For New Year’s Eve, The Party Hat In Art. 40 Festive Examples.
With New Year’s Eve tonight and a new year of birthdays coming up, I was inspired by the notion of cone-shaped ‘Party Hats’ and wanted to learn their origin and see what was out there in terms of fine art that incorporated the classic pointed hat. I was not disappointed and I hope you won’t be either.
Wall Painting: Woman Wearing Hat and Holding a Sistrum, detail (ca. 1250-1200 BC), The Walters Art Museum
The mysterious cones were not symbolic illusions, then, but actual hats. Research is ongoing, but the discovery will help Egyptologists learn the meaning and function of these domes, which until now were believed to have existed only in paintings and sculptures.
So, in honor of New Year’s Eve, here’s a round up of 16 contemporary artists and sculptors who have made various works of art in which the iconic cone-shaped “party hat” appears. I took a few liberties in the sense that some included are dunce caps and Will Cotton’s are edible creations rendered in paint – I hope you don’t mind.
Kathi Olivas, The Spectatorabove left: Regenerate; above right: Girl with Catabove: conjoined rabbit boysabove left: upside down boy; above right: boy with bracesabove: Bird sculptures by Kathi Olivas
above: CROQUEMBOUCHE, 2010, oil on linen, 54 x 39 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Mary Boone Galleryabove: KATY, 2010, oil on linen, 34 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Mary Boone Galleryabove: RIBBON CANDY PORTRAIT, 2008, oil on linen, 36 x 32 inchesabove: COTTON CANDY HANNAH, 2009, oil on linen, 47 x 32 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Mary Boone Gallery
above: little mixed media handmade creatures (dustbunnies) donning party hatssculptures by Amanda Louise Spayd
Darla Jackson
limited edition sculptures (also available in bronze)
above: Surprise Party (Birds), 2009,Gypsum Cement, 4”h x 5”w x 5”dabove: Surprise Party (Crow), 2009, Gypsum Cement, 6”h x 5”w x 12”dabove: Surprise Party (Rabbit), 2009, Gypsum Cement, 9”h x 6”w x 12”dabove: Surprise Party (Cat), 2009, Gypsum Cement, 15”h x 20”w x 14”dabove: Surprise Party (Raccoon), 2009, Polyurethane Resin, 14”h x 18”w x 12”dabove: Surprise Party (Fawn), 2009, Polyurethane Resin, 16”h x 18”w x 8”dabove: Fish out of Water…, 2008, Mixed Media, 24″h x 72″w x 36″d
above: Chimerical Six Series, low fire clay, 12″h x 6″w x 6″ d (30.5cm x 15cm x 15cm), each sold separately
above: Algorithm Dunce Ghost Baby, low fire clay, 11″ x 4.5″ x 3.5″ (28 x 11 x 9.5 cm).above: Mulligan, low fire clay, 14″h x 6″w x 6″ d (35.5cm x 15cm x 15cm)
