As a collector of all things GertrudeandAlice, at one point I decided to find things pertaining to roses because of Gertrude Stein’s most famous line. Some of these items have been added to my collection. Often collectors need to scour shops, flea markets and e-bay to find that rare item that will make their collection complete, but in the case of rose influenced “stuff”, there is so much there there, not much serious scouring is needed.
Here are a few of the things I’ve come across. Those in my collection are marked with an asterick (*).
• A watch for those who not only want to know what time it is, but also want the scent of the White House rose garden encircling their wrist:
Rose-scented SWATCH, 1998 *
• For the Fifth Avenue shopper who is more concerned about what’s on the outside of her stylish bag than what’s on the inside:
Valentino Rose bag, 2010
• For the police officer who wants to be stylish and safe:
Tobias Wong's ballistic nylon, bullet-proof corsage, 2008
• For the art collector on a thrift-shop budget:
Rose paint-by-number paintings, early 1960s *
• For the Zelda Fitzgerald wannabee to put in the Valentino bag:
Art Deco celluloid pillbox, circa late 1920s*
• For a sip of iced tea on the Formica topped kitchen table with Lucy Ricardo or June Cleaver:
Rose stenciled glasses, circa late 1950s*
• To tastefully fasten that silk scarf, a brooch by any other name…(not the one that Gertrude wore which Alice thought was speaking to her!):
Filigree brooch with faux coral roses, early 1920s *
• To remove those Alice B. treats from the oven:
"Rose is..." potholder, 1978*
• And for wrapping any of the items above for the truly rose obsessed:
Gift wrap designed by Ann Rieck, 1990s*
And Gertrude’s take on “Rose is a…:
“Now you all have seen hundreds of poems about roses and you know in your bones that the rose is not there. All those songs that sopranos sing as encores about “I have a garden; oh what a garden!” Now I don’t want to put too much emphasis on that line, because it’s just one line in a longer poem. But I notice that you all know it; you make fun of it, but you know it. Now listen! I’m no fool. I know in daily life we don’t go around saying “is a…is a…is a…” Yes, I’m no fool: but I think that in that line the rose is red for the first time in English poetry for a hundred years.”
COPYRIGHT HANS GALLAS ©2010
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