Was Peter Carl Fabergé the ultimate craftsmen or the ultimate copycat?

Published by Amanda on June 6, 2013 at 12:41 pm in Fabergé: A Brilliant Vision

Every artist seeks inspiration, and this was certainly true for Carl Fabergé. After attending the Fabergé Symposium in January of this year and listening to his great-granddaughter, Tatiana Fabergé, speak, I was initially surprised by what she was showing us. However, once I considered the artist that was Fabergé, her presentation came into clear focus.

Tatiana presented various screen shots of objects found in Dresden, Germany, as well as work completed by Fabergé. What was so shocking, you might ask? It was the eerie similarities of older, famous items to renowned Fabergé pieces. These works of art, side by side, were almost identical. Although to be fair (or maybe a bit biased) the Fabergé pieces were just a little more beautiful.

My first shocking thought was that Fabergé might have made a job out of creating replicas. However, after continued study of the objects in the presentation, I began to see what was unique to Fabergé. It became evident that he did not steal designs; he was inspired by them and created something even more beautiful and, in some cases, more functional. Like any good artist, Fabergé sought inspiration outside of his own sphere, using what he found to create stunning, unique pieces.

Tatiana went on to explain that her great-grandfather had been sent around the world to study the best types of jewelry-making and goldsmithing. However, it was when his family moved to Dresden that Fabergé would find significant inspiration. The city had treasures of baroque art that could stir the imagination of a young artist. One piece Fabergé studied that is of interest to us in particular was a cup made of rhinoceros horn, held by an oriental figure. The Houston Museum of Natural Science, with gratitude to the McFerrin Collection, has the honor of displaying the object that was created from this inspiration.

This particular statuette, a near replica, is made of nephrite and smoked topaz with pearls and small precious stones. It was shown in the 1893 Fabergé Moscow catalog and sold for 4,000 rubles, the same amount the Russian Royal Family paid for a single Imperial Easter Egg. It is uniquely Fabergé, yet German baroque art as well.

Visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Fabergé: A Brilliant Vision to see this object among others that Fabergé sought to create in his own style.

You’ll flip over the new summer exhibit at HMNS Sugar Land

Published by Caroline on June 5, 2013 at 3:32 pm in HMNS Sugar Land

Spills and thrills, flips and dips. Learn the physics behind the fun at Amusement Park Science, HMNS Sugar Land’s latest summer exhibition.

Bring your family and interact with a K’Nex activity area, build your own roller coaster and manipulate models like The Rotor, Magnetic Circus and Wacky Waves to learn how amusement park rides stay tight on the tracks.

This exhibition organized by The Discovery Center Museum, Rockford, Illinois. To learn more or purchase tickets online, click here!

Seeing Stars with James Wooten: June 2013

Published by James on June 3, 2013 at 3:30 pm in Astronomy

Mercury and Venus are together in the west at dusk. Venus outshines everything but the Sun and Moon, so you can begin observing it during deep twilight. Once you’ve found Venus, look for the dimmer Mercury, which will be above Venus and a little to its left in early June. The crescent Moon is near the pair on June 10. After mid-month, we see Mercury reverse field and head back into the glare of the Sun.

Saturn is now an evening object, shining in the southeast at dusk. Although not as bright as Venus, it does outshine the stars around it, so you can’t miss it. Mars and Jupiter are out of sight on the far side of the Sun this month.

The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing up. From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’ — those stars are in the south at dusk. Leo the Lion, is high in the west at dusk.

Antares, brightest star of Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the southeast, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius rising behind it. The Summer Triangle has fully risen in the northeast. The stars of summer are here.

Moon Phases in June 2013:

New                                June 8, 10:58 a.m.
First Quarter                  June 16, 12:24 p.m.
Full                                 June 23, 6:33 a.m.
Last Quarter                  June 29, 11:54 p.m.

At 12:04 am on Friday, June 21, the Sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, the farthest point north at which the Sun can be overhead. This is therefore the summer solstice. On this date, those of us north of the equator enjoy more daylight and less night than on any other date of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, folks experience the longest night and the shortest day, and the season is winter.

On most clear Saturday nights at the George Observatory, you can hear me do live star tours on the observation deck with a green laser pointer. If you’re there, listen for my announcement. I generally do one such tour on short May nights.

To enjoy the stars in any weather from the comfort of the HMNS Planetarium, click here for a full schedule.

Educator How-To: Create your own ancient Egyptian art using frontalism

Published by Kat on May 31, 2013 at 1:38 pm in Education

Ancient Egyptian artists adhered to strict rules when producing works of art. The human form was depicted with the head in profile, eye drawn in full, torso forward-facing, and legs in profile — one foot in front of the other. This style, known as frontalism, gave the figures a sense of formality. Whether standing or sitting, the subjects appear rigid in pose: gaze set, body stiff.

Red lines represent the system used in the Old Kingdom. The addition of the white graph is indicative of the system used from the Middle Kingdom to the Late Period

Proportions were kept consistent through the use of grids and lines. The earliest examples from the Old Kingdom employed a simple system of horizontal guidelines with one vertical line bisecting the figure though the ear. Beginning with the Middle Kingdom up to the Late Period, a grid of 18 squares was used to reproduce standing figures and to allow the picture to be enlarged or made smaller while ensuring that the proportionality of the figure’s anatomy remained intact.

Paintings were most likely planned on papyrus paper and later transferred to tomb walls by an artisan using the grid system as an aid.

Try your hand at using the grid system to copy an ancient Egyptian work of art! All you need is a copy of the blank grid, a copy of the tomb painting on the grid, and a pencil.