Under a process of transmutation, it provokes us to hear it in order to teach us its experiences.â Theodorakidi believ
October 22 – November 4, 2009
The Epoch Times
Arts & Culture 9
Why Our Obsession With Jane Austen? Exhibit mixes manners with muslin By KATI TURCU Epoch Times Staff
MELBOURNE, Australia—Ms. Austen lived and wrote in a time when everything, including fashion, was changing in England. But fashion is not on our mind as we read her novels. Think empire lines, white muslin, and those silly funnelshaped bonnets designed with the singular purpose of ensuring that the wearer does not benefit from the least bit of peripheral vision. “France was the arbiter of all things to do with luxury,” says Roger Leong, Curator of the “Persuasion-Fashion in the Age of Jane Austen” exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. The exhibit explores one of the most dynamic periods of fashion—from the 1770s to 1830—with dresses and compelling images on display. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are firmly cemented in the psyche of the English-speaking world, regardless of the fact that only a minority of the English-speaking world would have taken the time to actually read the book. Jane Austen, like no other writer of her generation, chronicled the minutiae of daily life and social norms of the late 18th and early 19th centuries while allowing her characters to tell it like it is. Women, whether they are of the “emancipated” boardroom species or more traditional homemaker variety, can equally relate to Ms. Austen’s paradoxical characters. In fact, a French queen chose to pose wearing a muslin dress and the result was her portrait Marie Antoinette en chemise. Marie Antoinette started the fashion craze for sheer white muslin gowns,
which women all over Europe copied between 1790 and 1810. But the muslin gown was more than just a fashion fad—it symbolized a movement. “There was a reaction in society in Europe, particularly in England, against the ostentation and extravagance of the 18th century. There was a spirit of liberty democracy, a mood for change in England, although there wasn’t any political change during Jane Austen’s time. So those formal silk court gowns with the big panniers and tight corsets became unfashionable,” said Leong. Those of us who read the book know that our Lizzie Bennet was quite fond of walking, which turns out to be more than just a quirky plot twist. Historically, people did walk more at the time. “At some point in the 1790s, you read about fashionable people going for walks in the parks. It coincides with the late 18th century in Britain, with the building of great country estates and beautiful parks, which were made to look natural and wild, but were actually incredibly manicured. “It was all about admiring the wealth represented by one’s grand country estate. It became fashionable to walk through these country estates,” says Leong. “It is at the same time, in the late 18th century, when women discard their panniers, which were impossible to walk in. And at some point during the 19th century it becomes acceptable for women to go shopping or promenading on their own, without a male escort.” But this still doesn’t explain our enduring obsession with Jane Austen’s writings. Perhaps a word from Lizzie herself would best enlighten us. So here she is: exasperated, trying to reiterate her refusal of the marriage proposal generously extended her by the unctuous Mr. Collins—who refuses to take no for an answer: “I thank you again and again for the honor you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impos-
sible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart.” (“Pride and Prejudice,” Chapter XIX) One cannot help but imagine the sound of a similarly intended refusal in our current lingo. It may or may not have two syllables. Jane Austen elegantly walks the tightrope between propriety and brutal honesty that we cannot help but go along for the ride. And although we women are so often reminded that we owe everything to women’s liberation, the gain is sometimes obscured by the almost total obliteration of gallantry. Of course, our manners— meaning those of both men and women—are also a product of modern society. Let’s face it: Elegance is nearly extinct. Does it only rear its head at the Melbourne Cup just before the final race? Or does television have a monopoly on it when depicting past eras? Surely elegance includes some refinement in thought and speech as well as observing reasonable etiquette. There seems to be a revival of sorts in etiquette, yet it is but a mere shard of the whole package. Jane Austen’s writings remind us that distance between the sexes prior to being married is not just some old-fashioned ploy designed to frustrate, but a space where romance and mystery can blossom. It is this distance where the imaginings of a promising future together can be entertained just a little longer, savoring the blissful ignorance of its encroaching earthly hardships. Perhaps it reminds us of the many shades of black and white, not all to be consumed within the space of one night. “Persuasion-Fashion in the Age of Jane Austen” is currently showing at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia until Nov. 8, 2009. Visit www.ngv.vic. gov.au for further information.
