A Bit of Paris along the Columbia
Thursday Mom and I and the boys went out to the Maryhill Museum. It's about a 2 hour drive from Portland, in Goldendale, Washington. Straight from the brochure, the Maryhill Museum of Art is set in a castle-like chateau on a stunning 6,000 acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge. It truely is an amazing view and the grounds are just beautifully kept. They have a collection of furniture and other items from Queen Marie of Roumania. Her court gown is just so detailed a picture can't do it justice. And they have a large collection of chess sets. And the reason Mom wanted me to go most of all, is their collection of Theatre de la Mode Fashion dolls. Just a brief history: Due to minimal resources during war times, these dolls were created in 1944 to make a statement to the world that Paris was still the center of fashion. The miniature mannequins were dressed in current couture and were exhibited in 1945 in liew of a full scale fashion show. Once they had traveled the world, they were abandoned in the basement of a department store in San Francisco. Where they were later found in 1983 and sent to the Maryhill Museum. An old article in the Oregon Journal says, "How Maryhill got the collection is still something of a mystery..." --You've really got to see them. They're 1/3 scale of an actual size fashion collection. And these unique fashion dolls reside right here in the Northwest. It's interesting that they were placed here, instead of New York or someplace more notable.
Thursday Mom and I and the boys went out to the Maryhill Museum. It's about a 2 hour drive from Portland, in Goldendale, Washington. Straight from the brochure, the Maryhill Museum of Art is set in a castle-like chateau on a stunning 6,000 acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge. It truely is an amazing view and the grounds are just beautifully kept. They have a collection of furniture and other items from Queen Marie of Roumania. Her court gown is just so detailed a picture can't do it justice. And they have a large collection of chess sets. And the reason Mom wanted me to go most of all, is their collection of Theatre de la Mode Fashion dolls. Just a brief history: Due to minimal resources during war times, these dolls were created in 1944 to make a statement to the world that Paris was still the center of fashion. The miniature mannequins were dressed in current couture and were exhibited in 1945 in liew of a full scale fashion show. Once they had traveled the world, they were abandoned in the basement of a department store in San Francisco. Where they were later found in 1983 and sent to the Maryhill Museum. An old article in the Oregon Journal says, "How Maryhill got the collection is still something of a mystery..." --You've really got to see them. They're 1/3 scale of an actual size fashion collection. And these unique fashion dolls reside right here in the Northwest. It's interesting that they were placed here, instead of New York or someplace more notable.
Maryhill Museum
3 comments:
How fun! We love checking out museums and such.
Wow! Now I want to go there. Looks awesome!
Its been such a long time sents I've been there! would love to take the girls up next time we are in Oregon.
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