Author’s Acknowledgments

Tartsinis, Ann Marguerite

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Author’s Acknowledgments

Ann Marguerite Tartsinis

Description: An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design,...

An American Style: Global Sources for New York Textile and Fashion Design, 1915–1928

~An American Style is the product of the dedication of and collaboration among many talented members of the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) community. I am deeply indebted to the BGC’s founder and director, Susan Weber, for her enthusiasm and commitment to this project from the outset. This exhibition would not have come to realization without the foresight of...

Author

Ann Marguerite Tartsinis

PublisherBard Graduate Center

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21664

Author’s Acknowledgments

An American Style is the product of the dedication of and collaboration among many talented members of the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) community. I am deeply indebted to the BGC’s founder and director, Susan Weber, for her enthusiasm and commitment to this project from the outset. This exhibition would not have come to realization without the foresight of Nina Stritzler-Levine, director of the BGC Gallery, who initially proposed that my 2011 BGC master’s thesis be the subject of a Focus Gallery Project. For this and her unwavering support I am extremely grateful. The continued success of the Focus Gallery Project is a testament to the leadership of dean Peter Miller, whose dedication, along with that of Susan Weber and Nina Stritzler-Levine, has fostered this unique vision for academic and curatorial exploration. Ivan Gaskell, head of the Focus Gallery, has been an invaluable mentor and colleague and his expert guidance has shaped this endeavor in many ways.

Since this project was first conceived as my master’s thesis, I have benefited enormously from the formative comments, mentorship, and encouragement of several BGC faculty members, particularly my advisors, Michele Majer and Aaron Glass. I am also grateful to the additional faculty members and colleagues whose insights have shaped my own thinking over the last five years: Ken Ames, David Jaffee, Amy Ogata, Elizabeth Simpson, and Catherine Whalen, among many others. I would also like to thank Susan Weber, Peter Miller, and Jeffrey Collins for recognizing my thesis with the Clive Wainwright Award for outstanding master’s thesis in the field of decorative arts, design history, and material culture, and so kindly encouraging further work on this project.

This exhibition and accompanying volume is also the outgrowth of the collaborative efforts of the Focus Gallery team, whose generosity, enthusiasm, and tireless ambition brought this project to realization: Ian Sullivan designed the striking installation; Han Vu produced the American Museum Journal interactive and the arresting slide show and projection of negatives from the American Museum of Natural History Special Collections; dean Elena Pinto Simon provided generous feedback and assistance; and Kimon Keramidas effortlessly managed the production of the American Art in American Dress interactive, an indispensable component of the exhibition in which Robin Wright Owen, Evan Rose, and Ellen Zhao of MediaCombo have artfully brought my ideas to life. Finally, I must express my sincere gratitude to chief curator Marianne Lamonaca, who graciously shared her curatorial expertise throughout the completion of this project.

I am indebted to many additional colleagues at the BGC for the boundless energy, time, and support they devoted to this project, especially: Rebecca Allan, Kate DeWitt, Eric Edler, Izabella Elwart, Alexis Mucha, Stephen Nguyen, Aurora Robles, Vanessa Rossi, and Lynn Thommen. I would like to recognize Earl Martin and Elizabeth St. George for their kind assistance, diligent proofreading, and insightful conversations. I am thankful to BGC graduate students Alison Kowalski, Sophia Lufkin, and Zahava Friedman-Stadler for their important research and notable contributions to the catalogue and exhibition texts. I would also like to acknowledge the many members of the extended BGC community who have contributed to the production of this volume: Mary Christian, copy editor; Charmain Devereaux, proofreader; Bruce White, photographer; and Enid Zafran, indexer. Sally Salvesen at Yale University Press, kindly shared her editorial wisdom. I extend a very special thanks to Laura Grey, former BGC art director and a dear friend, whose skillful catalogue design truly evokes the story of An American Style.

I would like to join the director in thanking the lenders and contributors to this exhibition and accompanying volume, especially at the American Museum of Natural History: Laurel Kendell, chair of the Division of Anthropology; Kristen Mable, Division of Anthropology registrar for archives and loans; Judith Levinson, Division of Anthropology director of conservation; Samantha Alderson, Division of Anthropology objects conservator; Barbara Mathé, archivist and head of Library Special Collections; and Gregory Raml, Special Collections and research librarian. Without these individuals’ generous assistance this project would not have been possible.

Numerous archivists, collectors, curators, librarians, and scholars kindly guided me through the dense thickets of correspondence, periodicals, storage rooms, and museum collections essential to the realization of this project, and to these colleagues I am indebted: Barry Harwood and Leslie Gerhauser, the Brooklyn Museum; Deirdre Lawrence and Angie Park, the Brooklyn Museum Library and Archives; Lynn Weidner, The Museum at FIT; Harold Koda and Sarah Scaturro, The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Julie Tran Lê, the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; James Moske, Office of the Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel Archives, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Meghan Melvin and Lauren D. Whitley, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Kate Irvin, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; Doris Bowman and Margaret Grandine, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; Ashley Callahan; Donna Ghelerter; Ira Jacknis; Giles Kotcher; Madelyn Shaw; and Susan Ward. Particular thanks go to Joan Brancale, Solveig Cox, and Ilonka Sigmund, who shared personal collections and family histories.

Many friends and family have extended their support over the course of this project’s realization and to them I am extremely grateful. I extend a special note of thanks and appreciation to Ben Harrington, without whose deft editorial hand, encouragement, patience, and infinite humor I would not have sustained this project. And last but not least, I would like to express deep gratitude to my mother, Jean, and dedicate this volume to my late father, Dimitrios K. Tartsinis.

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