounding authentic images of the great playwright, an issue of significant scholarly interest and debate. Both the quality of the Cobbe portrait, thought to have been painted around 1610, and recent technical analysis suggest it is the first in a series of portraits claimed to depict William Shakespeare. The Cobbe portrait bears a Latin inscription, taken from a poem by Horace, addressed to a playwright. Both the Shakespeare portrait and the painting of the earl were inherited by Archbishop Charles Cobbe (1686–1765). In the eighteenth century the Cobbe family was connected by marriage to Southampton’s descendants.

The best known image of Shakespeare is Martin Droeshout’s posthumous engraving in the First Folio, and the earlier Cobbe portrait has certain costume and design similarities to it, indicating that it may have served as a source for Droeshout. The portrait acquired by Pierpont Morgan, founder of The Morgan Library & Museum, is almost unknown, usually having hung in private offices inside the institution. Also on view, in addition to the portraits and books, is a 1596 royal gift roll that records Southhampton’s New Year’s gift to Queen Elizabeth I.

“The issue of determining authentic lifetime portraits of William Shakespeare is a fascinating one and the recent identification of the Cobbe portrait adds to the debate,” said William M. Griswold, director of The Morgan. “This exhibition provides context for a discussion that is certain to continue among scholars and those interested in the work of history’s greatest playwright.”

February 3, 2011
Bard’s Cloisonne: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

Through April 17, 2011, the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture presents Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. The exhibition, a collaboration between the BGC and the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, is the first to bring cloisonné from this renowned French collection together with objects from important public collections in the United States. Cloisonné examines the technique in China from the end of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) to the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The curator of the exhibition is Béatrice Quette of the Musée des Arts décoratifs.

Background

The cloisonné enamel technique was most likely introduced into China during
the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). Although the earliest Chinese cloisonné pieces bearing a reign mark were made during the Xuande period (1426–1436), the exhibition will include a few pieces that introduce a new attribution from the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. This controversial attribution, recently documented by specialists and curators from the Palace Museum, Beijing, is a major contribution to Cloisonné scholarship.

Several factors, ranging from the unreliability of reign marks to a dearth of information about Chinese workshops, make it very difficult to date cloisonné works with accuracy. Therefore, three aspects of Chinese cloisonné production have been selected as guidelines for the exhibition — decoration, form, and intended function — since an object’s decoration and form tend to indicate the purpose for which it was intended, whether it be ritual, decorative, or utilitarian. The motifs that occur most often are considered in all their various meanings within the context of the period during which the objects were produced. The exhibition attempts to answer such questions as how, why, and for whom these enamels were produced, and how attitudes toward this technique changed during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In 1368, after the Chinese had reclaimed power from the Mongol “barbarians” and founded the Ming dynasty, Cao Zhao wrote Essential Criteria of Antiquities (Gegu yaolun), a guide for collectors of “antiquities” in which he made it clear that cloisonné enamels originating in the Frankish lands (Folan or Falan) were not suitable for study by members of the scholar class. Their gilded surfaces and brilliant colors put them at odds with the austere criteria of the scholars’ aesthetic inherited from the Song dynasty (960–1279), which the Ming revived after the humiliation of the Mongol invasion. This classical Chinese aesthetic is exemplified by ink-wash paintings and by ceramics with sparse or no decoration in which form and surface enhance one another. According to Cao Zhao, cloisonné enamels were really appropriate only for the apartments of women. Some scholars undoubtedly followed the guidelines of Cao Zhao; however, it is interesting that in the same period cloisonné pieces were being commissioned for the court.

February 3, 2011
Second Chances Underscore Flaws in Death Investigations

by Ryan Gabrielson, Special to ProPublica

Watch FRONTLINE’s documentary [1] produced in conjunction with this story. (Check local listings. [2]) And listen to NPR’s All Things Considered for more on this story. (Check local listings. [3])

Chris Reynolds vividly remembers his first encounter with the work of forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Gill.

