What: The exhibition — Gazette du Bon Ton

When: June 25, 2009, to May 30, 2010

Where: Palmer and Mull Galleries in Rockwell Hall on the corner of East Main and South Lincoln streets on the Kent Campus.

Background: Between 1912 and 1925, the Gazette du Bon Ton sought to be "the place where couturiers and painters collaborate to compose the silhouette of their time." It was the brain child of Lucien Vogel, a dynamic Frenchman who was fascinated by nineteenth century hand-colored engravings and set out to create a luxury modern magazine that would be the epitome of good taste.

The Kent State University Museum will feature eighty-two original plates from the Algesa O'Sickey collection of Gazette du Bon Ton from 1920 to 1922 in its Palmer and Mull Galleries while the entire collection will be accessible on the Museum's Web site. Produced in limited editions on handmade paper, the series spared no expense and used the pochoir, or stencil, technique to hand watercolor what may be the twentieth's century's most extraordinary fashion plates. Twenty garments from 1912 to 1925 with digital surrogate fashion plates from this period will also be on display. The gowns are from the leading Parisian couture houses of the teens and twenties, such as those of Jeanne Paquin, Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin and the House of Worth.

To mark the opening of the exhibition, the Kent State University Museum and the Massillon Museum have organized Deco Tour: Art Deco Meets Couture on June 27, 2009. This all-day event celebrates the 1920s and 1930s and will feature art, fashion and automobiles at two venues. In the morning, the Massillon Museum will showcase 1930s automobiles on its front lawn from 10 a.m. to1 p.m. and a free gallery lecture of the exhibit,The Rise of a Landmarl: Lewis Hine and the Empire State Building at 11 a.m. Admission is free. The Kent State University Museum is inviting owners of 1920s automobiles to show their vehicles in the museum parking lot from 3 - 6 p.m. Gallery tours of the three Art Deco exhibits (Great American Glass: The Roaring Twenties and Depression Era, The Kokoon Arts Club: Cleveland Revels, and Gazette du Bon Ton) will take place at 4 p.m. The tours are free with museum admission. In the evening Tangomania: A Masked Ball will be held at the Kent State University Museum at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and must be purchased separately through the KSU Museum before June 22 at 330-672-3450.

The Kent State University Museum is open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 4:45 p.m. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

The museum is located in Rockwell Hall on the corner of East Main and South Lincoln streets on the Kent Campus. Special guided tours are available for groups by reservation. Free on-site motor coach parking is available.

For additional information about the Kent State University Museum, go to http://www.kent.edu/muusem/, or call (330) 672-3450.


LINK TO GAZETTE DU BON TON EXHIBITION WEBSITE

# # #