The Singing Waltz

Today we want to share a few delightful photos from the January 1915 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

This brief magazine feature showcases dance moves performed by Margaret Hawkesworth and Basil Durant, popular American ballroom dancers who performed throughout the United States and Europe.

Here are a couple of close-ups. First, Miss Hawkesworth and Mr. Durant leading off “with a graceful swinging step”:

I love their looks of deep concentration here, as well as that delicate foot-touch!

Here’s a minuet step, accompanied by equally delicate hand-touching. So civilized!

Readers may be interested to note Miss Hawkesworth’s stylized yet loose-fitting dress, part of a new fashion movement focusing on fabrics with drape and moving away from the long-entrenched, fashionable corseted silhouette. This article on fashion designer Paul Poiret gives a little more background into cutting-edge fashion of the 1910s.

 

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Art//Archives Sneak Peek: 1939!

This week, for Art//Archives Visual Research Hours, we’ll be featuring periodicals from the year 1939, with a focus on style and fashion.

1939 brought the start of the Second World War, the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, and the publication of The Grapes of Wrath.

It was a year when stylish transportation looked like this:

When wool jackets were cool and Dobermans looked almost exactly like they do today:

When women dressed impeccably, for television or for the (table) tennis court:

And when the “it girls” in Paris were, apparently, pursuing this new aesthetic:

Come peruse 1939 issues of Newsweek, Vogue, The Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, and other magazines tomorrow (Tuesday, 6/29) between 10:30 and 1:00!

Magician of the Week #25: Son of Bat Jr.

If he’s “Son of Bat Jr.” doesn’t that make him Bat III ?

Friday Tours on Hold

Due to the ongoing construction here at the library, we’ve decided to postpone the 3pm Friday tours until construction is finished. You’re always welcome to set up an appointment for a tour anytime, though.

Now that the housekeeping details are out of the way, here’s the best logo (and logo explanation) of the day:

It’s taken from the end of an excellent periodical / advertising brochure / paper specimen book:

Hurlbut’s Papermaker Gentleman:

Magician of the Week #5: Mino

Mino, the Zoroastrian Wizard, with tiara, skull and mustache

Taken from The Wizard, Vol. 3, no. 30 (1908):