Luxury for Export:
Artistic Exchange between India and Portugal around 1600
February 8 – May 4, 2008

EXPLORE THE EXHIBITION

In the early 1500s the Portuguese established trading ports throughout the Indian Ocean, initiating an extensive commercial network that soon stretched throughout Asia. Portuguese traders returned to Europe with luxury objects of superb artistry, often fashioned from exotic materials. In turn, European works of art were eagerly sought by the Mughal emperors who ruled much of the Indian Subcontinent by 1600. The precious objects in this exhibition - made of ivory, mother-of-pearl, crystal, gold, and gemstones - vividly illustrate this dynamic exchange.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a rare silk embroidery made in Bengal specifically for export to Portugal. Unique in imagery, the textile depicts a triumphal arch surrounded by a myriad of birds, beasts, and humans, making it one of the richest and most fascinating products of trade between India and the West in the 17th century.

Curated by Pedro Moura Carvalho.

Luxury for Export is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella, Travel Scrapbooks 1883/2008
June 26 – September 28, 2008

During her residency at the Gardner Museum, Luisa Rabbia was inspired by photographs Isabella Stewart Gardner collected while traveling in China in 1883. For this exhibition, Rabbia has used these archival photographs to create a video of an imaginary landscape animated with her own drawings as well as other images and music. The result is a fantastical narrative that is both contemporary and historical.

Luisa Rabbia’s work is deeply rooted in drawing, which she sees as a platform that unites rational construct with the imagination. The dynamic tension that exists in drawing between the figure and its background, the being and becoming of space and time, has influenced much of Rabbia’s work with paper, papier-maché, porcelain and animation.

Luisa Rabbia was an Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner in 2007. She currently lives and works in New York and Turin, Italy.

The 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Nimoy Foundation, and generous individuals. The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Boston Phoenix is media sponsor.

The Triumph of Marriage:
Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance
October 16, 2008 – January 19, 2009

In Renaissance Italy, cassoni –Italian for “large chests” – were an essential part of the rituals of elite marriages. Made in pairs and often painted with historical and allegorical scenes, these chests were paraded through the streets, like trophies, when the bride moved into the house of her new husband.  The narrative paintings with which they were decorated linked marriage to history and the roles appropriate to husband and wife. Cassoni offered artists an opportunity to develop new subjects in new formats, fusing space and time in consecutive scenes; dramatizing conflicts between love and duty; and almost always concluding with a vision of triumphant harmony.

The exhibition and its programs are supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The Triumph of Marriage will travel to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, where it will be on view beginning February 2009. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.