I thought about visiting the Met today, but settled on an on-line visit instead. Sometimes uptown feels too far away, which is ironic because for most of my life, I had lived over a thousand miles away from there and now a few dozen blocks seems far.
However, during my on-line “visit” today, I discovered that everyday, a work of art is featured. You can even make an on-line gallery of your favorite pieces. Although this is not the same as seeing it in person, I think it is a great way to learn something new.
Today’s work happens to be a scrapbook that “contains a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings, calling cards, sketches, photographs of paintings, designs for silverware, and sale catalogs relating to William Harnett (1848–1892), the Irish-born American still-life painter who was a master of trompe-l’oeil.”
I was especially drawn to this because I like to think that Vintage Muffy is very similar to Harnett’s scrapbook. I was curious as to when “scrapbooking” became an art form. I am sure that as an artist, Mr. Harnett did everything with taste and style, including in the way he presented and organized his scrapbook.
Searching for the history of scrapbooking, I came across www.scrapbook-widower.blogspot.com. In this scrapper’s blog, they discuss early scrappers from 600 A.D. in Peru. The blogger points out that early societies used different medias than today’s paper, photographs, and, now, blogs, but they were trying to do the same thing: record a moment in history. While trying to get my life a little more organized, I have vowed to follow in the footsteps of ancient cultures and keep my moments safe by scrapbooking them as soon as they happen. A great site that gives me inspiration is www.twopeasinabucket.com. The ideas of other scrappers on this site never ceases to inspire me and viewing their works feels like it is an on-line museum.
