Last week was my birthday. My husband and I celebrated by taking a ride up to Milwaukee and have lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. Somehow, we missed our turn and ended up driving through the neighborhood rather than the man road. As we were driving along, we just happened to drive by the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee. As we drove past, I notice a sign advertising their current exhibit, Stitching History From the Holocaust. I wanted to know more so I marked it down intending to look it up later. When we sat down for lunch, my sister-in-law handed me an envelope and in it were print outs and newspaper clippings about the exhibit. I couldn't believe the serendipity! Since then, I have read all that I could and I am so fascinated. So much so that I wanted to share it with all of you as well. There are only 8 sketches, but those 8 sketches held a very heavy burden. The designer, Hedwig and her husband Paul had hoped that the sketches might buy their way out of Europe. Sadly, they did not and they lost their life in a concentration camp.
The sketches were found some years ago and given to the Jewish Museum in Milwaukee. The sketches have been brought to life and are now on exhibit. Not only were the designs created, attention was paid to every detail, down to creating the fabric. At the end of this post I've attached a video that I hope you will take the time to watch. It tells the story of the couple and how the exhibit was painstakingly created.
The exhibit runs through February 28th. If you live anywhere that is within driving distance of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I think this is an exhibit well worth seeing.
I had read about this exhibition recently. What a marvelous thing to do. It was such a shame that they never got accepted to come to America. The World lost a great talent. xx
ReplyDeleteA very interesting exhibit. Happy birthday, Rhonda!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this very touching story. If I lived closer, I would definitely visit this exhibit, so many thanks for bringing it to my attention and enabling me visit it from afar.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tragic story!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rhonda, for sharing this! You know how much I love dresses, and these are quite special. I don't have plans to visit Milwaukee in the winter, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.
ReplyDeleteOh, I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this video and the dresses. What a lovely memorial for this lady. Even though the end of the story is sad, the legacy is wonderful. Thank you for sharing, once again.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this story, and for linking to the excellent video. A very touching tale, and so wonderful that these sketches were finally brought to three dimensional reality.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this incredibly beautiful and sad story. It is such a touching tribute to lost woman and her extraordinary talent. Her styles are lovely, and her attention to detail amazing. I'd love to be able to study the garments themselves, to discover all of the details that aren't apparent at a distance or through a photo. Thanks again for a perfectly wonderful Monday Morning Inspiration.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Belated Birthday!
Thanks for sharing. Wish I lived closer so I could see it.
ReplyDeleteAs thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the video! A tragic story, but a beautiful legacy.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, the more we know, the more we come together in this world, the less likely we will be to hate and allow things like this to happen. We can hope :)
DeleteRhonda, I just watched the video. What a great story---actually two stories: Of Hedy and her dresses, and how the museum created the exhibition. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. It's great that the Museum would bring this great story to life.
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