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From the 1930’s to the present, flight attendant uniforms have changed from military inspired outfits to pillbox topped glamour to psychedelic patterns to modern pieces created by top designers.
Of course I have an interest in these uniforms! I have worn one for almost 27 years!
So, shortly before heading to Rotterdam, when I learned from a friend that the Kunsthal Museum was displaying an exhibit on flight attendant uniforms, I knew that I had to see it!
The Kunsthal Museum, located in the Museumpark in Rotterdam is unique in that it offers no permanent collection, instead, a wide range of temporary exhibits, attracting visitors who may come from one artist and open their mind to another totally different kind of art.
On the day that I was visiting the museum, the uniforms were what I was there to see, however, it was learned upon my arrival that I would also be viewing exhibits on cats, Cat Love, Nine Lives in the Arts, artist Paul Delvaux, Master of the Dream, photographer, Jeroen Oerlemans, and a display on the nominees of the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2017, Melanie Bonajo (1978), Rana Hamadeh (1983), Saskia Noor Van Imhoff (1982) and Kararina Zdjelar (1979).
The modern structure, sectioned into halls, thoughtfully leads visitors through each of its offerings. Though I was anxious to see the Cabin Crew exhibit, I decided to follow the path marked by the Kunsthal. So…another exhibit on cats was in the cards.
Social media is inundated with fetching felines. Anywhere you look on you YouTube today, you can find countless videos on cats. Check out Instagram and you’ll find cats exposed by their owners. In fact, cats are more popular than ever. Over the years, cats have inspired many artistic masterpieces by Henriette Ronner-Knip, Théophile-Alexandre Steinelen, Karel Appel, Picasso and Wallasse Ting, contemporary artists such as David Shrigley and photographer Marie Cécele Thijs and many of these are on display here. Meandering through the hall, you are offered some insight into how these artists were inspired by numerous felines. In fact, one area of the museum offers a place to experience what it is like to be a cat…creep around on all fours among the bushes, take a nap on one of the “cat beds”, sharpen your nails on a scratching post or take a stroll down the Catwalk. Cat lovers will be in heaven!
As I followed the natural progression of the exhibits of the Kunsthal, the next hall offered what I had come to see. Flight Attendant uniforms.
In a relatively narrow but lofty space, over 200 uniforms are offered from KLM purser, Cliff Muskiet’s private collection. In 1993, his compilation, the largest in the world, was begun and has grown to include more than 1400 uniforms from 523 different airlines. “Cabin Crew. Fashion in the Air” offers a look into the progression of the uniforms over the years from practical and sober to classy and chic, many created by prominent designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Mart Visser. Take note of the now defunct Braniff International uniform, and the 1965 design by Emilio Pucci, which required flight attendants to change different items of the uniform to surprise passengers throughout the entirety of the flight. This particular uniform included a space helmet to protect the flight attendant’s hair from the rain!
My favorites, however, were those that represented the cultural heritage of the airline, like Thai Airways, Allegheny Airlines, so proud of their name and of course, those worn throughout my own airline’s history! Though I loved seeing the various costumes worn by thousands, the way that they were displayed in a vertical manner, made it hard to inspect each of them at close range. All in all, however, it was thrilling to see such an awe-inspiring compilation of something so near and dear to my heart!
Paul Delvaux, the Belgian painter considered to be one of the most important surrealists or The Master of the Dream, has the honor of having an exhibition on the 25th anniversary of the Kunshal. Ninety of his works were displayed in Hall 2, which focus on the his most important themes, the female body, dreams, mystery, travel, trains and loneliness.
Though I cannot say that he was an artist whose work was one that I had previously sought out, I did enjoy his nude portraits of women from the 1920s and the paintings that incorporated macabre skeletons. The dreamlike quality exhibited in his work was extremely calming!
The next artist showcased in the Kunstal, was photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, a Dutch press photographer, who captured mesmerizing shots from Afghanistan, Chad, Libya, Haiti and Iraq of the local residents, despite the danger he constantly faced. The celebrated three-time recipient of the first prize in the Silver Camera foreign news category was unfortunately killed in 2016 by an IS sniper in the Libyan city of Sirte.
Finally, the display on the nominees of the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2017 beckoned. While Paul Delvaux’s works were more of a classical nature, the exhibition highlighting the four contenders was a bit more modern.
