Cocktail Culture

Dec. 15, 2011 - March 11, 2012

Summer Cocktail Party with English Butler, 1961
By: Larry Salk (American, 1936–2004)
Watercolor, gouache, ink on paper
Gift of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf 2009.79
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Cocktail Culture is one of the first multi-disciplinary exhibitions to explore the social rituals of the cocktail hour through the lens of fashion and design. Featuring more than 150 objects, including attire, accessories, ads, decorative arts, illustrations, photography and more from the 1920s to the present, the exhibition will leave you positively stirred, not shaken! This chronological survey includes objects from collections at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Newark Museum, the Tiffany & Co. Archive, Miottel Museum in California, and private lenders. Featured in the exhibition are examples of fashionable cocktail attire by legendary designers such as Cristobal Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Jeanne Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Norman Norell, Scaasi, Valentino, Pierre Cardin, and accessories by Elsa Schiaparelli, Tiffany, Judith Leiber, Christian Dior, Van Cleef & Arpel, and Kenneth Jay Lane.

Local presentation of this exhibition is made possible in part through the generosity of Mr. Bruce Beal , Vanessa and Anthony Beyer, Annie and Michael Falk, Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf, Mr. and Mrs. William J. Soter and Wilmington Trust.
Media support provided by The Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach Illustrated and WPTV Channel 5.