Marie Antoinette started the fashion craze for sheer white muslin gowns, which women all over Europe copied between 1790 and 1810.
FASHION IN THE A.M.: Morning dresses, 1801, plate in Gallery of fashion, vol. VII, 1 Nov. 1801–02, published by Nicolaus Heideloff, London, hand-colored etching, Julian Robinson Collection. Purchased, 1976. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
As Long as Achaeans Shall Exist How one artist gives new life to old Grecian objects By Neli Magdalini Epoch Times Staff
“As long as there shall be Achaeans, there shall be one Helen of Troy even if her hand lies at one place and her neck somewhere else,” reads the book “Maria Nephele” by the famous Greek poet Odysseus Elytis. That is what artist Vassiliki Theodorakidi Mamona says exemplifies the whole philosophy and meaning of her most recent exhibit, which seeks to show the spirit, the beauty, and the timelessness of Greek culture to the globe. By using today’s modern tools Theodorakidi aims to depict the true spirit, stories, and essence of ancient Greek culture to today’s people. Theodorakidi, award-winning artist in Greece and abroad and head person of the Thyreos organization, makes real her childhood dream and mission to promote art and culture worldwide. She takes a second look at ancient objects that have been taken for granted—the spiral movement of
GOLDEN CROWN: Artist Vassiliki Theodorakidi models one of her creations. Courtesy of Thyreos
the embossed ivy on the ancient column is transformed into a precious armlet, reaching up the shoulder. The handle of an ancient dagger, destined to arm the hand of a warrior, abandons its initial role, and by wrapping it gently to tame it, Theodorakidi lets the knife continue its protective role as a bangle. The samples of Greek expression, scattered though they are worldwide, will still their stories, and interact continuously with other cultures, explains Theodorakidi. Her exhibit, “As Long as There Shall Be Achaeans,” represents this idea and “the endless journey on the paths of human expression, which never saturates but instead constantly seeks new stimuli for creation,” Theodorakidi said. Theodorakidi references Ancient Greece, Minoan, and Mycenaean civilizations, of classical Athens, the height of the Macedonian Kingdom, and the Byzantine period. “According to our understanding, the legacy of the past has life, has breath, it comes to wake in us truths and sentiments,” Theodorakidi says of her philosophy. “One lifeless glass window is not enough to lock all the energy, the torrent of sentiments and meanings that spurt from one thing with a history of hundreds of years. Under a process of transmutation, it provokes us to hear it in order to teach us its experiences.” Theodorakidi believes that everything has a meaning and a mission before it even exists—for instance, that before Greeks made mathematically perfect art, they had a predestined mission to be pioneers in the area. The exhibition consists of a series of displays that depict the constant cycle of love-war-death. The centerpiece is the golden coronal of Helen of Troy and the helmet and golden mask of the ideal warrior, which symbolizes masculine strength. Together they represent the power of passion in whichever manifestation it comes, from the excess courage of the warrior who dies for ideals and valor, to erotic passion, which subjugates the warrior and leads him to the extreme. Such
LOVE, WAR, & DEATH: Theodorakidi with the shield of Philippos, father of Alexander the Great. Legend has it that Philippos fell in love with a woman he killed in battle not knowing her identity. Courtesy of Thyreos
deaths drive in the eternal memory, in the posthumous, and finally in the reborn, as everything is a circle. “Metaphorically, this circle expands in whatever ideals someone carries inside him and whichever personal war someone gives from his own bastion,” says Theodorakidi. The next stops for the exhibit are Washington D.C., in 2010; New York, Toronto, and Sydney. David Hill is based in Sydney. He is the chairman of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, of which Theodorakidi is also part. A Restorative Mission In addition to her artistic work, Theodorakidi advocates the return of Parthenon sculptures uprooted in 1806 from the temple and taken to England by Lord Elgin. “No one can buy wisdom and spirit, which are property of no one,” she said. “The Parthenon sculptures have to return to their rightful place because the ideal, the right, the eternal symbol of absolute symmetry has to be complete. The Parthenon is a spiritual ideal and has to be complete not only for the Greeks but for the whole world in order to exist as a complete worldwide testimony.” For more information about the exhibit, please see www.thyreosvassiliki.gr
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