Melanie Bonajo’s work on the second part of her trilogy, Progress vs. Sunsets shows how our relation to nature has changed through the popularity of amateur videos in which animals have become actors of human imagination. Cats, anyone?
Lebanese born artist, Rana Hamadeh’s, The Ten Murders of Josephine, explores the constitutive conditions of ‘validity’ within legal discourse. Huh? Yes, I was a bit confused by this one, too.
In the third contender’s display, Saskia Noor van Imhoff, the investigation of how a space might serve as an artificial showcase in which various subjects are connected to each other in an associative way, so as to form a new meaning is presented. I’ll admit, this one was confusing, too.
The final nominee, Katarina Zdjelar’s film, Not A Pillar, Not A Plie, is presented which was inspired by archival documents from a dance studio founded in 1945, in post-war Dresden. The myriad of screens in the darkened room offered footage from Zdjelar’s work and was quite captivating.
After completing my tour of the last exhibit, I took a bit of time to take more of a leisurely stroll throughout the remaining parts of the building and its stunning architecture. Through a timeline on the Kunsthal in the auditorium, I learned of the history of the museum. designed by Rem Koolhaas.
Despite visiting the museum for a specific purpose, I can concede that it was nice to step out of the winter day and enjoy some different types of art that I had not anticipated. Sometimes the best things are the least expected!
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Kunsthal
- https://www.kunsthal.nl/en/#tijdlijn-2018-02
- Address: Westzeedijk 341, 3015 AA Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday, 1000-1700, Sunday, 1100-1700
- Admission: Adults, 14€, Students under 17 years, free
The first thing I noticed about Rotterdam is while there are new buildings and skyscrapers, there are also still some older buildings scattered throughout the city, sometimes sandwiched between newer construction. I thought that this gave an interesting quality to the city…a sort of ying-yang. The second thing I noticed was that sculpture is EVERYWHERE! Following the canal that led away from the train station, I began to see interesting pieces of artwork lining the banks. Each piece was identified by a metal plaque on the walkway advising observers of the name of the artwork, the artist’s name and location and year constructed. Making for a nice leisurely walk, I stopped at each of the sculptures as I made my way south on Westersingel to Eendrachtsplein, where I found the current location of the controversial sculpture by Paul McCarthy, Santa Claus. A shocking statue, it depicts the beloved Santa not holding a Christmas tree but a sex toy. While some people have defended it proclaiming that it reflects the fetishization of Christmas and the prevalent sexuality in consumer society, others declared it vulgar and offensive.
Further on, I gazed upward at the Euromast, the observation tower constructed between 1958 and 1960 and designed by Hugh Maaskant. Though I would have like to visit the observation platform to see the city from the tallest building in Rotterdam, time was limited and I was headed to the oldest part of the city, Delfshaven.
The Pilgrim Father’s Church, dating back to 1417, when the Roman Catholic Church of St. Anthony was consecrated on the site, later fell into Protestant hands in 1574. When a group of English dissenters fled to the Netherlands in 1608, they later decided to make the journey to America so that they might worship in their own way. On July 21, 1620, they knelt in prayer on the quay near the church before boarding the ship, the Speedwell.
The Erasmus Bridge (Erasmusbrug) was completed in 1996 and is the largest and heaviest bascule bridge in Western Europe, connecting the north and south parts of the city. Named after Desiderius Erasmus (Erasmus of Rotterdam), a prominent Christian renaissance humanist, the cable-stayed bridge section with its single asymmetrical pale blue pylon with a prominent horizontal base has earned the bridge the nickname, The Swan.
Finally, heading back toward the train station, I made three quick detours to see some fantastic landmarks, Kijk Kubus (Cube Houses), innovative housing designed by Piet Blom, Grote of St. Laurenskerk (Church of St. Lawrence), the only remnant of the medieval city of Rotterdam, and Stadhuis Rotterdam (City Hall), the Beaux Art style building (with Byzantine, Roman and Art Deco influences) that was one of the few buildings to survive the bombardment of World War II.
After five hours of intense sightseeing and walking throughout the old-yet-new city of Rotterdam, my feet were aching, yet satisfied. I had seen all that the city had to offer and was confident that future travels would be easier, allowing me to explore the city in depth.
It was time head back to Amsterdam and this time, I caught the Intercity Direct! Definitely the way to go! Heck, I didn’t really even have time to catch a nap!