Stepping Into History at the Bata Shoe Museum Zapatos Y Sociedad: Caminando Por La Historia En El Bata Shoe Museum
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert Shoes and Society: Stepping into History at the Bata Shoe Museum Zapatos y sociedad: caminando por la historia en el Bata Shoe Museum Elizabeth Semmelhack Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum The Bata Shoe Museum 327, Bloor Street West Toronto (ON), Canadá M5S 1W7 [email protected] Recepción del artículo 19-07-2010. Aceptación de su publicación 17-08-2010 resumen. El Bata Shoe Museum de Toronto (Ca- abstract. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, nadá) es el museo de zapatos más grande de Nor- Canada is the largest shoe museum in North teamérica y alberga una colección de casi trece mil America and houses a collection of nearly 13,000 objetos que abarcan cuatro mil quinientos años de artifacts spanning 4,500 years of history. It is a cen- historia. Es, además, un centro internacional de in- tre for international academic research with a man- vestigación cuyo objetivo es el estudio, la exposi- date to study, exhibit, and publish on the cultural, ción y la publicación de trabajos académicos y cien- historical and sociological significance of footwear. tíficos sobre el significado cultural, histórico y -so The museum opened its doors to the public on ciológico del calzado. El museo abrió sus puertas May 6, 1995 and was established by Mrs. Sonja Bata al público el 6 de mayo de 1995 y fue fundado por as an independent, non-profit institution to house Sonja Bata como una institución independiente y and exhibit her renowned personal collection of sin ánimo de lucro cuya función primordial era al- historic and ethnographic footwear. In 2009, the bergar y mostrar al público su célebre colección museum welcomed over 110,000 visitors. personal sobre calzado histórico y etnográfico. En The success of the museum rests on the ca- el 2009, el museo recibió más de 110.000 visitantes. pacity of footwear to serve as an accessible entry El éxito del museo estriba en la capacidad del cal- point into larger cultural concepts by engaging zado como soporte y punto de partida para acceder people on very personal levels. Shoes are tangible, a conceptos culturales complejos a través del atrac- even poignant reminders of the people from the tivo que suscita en el público. Los zapatos son tangi- past. Footwear can also bring us into startlingly bles, incluso conmovedores testimonios de nuestros intimate proximity to peoples of other cultures. predecesores. El calzado puede también acercarnos Simple questions concerning who wore a certain a la intimidad de otros pueblos y otras culturas. Sim- shoe or by whom it was made can open avenues of ples preguntas sobre quién llevó un determinado za- inquiry leading to more complex questions rang- pato o por quién fue hecho pueden abrir las puertas ing from gender politics and the construction of a cuestiones mucho más complejas que van desde social identity to issues concerning environmental las políticas de género y la construcción de la iden- conditions and resource availability. These deeper tidad social hasta temáticas referentes a las condi- levels of inquiry are precisely the ones that the ciones ambientales y la disponibilidad de recursos. museum strives to address through its exhibitions, Estos interrogantes más profundos son, precisa- publications and public programs. mente, los que el museo se esfuerza por comunicar a través de sus exposiciones, publicaciones y pro- keywords: shoes, Native North American, cir- gramas públicos. cumpolar, gender, chopines. palabras clave: zapatos, nativos norteamericanos, circumpolar, género, chapines. her&mus 5 [volumen ii, número 3], 2010, pp. 53-63 53 Her&Mus 5.1 Monograf’ as.indd 53 30/11/10 23:51 monografías elizabeth semmelhack Origins of the Collection The visionary force behind the Bata Shoe Mu- seum is the museum’s Founding Chairman, Sonja Bata. Mrs. Bata was born and educated in Swit- zerland and as a young woman studied architec- ture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In 1946, her marriage to Thomas J. Bata, head of the Bata Shoe Organization, brought her to Canada and turned her attention to footwear. The nationalization of the Czechoslovakian Bata holdings under Communist occupation at the end of the war focused the newly married couple’s at- tention on rebuilding the organization outside of Czechoslovakia. As part of this undertaking Mrs. Bata frequently traveled on business to various places around the world. It was during these trav- els that she became fascinated with the footwear worn by other peoples and began to seek out ex- amples of indigenous footwear. At first her col- lecting was motivated by the idea that indigenous footwear could inspire Bata designers as well as by concern that Western-style shoes were displac- ing traditional footwear. However, as her collec- tion grew, so did her interest and before long she began to collect ethnographic and historical foot- wear in earnest. By 