Queen of the Insects: The Art of the Butterfly
December 11, 2009-May 9, 2010
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Japanese, Stencil (detail), 19th century |
Transformative, ephemeral and otherworldly, the iridescent and fragile beauty of the butterfly has enchanted cultures for hundreds of years. Always fashionable, the butterfly motif has adorned a wide variety of design objects, from porcelain and prints to jewelry and textiles. Objects from the Museum's Costume and Textiles collections - including a luminous 19th-century Chinese hand-painted summer robe, an embroidered silk gown from the famed Japanese retailer Iida Takashimaya (ca. 1905) and a gossamer printed chiffon dress designed by Hanae Mori (1970s) - illustrate the universal impulse to capture the fleeting art of the butterfly. Juxtaposed with its usage in western design, the traditional symbolism of the butterfly in Asian art is explored and decoded both as a design inspiration and as a material itself. The human desire to preserve this resplendent and potent image of metamorphosis and rebirth has made it a cross-cultural design icon.
