The Urge to Embellish - ISM Museums and Galleries
The Urge to Embellish
 This exhibition examines a basic human impulse–the urge to embellish. Visitors will have the opportunity to view an eclectic array of new acquisitions and rarely-seen works from the Illinois State Museum Collection made predominantly by non-professional artists. The objects reveal how embellishment has been guided by experimentation, learned behavior, social expectations, and tradition. Included are commemorative, ceremonial, decorative, functional, and whimsical objects spanning nearly two centuries with a heavy concentration from the mid-to late-nineteenth century when the idiom of effusive ornamentation reached its zenith and pervaded visual culture. The exhibition is comprised of 2- and 3- dimensional pieces constructed with beads, ceramic, feathers, fibers, human hair, metal, papier-mâché, porcelain, and wood.
Learn about other exhibitions currently at the ISM Museums and Galleries.
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