It was 2001. Reynolds, a Santa Rosa private investigator, was hired by a Sonoma County man accused of killing his wife. Gill, who conducted the wife’s autopsy, was the prosecution’s key witness, having determined the death was a “textbook” case of suffocation.

Reynolds’ client’s prospects looked grim. But when Reynolds dug into Gill’s background, he unspooled a history in which Gill landed post after post despite a lengthening trail of errors and, in one instance, drinking on the job.

Gill had been forced out of a teaching position at an Oregon university, and then fired for inaccurate findings and alcohol abuse by the coroner in Indianapolis, Reynolds discovered. Demoted for poor performance as a fellow for the Los Angeles County Coroner, he resurfaced at a private autopsy company in Northern California.

Reynolds learned that Gill had missed key evidence in the Sonoma County case and that he had been coached by prosecutors to downplay his past, prompting the dismissal of the murder charge.

Yet, in the decade since, Gill has continued to do thousands of autopsies and to serve as an expert witness in criminal cases. He landed a job as the No. 2 forensic pathologist in Kansas City, Mo., where his work again drew fire, and then returned to Forensic Medical Group Inc., the Fairfield firm that handled the case investigated by Reynolds.

The private forensics firm has held contracts with 16 Northern California counties to perform autopsies for local agencies. Besides Sonoma County, Gill has conducted death investigations or testified in court in eight counties as a doctor for Forensic Medical Group. He had done more than 800 autopsies during a three-year period in Yolo, Napa and Solano counties alone.

Forensic Medical Group cut its ties with Gill in December after Yolo County Sheriff-Coroner’s officials learned of the doctor’s history from reporters and barred him from performing its autopsies. In a written response to questions, Forensic Medical Group said that after Yolo County’s decision, it no longer had enough cases to justify employing Gill.

Gill’s ability to resurrect his career time and again reflects a profound weakness at the center of the US system of death investigation.

A chronic shortage of qualified forensic pathologists allows even questionably competent practitioners to remain employable. The absence of trained practitioners is so acute that many jurisdictions don’t look closely at the doctors they employ. Some of the officials who hired Gill acknowledged they knew about his problems but said they had no other viable options.

With no national oversight of forensic pathologists or standards that dictate who can do autopsy work, there is nothing to prevent Gill from resuming his career.

In some cases, officials in charge of death investigation are more concerned with costs than with competent autopsies, said Dr. John Pless, a director of the National Association of Medical Examiners and retired forensic pathology professor at Indiana University.

February 2, 2011
Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

For more than fifteen years, the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave has been producing a completely original body of work that is quite easy to explain but very difficult to categorize. Her central project has been to recreate exquisite, life-size historical costumes entirely from paper. Taking inspiration from the rich depictions in early European paintings, iconic costumes in museum collections, photographs, sketches and even literary descriptions, de Borchgrave skillfully works paper to achieve the effect of textiles: crumpling, pleating, braiding, feathering and painting the surface. The artist’s exhibition Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave is on view February 5 to June 5, 2011, at the Legion of Honor as part of the Collection Connections series.

Fine Arts Museums director John E. Buchanan, Jr., says of the exhibition, “I am proud to say that this exhibition, so appropriately presented in the galleries of our Legion of Honor museum, is the first to offer an overview of the artist’s most important bodies of work: from the white dresses and Papiers à la Mode to the Fortuny and Medici collections and her newest creations.”

Exhibition
The Legion’s presentation of over 60 trompe l’oeil masterpieces draws on several themes presenting quintessential examples in the history of costume — from Renaissance costumes of the Medici family and gowns worn by Elizabeth I and Marie-Antoinette to the designs of the grand couturiers Fredrick Worth, Paul Poiret, Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. Special attention is given to the creations and studio of Mariano Fortuny, the eccentric early 20th-century artist, who is both a kindred spirit and a major source of inspiration to de Borchgrave. Additionally, five creations inspired by four paintings in the Legion of Honor’s European collection will be presented for the very first time.

The exhibition is presented in six sections:

February 1, 2011