1979, the collection had grown substantially. In response, the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation Fig. 1. The Bata Shoe Museum was designed by was created to professionally manage the ever-in- Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama and creasing collection and to sponsor and publish re- opened in 1995. image © 2010 bata shoe museum, toronto search on the role footwear has played in human (1 richard johnson, <www.richardjohnson.ca>) history. The first study supported by the Founda- tion was Alika Weber’s research on Native North This focus on the makers reflected a marked break American footwear construction patterns. Her pi- with traditional ethnographic collecting and es- oneering work resulted in the publication of the tablished the collecting direction of the museum. first typology of Native North American footwear, The omission of the maker in traditional Western North American Indian and Eskimo footwear: A Ty- collecting practices perpetuates the fiction that in- pology and Glossary. The Foundation also funded digenous material culture is created through an circumpolar field research and collecting by Drs. isolated continuity of traditions rigidly passed Jill Oakes and Rick Riewe. Between 1983 and down generation to generation without individual 1999, Drs. Oakes and Riewe conducted extensive self-awareness or stylistic innovation. However, by field studies among numerous circumpolar cul- striving to record the voice of the maker, the spark ture groups including the Canadian Inuit, Green- of individual expression and intellectual explora- land Inuit, Alaskan Eskimoan peoples, Saami and tion in addition to design innovation can be docu- the peoples of Siberia. They also did research on mented and the concepts that certain cultures are Southwestern American indigenous footwear. «timeless» and isolated from either internal forces Their research resulted in four major exhibitions of fashion or the external forces of cross-cultural and publications. influence can be challenged. This collecting ap- Drs. Oakes and Riewe were charged with gath- proach has been central to all Bata Shoe Museum ering information about traditional boot-making sponsored field trip research including research directly from individual makers as well as collect- on footwear worn and made in India, Tibet and ing examples of traditional circumpolar footwear. Mongolia. 54 her&mus 5 [volumen ii, número 3], 2010, pp. 53-63 Her&Mus 5.1 Monograf’ as.indd 54 30/11/10 23:51 shoes and society: stepping into history at the bata shoe museum With the encouragement of Alika Weber, Mrs. The Collection: Acquisitions, Conservation Bata decided to make her collection accessible to and Storage the public. Mrs. Bata engaged the acclaimed Ca- The Bata Shoe Museum is constantly seeking out nadian architect Raymond Moriyama to create a new artifacts. The majority of the museum’s new «gem of a museum» and in 1994 a suitable loca- acquisitions come from field research, renowned tion in downtown Toronto was secured. Inspired auction houses and dealers, and individual do- by the shape of a shoebox, Mr. Moriyama cre- nors. With the exception of artifacts collected dur- ated a 12,200 square metre, five-story structure ing field research, donations stand out as perhaps combining state-of-the-art artifact storage and the most personal way that the museum acquires exhibit space. new artifacts. Direct contact with original own- Throughout the museum, Mr. Moriyama incor- ers allows the museum to gather important prov- porated subtle reminders of shoemaking materials as enance information and to record the stories that well as architectural details that call attention to one’s the shoes have to tell. feet. The building is clad in a warm, fine-textured All artifacts collected by the museum pass limestone chosen because of its reference to the look through conservation before being placed in stor- of leather while the impressive «floating» staircase, age. The museum with its limited full-time staff the architectural centrepiece of the museum, features of twelve is privileged to have a conservator and it holes cut into the risers of each stair allowing visitors is the practice of the Bata Shoe Museum to con- to see the shoes of other people using the stairs. Mr. serve rather than restore artifacts. Worn footwear Moriyama also provided the museum with four ex- has significant cultural meaning; signs of wear can hibition spaces including a large permanent gallery be as historically important as the shoes them- that spans two floors, two large temporary galleries selves. Therefore, conservation stabilizes artifacts and one small temporary gallery. but does not restore them. The conservation lab is Fig. 2. View of a corridor of one of the Bata Shoe Museum’s two large artifact storage rooms. image © 2010 bata shoe museum, toronto (1 matthew plexman, <www.plexman.com>) her&mus 5 [volumen ii, número 3], 2010, pp. 53-63 55 Her&Mus 5.1 Monograf’ as.indd 55 30/11/10 23:51 monografías elizabeth semmelhack Fig.