The Victoria & Albert Museum exceeded all my expectations that I had for it. I really enjoyed how there was a mixture of different artifacts, for example, costumes, paintings, ceramics, sculptures, etc. When one walks into the main entrance they can see a beautiful altar piece straight ahead and a modern glass blown chandelier. It was nice to see such historic artifacts mixed with modern art. The first room we visited was the Islamic artifacts.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Minbar for Sultan Qa’itbay from 1468-96. This was a pulpit used to delivered sermons for midday prayers on Friday. This was there main service for the week. There were many different wood carving techniques used to decorate this piece. It appears every inch of the wood was decorated or carved in some way. This was a very beautiful pulpit that caught my eye because it reminded me of home. My Church has a pulpit like this design and my dad does a lot of wood carving projects. It is nice to see items from history that can still remind one of people or places familiar to them.

The costumes presented in this museum were very interesting to witness. I was amazed by how easy it was to detect the year the dress was worn just because of the way it would fit. This evening dress by Jacques Griffe stuck out to me because of the fray incorporated into the design. It was a cut and fringed double weave organza dress that was worn in the 1950s. The qualities that date back to that period is the smaller waist and the bigger skirt. I really like how this style looks, but I think it would be uncomfortable to wear.

This sculpture was placed in the center of the room to where one could not miss it if they walked by. St John the Baptist was the name and it was created by Auguste Rodin in 1879-1880. This sculpture was slightly larger than life-size and casted from a live model. The model was an Italian peasant, who came up with the pose on his own. The model is supposed to suggest that the individual is physically strong and in a charged mental state. To me the sculpture looks as though the man is in deep thought while walking. I can relate to this because I find walking very relaxing and the best time to consider deeper thoughts.

 

Bibliography:

“V&A · The World’s Leading Museum of Art and Design.” Introduction to 19th-Century Fashion, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL. Telephone +44 (0)20 7942 2000. Email Vanda@Vam.ac.uk, www.vam.ac.uk/.

“Evening Dress | Griffe, Jacques.” V&A Search the Collections, collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O143166/evening-dress-griffe-jacques/.

(All Photos By Me)