Donna Rosenthal Life Patterns November / December 2011
My Fair Ladies : The Gem, 2011 vintage romance novels and jewelry catalogues, vintage costume jewelry, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hanger and base
63 x 16 x 16 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
My Fair Ladies : Queen of Romance, 2010 vintage romance comics and romance novels, vintage costume jewelry, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hanger and base
63 x 12 x 13 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Travelers : The Traveling Man/The Worldly Woman, 2011 maps, text, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets. Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Travelers : Travels Lightly/Way Too Much Baggage, 2011 maps, text, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Superheroes : Magnetic Man/Welcoming Woman, 2011 vintage superhero comics and romance novels, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hanger and bracket Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Superheroes : Miraculous Man/Well Meaning Woman, 2011 vintage superhero comics and romance novels, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hanger and bracket Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Wonderful Women : Confident, 2010 vintage superhero comics and romance novels, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 17 x 12.5 x 10 in. *may be purchased individually or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Wonderful Women : Passionate, 2010 vintage superhero comics and romance novels, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 17 x 10 x 9 in. *may be purchased individually or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Wonderful Women : Tender, 2010 vintage superhero comics and romance novels, text, glitter, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 17 x 12 x 11 in. *may be purchased individually or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Sugar,Sugar : Mouthwatering/Sinfully Decadent, 2011 vintage cookbooks, text, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets. Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
He Said...She Said, Sugar,Sugar : Scrumptious/Delectable, 2011 vintage cookbooks, text, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets. Couple measures 25 x 10 x 15 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Bubbly, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 10 x 9.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Cheerful, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 11 x 11 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Effervescent, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 5.5 x 5.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Expensive, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 5.5 x 5.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Firm, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 7.5 x 9.25 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Fruity, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 11.5 x 9 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Full Bodied, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 8 x 5.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Graceful, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 10.5 x 10.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Luscious, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 13 x 10 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Perky, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 12 x 9.25 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Tender, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 11 x 10.5 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Days of Wine & Roses Dress Quilt : Textured, 2009 vintage romance novels, text, vintage jewelry, gel medium, acrylic spray, steel hangers and brackets 6 x 6 x 17 in. *may be purchased individually, in multiples, or as a set
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Mirror, Mirror : Glitz, 2008-2009 crocheted metal dresses set inside embellished empty mirror frames, vintage costume jewelry, gold and silver leaf, ribbons, glitter, text 63 x 30 x 20 in.
Photo by Bill Orcutt
Word and Content: Donna Rosenthal and the Empty Dress Written by Jeannine Falino Through alternately playful, tender, and tough stances, Donna Rosenthal explores the nature of gender roles and social positions in today’s world. She combines language with elaborately constructed dresses that are executed with a host of found materials in order to challenge notions of identity, femininity, and masculinity. Carefully chosen words and phrases illuminate the struggle between the external and interior self, role playing, and expectations in the world of love and marriage. Her “empty dress” works, combined with text, serve as an eloquent surrogate that opens a dialogue between the artist and the viewer, who can complete or “fill” the garment with the memory of personal experience. Using materials that bridge the gap between art and craft, Rosenthal freely chooses from among vintage textiles and metal wires, along with an array of paper goods that ranges from cookbooks to comic books, romance novels to sheet music, and maps to clothing catalogues, for the subject matter that supports her vision for each garment. She carefully executes each piece employing techniques that may include knitting, crocheting, sewing, gluing, and embroidery. Each is embellished with a range of decorative elements such as buttons, costume jewelry, gold and silver leaf, paint, glitter, and found objects that combine to create a lively and coherent whole. Text is a key aspect of all these works. Rosenthal selects language that is alternately tender, ironic, humorous, pointed, and powerful, using it as a tool for communication, connection, and social commentary. Her goals are to shed some light on entrenched human behavior and to create a public forum for discussion. Rosenthal’s home environment provided innumerable opportunities for artistic pursuits. Her parents were window dressers who also operated a display store in New Haven, Connecticut. She has memories of playing with limitless art supplies while watching her parents work. Her mother, the child of a furrier, was a talented seamstress from whom the artist gained many of her skills in knitting, crocheting, and sewing. Her father was a skilled photographer and artist with an impeccable eye for detail. Both had a profound impact on her work.
After an early career as a stone carver, Rosenthal changed direction in the late 1990s and began making paper dresses and suits using archivally treated vintage papers as an ironic and humorous means of addressing the conservative era of her childhood. She grew up with television shows such as Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best, in an era when gender roles seemed clear and married couples lived happily ever after. These skillfully fashioned garments evoke memories of paper dolls and childhood fantasies of grownup life. Rosenthal soon began to include such feminine crafts as knitting and crochet when fabricating her garments. But instead of yarn she chose metal wire to fashion her clothes, with results that one writer observed “lay somewhere between chain mail and cocktail attire.” Rosenthal is not the first to use the garment in this fashion; rather she is one in a distinguished line of men and women who, during the last fifty years, have explored the garment as an external representation of the self. Perhaps the first modern garment in the armored vein was Mimi Smith’s early Steel Wool Peignoir (1966) that featured a disturbing contrast between the medium—steel wool—and the anticipated softness of the negligee, the ultimate feminine garment. Smith’s purpose was to illustrate the disparity between an illusory cinematic ideal, characterized by peignoir-clad wives who greeted their working husbands at day’s end, and the quotidian reality of married life. The subject was perhaps best treated in the 1993 traveling exhibition Empty Dress: Clothing as Surrogate in Recent Art, which included work in a range of media by Joseph Beuys, Lesley Dill, Maureen O’Connor, Elaine Reichek, and Cindy Sherman, many of whom Rosenthal acknowledges for their inspiration, along with other artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Ann Hamilton, Charles LeDray, Bettye and Allison Saar, and Laurie Simmons. The empty dress construct externalizes Rosenthal’s personal odyssey of becoming an independent, whole person in a complex modern world. Her working mother taught her, by example, the importance of having a career as well as a family, but Rosenthal also witnessed her difficulties in achieving that precarious balance. Like many of her generation, the artist experienced firsthand the challenges of mixing work with the responsibilities of a wife and mother. Her working process involves revisiting and obsessively questioning her personal history as well as developing a lexicon of new terms and “empty dress” forms that address empowerment, freedom, conflict resolution, and personal fulfillment.
