Fashion and Theatricality in Cushing’s Staircase Mural

Join us for a talk led by Lauren Drapala, further contextualizing Howard Gardiner Cushing’s staircase mural — uncovering the stories, symbols, and style behind this Gilded Age masterpiece. This talk will explore how fantastical depictions and confusions of Persia held a particular potency for elite white transatlantic women in the years preceding World War I, situating Cushing’s work within a greater cultural phenomenon.

Evoking an imagined landscape of Persia, Howard Gardiner Cushing’s staircase mural for Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s artist studio utilizes fantasy to contextualize the non-conformity of the two women reproduced within it. Surrounded by the vibrant pastels of carnivorous flowers and contemporary eastern-inspired fashions, Whitney is depicted standing alongside double images of the artist’s wife, Ethel Cochrane Cushing, each represented comfortably within in their positions of authority. The mural’s conception emerged in the fall of 1911 after the Cushings had spent an extended period of time in France, where Arabian Nights-themed fetes, theatrical performances set in the Middle East and groundbreaking exhibitions of Persian manuscript illumination were pervasive.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lauren Drapala is trained as an architectural conservator and works primarily on nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture in the United States, with a particular focus on immersive decorative interiors. As a PhD Candidate at Bard Graduate Center in New York City, Lauren focuses on the role that decoration served in the professionalization of twentieth-century design practice, considering patronage and the crafting of interior space as formative to shifting constructions of identity. Her work focuses on the material culture and physical fabric of space, considering interiors through their relocation, preservation and/or fragmentation. She holds a BA in art history from Smith College and an MS in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her doctoral pursuits, Lauren teaches in the Historic Preservation graduate program at the Boston Architectural College and serves as the Director of Programs at the Historic Preservation Education Foundation.