LOOK OF LOVE: EYE MINIATURES FROM THE SKIER COLLECTION

This stunning exhibition explores the little-known subject of “lover’s eyes,” hand-painted miniatures of single human eyes set in jewelry and given as tokens of affection or remembrance. 

In 1785, when the Prince of Wales secretly proposed to Mrs. Maria Fitzherbert with a miniature of his own eye, he inspired an aristocratic fad for exchanging eye portraits mounted in a wide variety of settings including brooches, rings, lockets, and toothpick cases.

With over 100 examples, the collection of Dr. and Mrs. David A. Skier of Birmingham is the largest in the world. This exhibition offers an unprecedented look at these unusual and intriguing works of art.

Louis Wain (1860 – 1939)

Louis Wain (5 August 1860 – 4 July 1939) 

was an English artist best known for his drawings,

 which consistently featured anthropomorphised 

large-eyed cats and kittens.

 In his later years he suffered from schizophrenia, 

which, according to some psychologists,

 can be seen in his works. ( From Wikipedia )

Pelléas et Mélisande

Davis & Eickmeyer : Mary Garden as Mélisande 

in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande 1908

Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968)

“It’s the good girls that keep diaries. 
Bad girls never have the time.”

Tallulah last coherent words reportedly were

 "Codeine... bourbon."