Natalie Greenberg
The Brooklyn Museum’s newest art and fashion blockbuster is all about gold. Gold jewelry, lots and lots of gold fashion, gold paintings, gold sculptures, gold home furnishings, gold objects and gold bars are exhibited in this shining, brilliant, glittery show.
The Brooklyn Museum is celebrating it’s 200th anniversary and what better way than to showcase some of its holdings. About half of the fashion and objects on display are from the museum’s own collections. The curators decided to focus on the precious metal gold, which was used from ancient times to the present to express the essence of beauty, joy, success, wealth and spiritual enlightenment.
“The idea came up about doing a show about one medium in the collection for the anniversary,” senior curator Matthew Yokobosky said during the preview. “I based the exhibition checklist on our impressive permanent collection,” he said. “In reviewing our holdings, nearly 4,000 works are gold or have a gold aspect and span thousands of years, from ancient times to today.” Brooklyn Museum curators chose about 250 works and then enriched them with loans of fashion, jewelry and art. They combined the old (the oldest item being a large sarcophagus lid from the 22nd Dynasty, which is on view for the first time in over a century) with the new, including garments such as a golden-foil ball gown from Balenciaga’s Spring 2022 collection.
The show is not chronologic, but keeps the viewers interest by interspersing contemporary fashion and jewelry alongside ancient golden artifacts such as Egyptian art, coins and jewelry. The fashions are quite spectacular, with golden examples of clothing and footwear designed by Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Halston, Christian Louboutin, Mary McFadden, Azzedine Alaïa, Anna Sui, Gianfranco Ferré, Norma Kamali, and Balenciaga. Even though the gorgeous, glittering fashions are the main event of this show, the jewelry and accessories are just as breathtaking.
The story of gold is told throughout the displays, beginning from when the ancient peoples first discovered it in riverbeds and streams and thought that it was a magical element. Visitors can view a film showing the dangerous conditions that gold miners suffer, all to be able to find some gold and strike it rich. The story continues with objects from many of the world’s religions, all using gold in art and objects.
Mixed in with all the objects and fashion are some fun film clips. One was of Elizabeth Taylor in the film “Cleopatra” where she was wearing a 24 karat gold cape. Another film that was really enjoyable was from the disco era. For the Broadway-to-film adaption of The Wiz, many NYC artists contributed to the dance sequences that featured more than 100 dancers dressed in golden costumes designed by Norma Kamali.
The “golden” art on display alongside the fashion, objects and film were to me the most spectacular aspect of this show. Early Renaissance paintings depicting religious themes used gold leaf. Japanese screens and golden furnishings from long ago display the richness of those times. And contemporary works from Agnes Martin, Jean-Michel Basquiat and El Anatsui all employ gold in such wonderful and different ways than it was ever used before. And be sure not to miss the wall created by an artist using over one thousand gilded bars! If the bars were solid gold (which they are not) the wall would represent over 1 billion dollars!
This glittery show is for everyone, from young to old. It is thoroughly enjoying and entertaining. Be prepared to not only be wowed by the fashion and jewels, but to enjoy the extravagant, opulent and detail-oriented way this show is presented to us.
“Solid Gold” runs through July 6 at the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York.
Natalie Greenberg is a former Brooklyn College Art History professor. She is currently teaching studio art at MUSEBK.
