Eye of the Beholder

One of our own, Laura Anne Gust, along with her talented co-curators are putting on a show at NYU all about eyes through the decades of the last century. Let’s join them for the symposium on the 28th to learn all about vintage makeup and more. After the talk we will get to walk through the gallery and see the show. The talk is 2 hours and includes a key note speaker. The gallery will be so much fun to see after hearing about the different decades. The lovely ladies who curated the show and are talking are: Laura Anne Gust
Elena Kanagey-Loux
Jessica Barker
Adam Hayes
Lauren Richter-Surinach
Stephanie Sporn
Lizanne Brown

Then, Kathy Peiss will be the key-note speaker, author of "Hope in a Jar:The Making of America's Beauty Culture"

Come in your favorite decade! We can all go for a late lunch or early drinks together afterwards! Plenty of places near there. From the official site: This exhibition surveys the American products, advertisements, and icons that have contributed to cosmetic lid, lash, and brow trends from the 1900s to the present day. Arguably the most distinctive feature of the face, eyes have the power to transform one's outward appearance, while also uniquely conveying inner character. Highly expressive, they serve as nonverbal communicators of emotions ranging from sympathy and envy to fear and flirtation. Since ancient times, people have sought to enhance their eyes through preening and the application of cosmetics. Featuring publications, photographs, and material culture, The Eye of the Beholder contextualizes and synthesizes each decade's notion of the ideal eye. From 1920s Max Factor cake mascara to the Urban Decay Naked Palette of the 2010s, exhibition objects include grooming tools and makeup essentials, ads, patents, periodicals, and guidebooks sourced from personal collections, such as that of Bésame Cosmetics Founder Gabriela A. Hernandez, and professional archives, including the archive of Maybelline New York and the Coty Archives, Max Factor and Cover Girl Collections. By examining defining moments within the cosmetic industry’s immense commercial output, this exhibition will illustrate how companies tap into the zeitgeist of each era to perpetually create a prevailing look, often reviving past beauty styles in the process. Although eye aesthetics are ever changing, the pursuit of "ideal" beauty-whether paradoxically natural or conspicuously artificial- is remarkably enduring.