Markus Raimondi: Event 2

I visited the Fowler museum and saw the Reflecting Culture exhibit for the Fowler Collection of Silver. I thoroughly enjoyed other exhibits at the museum but this one stood out to me the most for me to write about. This exhibit contained 251 different objects that came from Europe, Britain and the United States. The silver objects were all still in great condition which I thought was pretty remarkable. The objects came from well known silversmiths and jewelers such as Paul de Lamerie from Britain, Karl Faberge from Russia and Paul Revere from the United States. What I thought was most interesting about this exhibit was that these pieces of silver can convey what is going on at that time period. For example, comparing the silver from Paul Revere in the United States looked similar to some of the contemporary silver from Britain. This made me realize that even though the United States and Britain are across the Atlantic Ocean, they share these creative similarities. The colonies that came from Britain significantly influenced the United States's social culture. Furthermore, it seemed that silver in this time period demonstrated societal hierarchy. Citizens who had wealth had these nice pieces of silver. It showed that they had money and that they needed to have it in their cabinets or on their tables so that others could see it and think highly of them or status.

This exhibit therefore really connects to me on the combination of society and art. Art can be a reflection of the ongoing societal norms. We can use it to gain insight into the past to see how people lived and how people with different socioeconomic backgrounds lived as well. I never thought that this would be the case before I took this class, but after learning about society and art and then actually viewing it in an exhibit, the connection really took hold. I would recommend this exhibit to anyone looking for insight into our past world.