Some of the dolls in the "Real Beauty" exhibit
Claudia Demonte’s exhibit of handmade dolls from around the world, entitled “Real Beauty,” focuses on conceptions of feminine beauty. Co-sponsored by the Department of Art and the Year of International Human Rights 2010-11: Women’s Rights, the exhibit opens on Friday, Jan. 21, in the Hunt Gallery at 8342 Big Bend Blvd. Funding assistance is being provided by the Missouri Art Council and the Regional Arts Commission.
In conjunction with the exhibit’s opening, Katherine Poole, Assistant Professor of Art History at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, will speak on Renaissance notions of idealized female beauty. An art historian whose specialty is the Italian Renaissance and particularly women artists, Dr. Poole received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Her lecture will be at noon on Jan. 21 in Sverdrup 123.
An opening reception for the “Real Beauty” exhibit takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. in Hunt Gallery. Andrea Miller, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Year of International Human Rights, will give remarks at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
A "Real Beauty" doll by Palestinian artist Rana Bishara
The “Real Beauty” exhibit comprises “found” dolls, which are older, handmade fabric dolls by unknown makers that Claudia Demonte has collected from around the world, as well as fabric dolls by contemporary artists. According to Demonte, “The juxtaposition of the old and new can inspire and inform our perceptions of cultural beauty. And, in our media-obsessed world, where personalities obsessed world, where personalities of the week get more news time than starvation and war, the handmade doll seems to evoke not only a simpler time but a time more in tune with what is truly important.”
Demonte has called her exhibit of dolls from 80 countries from all corners of the world part of her “larger and ongoing goal to capture what is left of individual cultures as we evolve into one global culture.”
“Real Beauty” will be on display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through Feb. 19. The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Andrea Miller at 314-968-8698 or by e-mail at andreamiller31@webster.edu.