Rosenthal explores her ideas in several series that she develops in tandem. In the He Said, She Said series, she employs a deft combination of empty garments—both male and female—and stereotypical statements to examine the cultural divide that exists between men and women, and expectations versus the realities in matters of love and marriage. She selects from an assortment of vintage print materials to create her garments, and combines them with language to build an identity for each of her forms. Text enables her to initiate a conversation that prompts viewers to consider their own personal histories and responses to such phrases as He said he’d never do me wrong . . . She said she’d always stand by me, He said he’d never go bald . . . She said she’d always stay thin, He said he’d be my soap opera guy . . . She said she’d be my Victoria’s Secret girl, and He said he wouldn’t hog the remote . . . She said she wouldn’t talk on the phone so much. Rosenthal’s “empty” garments offer viewers a means of placing themselves within the narrative, while her words set up a series of impossible expectations. Together they force viewers to consider their own stereotypes about the opposite sex. The communication gap between the sexes is one aspect of Rosenthal’s work and she understands it very well. She exposes the unrealistic fantasies, fed by romantic films and novels, that we harbor and project upon our lovers and spouses. The comments in her sharply contrasting labels confront us with humor and verve. In the Dress Quilt series, a quiltlike grouping of dresses that hangs from the wall, Rosenthal empowers her figures through her focus on positive virtues, humor, and sexual identity. In this way, she proposes that we go beyond stereotypical female attributes and begin to think about those usually associated with males. Made from similar materials, the dresses are differentiated by the language she uses to describe them, honoring the individual strength, character, and diverse personalities of women. Thus, her Wonderful Woman Dress Quilt, designed with Wonder Woman comic-book images, includes such words as “confident,” “decisive,” “tender,” “steadfast,” “fearless,” “audacious,” “courageous,” and “powerful.” In a similar fashion, she utilizes wine-related terms, tongue-in-cheek, in her Days of Wine and Roses Dress Quilt to characterize women who are alternately “firm,” “delicate,” “fruity,” “full-bodied,” “straightforward,” and “textured.” Rosenthal’s wry humor, so fitting and so especially evident in her choice of words, delivers a liberating message.
My Fair Lady is the title of a series of standing dresses, each created from vintage papers, textiles, buttons, lace, glitter, beads, and embellishments. Each dress is unique yet also part of the group. They offer a dramatized ideal of differently empowered women with fully realized personalities evoked through such words and phrases as Party Girl, Home Body, Queen of Romance, Trendsetter, or Woman of the World. Rosenthal’s Metal series is comprised of embellished crocheted or knitted metal garments. One group in the series, called Warrior Coats with Secret Words, is notable for its small, black, knitted-metal jackets featuring bold red words. These are words from the heart, such as “strength,” “family,” “sex,” “home,” and “courage,” and they serve as armored emblems of power, making the works talismans intended to guard and protect the wearer. Memory Wear is another such group, in which small, crocheted-metal coats are encrusted with vintage trinkets intended to prompt recollections from the viewer. The pieces in The Finalists, a series of three standing metal dresses, are each emblazoned with a girl’s name that embodies such eternal values as “Faith,” “Hope,” and “Joy.” Recently, Rosenthal has been combining vintage furniture and lighting fixtures with crocheted metals. To that end, the series Mirror Mirror, Glitz and Glamour offers a grouping of metal dresses set within jeweled standing mirror frames that each confront the viewer with his or her own image. You Light Up My Life is a new series of crocheted metal dresses that are set atop vintage lighting, emblematic of the light and hope that women bring to relationships. Of course, fashion has always been a servant to a social message, whether in the form of the power suit or the string bikini, and the link between clothes and identity—as well as defense— is a longstanding one. In adopting the motif of the empty dress more than a decade ago, Rosenthal felt it offered the best way to convey these issues, with the “empty” forms allowing viewers to project themselves and their personal experiences into the garments. While her forms are mostly under life-size, the works pack a visual punch that has a full-scale impact. The fragile beauty of her empty garments belies their serious intent. A clever mix of sweet and tough, hard and soft, these works deliver a serious commentary on identity and the sexual divide. The charm of her delightfully assembled and embellished garments helps to take some of the sting out of her message, even as it conveys important lessons about the freedom of women to make their own choices—and to take full responsibility for the consequences.
Jeannine Falino is a curator for the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, New York
Notes 1 The term “empty dress” represents the study or use of clothing, at a remove from the body, as a method of inquiry into identity. It was the title of an exhibition entitled Empty Dress: Clothing as Surrogate in Recent Art; see Nina Felshin’s essay in the exhibition catalogue (New York: Independent Curators, Incorporated, 1993). 2 Cate McQuaid, “Other Eyes on Woman’s Work,” The Boston Globe, March 31, 2010. 3 Mimi Smith, Steel Wool Peignoir, 1966, collection of the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas.4 4 Empty Dress, op. cit. 5 The concept of jewelry as armor has recently been revived in the term “elegant armor,” used to describe the jewelry collection at the Museum of Arts & Design. See Ursula Ilse-Neuman’s Elegant Armor:Tthe Art of Jewelry (New York: Museum of Arts & Design, 2008).