Top Hat (Anniversary Tin) 1850 - 1900

Editor: We're looking at "Top Hat (Anniversary Tin)," an anonymous piece, dating roughly between 1850 and 1900. It appears to be crafted from metal, maybe a found object? It's currently housed here at the Art Institute of Chicago. It gives me a melancholic feeling, like a forgotten relic. What draws your eye, as you observe this unassuming time capsule? Curator: Melancholy, yes! It evokes a feeling of memory, doesn’t it? The worn surface of the tin whispers stories of celebrations, perhaps marking years of togetherness. Imagine the hands that shaped it, the gifts it might have held. Does its simple geometry remind you of anything? Editor: Now that you mention it, its cylindrical form almost echoes early modernist sculpture. Yet, it's a functional object, right? Curator: Precisely! It dances on the line between practical object and accidental art. Consider the symbolism of a top hat. Back then, it was a mark of status, aspiration. Now imagine this once gleaming emblem, softened by time, transformed into a container for anniversary trinkets. It's quite poignant, don't you think? Editor: Definitely poignant. I hadn't considered how the everyday can carry such weighty personal histories and cultural echoes. Curator: Art often hides in the mundane, waiting for us to discover its poetry. What began as headwear and matured into an anniversary token transformed again into something more, in its afterlife here in the museum. Editor: It’s made me look at everyday objects a bit differently, like, what stories will my coffee mug tell one day? Curator: Exactly! It’s like everyday poetry is awaiting for each of us to interpret and define in time.