"Hermes: A Natural History" Lecture at Bruce Museum

*Editor’s note: This story was first published Feb. 11. Here it is again, in case you missed it.

The Bruce Museum in Greenwich will host a lecture by Ménéhould de Bazelaire, Director of Cultural Heritage and curator of the Emile Hermès Museum.

The Feb. 18 lecture on “Hermès: A Natural History” begins at 6:30 pm, and galleries will be open before the talk. The program is free and reservations are requested by emailing reserve@brucemuseum.org.

As curator of the Emile Hermès Museum in Paris, de Bazelaire oversees the private, family collection of equestrian artwork and antiques that were first collected by the son of Hermès founder Thierry Hermès. The expansive collection represents the company’s foundation in 1837 as a saddlery and maker of harnesses for carriages. To this day, the Emile Hermès collection provides inspiration for Hermès product designers who come to the museum as an important part of their creative design process.

For the Bruce Museum lecture, de Bazelaire will discuss Hermès’ intimate relationship with nature, a narrative that has remained at the heart of the company’s artistic creation since its beginning. Referencing works from the Emile Hermès collection, she will show how the beauty and bounty of nature has guided the company’s values and design philosophy. Paying homage to the relationship between men and horses, the collection also evokes other animals such as dogs, birds, fish, shells, and flies as well as plants and stars -- all “priceless gifts from Nature,” de Bazelaire notes, “that are a never ending source of inspiration for the Hermès designers today.”

The event complements the Bruce Museum exhibition Fierce and Fragile: Big Cats in the Art of Robert Dallet.

From the exhibition Fierce and Fragile: Big Cats in the Art of Robert Dallet. Robert Dallet, Clouded Leopard, Watercolor and gouache, 50 × 65 cm Photo Studio des Fleurs © Hermès, 2015.