We are excited to announce that decorative art advisor Genevieve Wheeler Brown will be giving a lecture about her new book BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic on Saturday October 25th at 1:00pm EST.  This exclusive event will take place at the Lotos Club, which will also be the venue for the Holland Society’s 135th Dinner Dance later that evening.  A virtual option will be available for those that will not be in town for the Dinner Dance.

A longtime New Yorker and former Christie’s specialist, Genevieve Brown reveals the hidden story of a Dutch Delftware collection tucked away for decades in a Gilded Age women’s club on the Upper East Side. Her book explores how women—from 17th-century Dutch pottery owners to 20th-century collectors—shaped the history of blue-and-white ceramics.

Set against the backdrop of New York’s cultural evolution, BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE traces the influence of pioneering women such as Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt and her daughter Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose collecting shaped tastes and institutions.  The author also weaves in stories from the Bronx’s colonial past to the founding of New York’s great museums, spotlighting the critical yet often overlooked role women played as curators, patrons, and preservationists.

In the book, we meet female Delftware makers, including Barbara Rotteveel, founder of “The Three Bells” Delftware factory in 1671. We are introduced to female Delftware patrons such as Queen Mary II, who found her means of expression while creating a vogue in the 17th century for Delft blue and white across royal courts. And then there are the female collectors beginning in the 19th century who saw the artistry and craft in these ceramics others had overlooked. Foremost among them was Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II who came together with fellow New York women and laid the groundwork for women in the museum world while preserving decorative arts with an educational mission.

Tickets:

In-person ticket | $40

In-person ticket + copy of Beyond Blue and White | $70

Click here to attend the book presentation virtually | $25