Other notable Pinterest users:
J. Paul Getty Museum
http://pinterest.com/gettymuseum/
1,076, 882 Followers; 57 Boards; 2,070 Pins
Favorite Boards: Separated at Birth?; Artist Selfies; Our Art—Your Caption; Museum Backstory; Wine Tasting
Favorite Pin: On the Artist Selfies Board: Joseph Ducreux’s Self-Portrait Yawning, before 1783
With a mega fan base of more than one million followers and more than two thousand pins, the Getty Museum’s page has something for everyone. Cribbing from Spy (now defunct) magazine’s famous doppelgängers feature, the Separated at Birth? board pairs “arty” likenesses such as Pontormo’s Portrait of a Lady with a Lapdog (1537 – 40) alongside his Portrait of a Halberdier (1528 – 30). Museum Backstory takes you literally behind the scenes, training a spotlight on the backs of paintings and sculptures. See the back of the bust of Joseph Chinard’s Madame Recamier (about 1801-1802), with gorgeous bare shoulder and upswept hair.
And if you need a drink but can’t have one, “sample an artful wine flight” on the Wine Tasting board. See the elegant “rhyton” pin — it’s a drinking horn, we learn, that was “used to aerate wine. Wine poured into the top of the vessel came out of a spout between the animal’s legs.” Who knew?
The site’s newest board, Our Art — Your Caption, was added on Sept. 9, has one pin, and has already attracted some 15,000 followers. The curators invite you to be creative and come up with a caption for what appears to be an image from an illuminated manuscript of the Virgin Mary before the birth of Jesus. But that’s just speculation. See the comments.
The Smithsonian (Washington, D.C.)
http://pinterest.com/smithsonian/
22,597 Followers; 34 Boards; 626 Pins
Favorite Boards: First Lady Fashion; Flags at the Smithsonian; Women in Science; Presidential Inaugurations of the Past; Wedding Bells
Favorite Pin: On the Presidential Inaugurations Board: It’s a tie between the Jimmy Choo shoes First Lady Michelle Obama wore at the 2009 Inaugural balls and the pince-nez spectacles worn by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Inauguration Day, March 4, 1933.
This Pinterest page acts as an umbrella, culling thematic materials from the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo. It appeals to history buffs, art lovers, geeks, naturalists, fashionistas, and trivia fans of all kinds.
The American Art Museum, like the Cooper-Hewitt, has its own page, with nearly two-dozen boards, including a Meet the Artists Videos board and a Guest Pinner board — currently with pins from illustrator Diane Maier, who has shared drawings by Ben Shahn, Milton Avery, and Saul Steinberg (see his Last Self-Portrait).
In conclusion, you don’t have to have a Pinterest account to browse the works on these pages. But if you are interested in pinning to some of the boards — maybe you’ve thought of a witty caption for that image on the Getty’s Our Art — Your Caption board, or perhaps you have a “Fricktagram” that you are dying to pin — go to http://about.pinterest.com/ and sign up. That is, if you haven’t already.
©2013 Val Castronovo for SeniorWomen.com
Editor's Note: We joined Pinterest some months ago because of its boards on decorating interiors and architectural exteriors. Shortly thereafter we created the post for the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Object of the Day and have been enjoying its daily selections since then, as well as those from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. We've created the Pinterest boards Museum Shops and John Spilsbury's Invention: Jigsaw Puzzles.
More Articles
- Encountering the News From the British Library's Breaking the News Exhibition: Unsettling, But Exciting
- Senate Commerce Subcommittee Set ... Protecting Kids Online: Testimony From a Facebook Whistleblower
- Ferida's Wolff's Backyard: Yellow Bird and New Growth
- Rose Madeline Mula Writes: To Drive or Not To Drive — That Is The Question
- Rose Madeline Mula Writes: Look Who's Talking
- Stateline: Search and Rescue Teams, Already Stretched Thin, See Surge in Calls
- Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Homes and Residential Communities
- Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe; Don't Miss The Draughtsman-Writer
- What Were We Thinking? Mink Stoles, Kid Leather Hats, Frilly Petticoats, Frocks, Tchotchkes, Fine China for “Company”
- Elaine Soloway's Hometown Rookie: Love It!; Doggie Daydream; The Cool Kids Table