The Museum of Insider Art is hosting a controversial exhibit on the campus of Richard E Rich Academy of past Headmasters’ Bowties. The word “master” has been crossed out on all the signage from the exhibit as per the recommendations of the Insider Student Advisory Committee.
An only partly apologetic note written by the current Head of School contends that the word “Headmaster” comes from British schools where teachers were called “Masters” and the head teacher was thus the “Headmaster.” The word has Latin origins. Although the origins of the term in private schools represent anglophilia more than the legacy of slavery, most American prep schools stopped using the terms “headmaster” and “headmistress” decades ago.
Initial criticism of the exhibition on Facebook was not friendly as seen from this edited Facebook exchange.
AnnonX
Pedantic lessons aside, we do not want students, particularly students of color, referring to teachers and admins as Masters. Coercive power dynamics and blind obedience have no place in modern educational philosophy.
ProfofHist
Yes, calling a head of school a “Headmaster” is anglophilic. Everything about private schools in America, even the hippie-dippy experimental ones, harkens back to a love of England. But just because something is English does not mean it is slavery-free. Those British aristocrats funded their lavish lifestyles and exclusive educational institutions on the backs of enslaved people around the globe. And as for “Latin origins”! My God, the Romans institutionalized slavery.” All the good prep schools got rid of the name headmaster ages ago.
BJ John
The real problem with the word headmaster is that it sounds dirty and became a porn meme.
FriendofH
I’ve heard the current Head of School describe himself as a headmaster many times off the record. He loves it when “Old Boys” call him that. I suspect he has an Onlyfans page under the name. Yes, men are on Onlyfans now too. Get with the times.
RegJoe
As if calling the Head of School the Head is any less obscene! Why can’t private schools just use the word principal like public schools?
Curator’s Note: A carefully worded 3-page email to the curator claimed to represent a large contingent of alums. This is an excerpt.
AlistairRenchman
The person who assembled this knows nothing about the history of ties. There is a shockingly low level of curatorial work. Specific bow ties represent different Gentlemen’s Clubs, prep schools, and colleges. These are not random patterns or mere fashion. In this amateurish assemblage, I can immediately spot a Canterbury Bow, a Finchleian Christ’s College tie, and an Old Felstedian. None of these were properly labeled. Last year the exhibit on indigenous baskets did a much better job of identifying the cultural meaning of individual patterns. For shame. If we ignore our history, we are condemned to repeat it as farce.
Ace
The knit tie with black and red stripes was made by Mrs. Archibald Felton for her husband on the occasion of his first regatta. He wore it to the afterparty at the home of the Slatterly-Chruchstons at their boat house. It was the night of their first kiss. I know because I was Felton’s best friend. She never should have married him.
Buffy
You have mixed up Old Roger and Bimsby. In real life, you would never have made such a mistake. Old Roger was an incorrigible bully who liked to see the first-form boys thrown into the pond in their skivvies on the first day of school. Bimbsby, his successor, was a kindly soul who sheltered what students he could from the abuse that was rife in those days.
AxelHollinghurstIII
How in the world did you get Master Dog’s plush velvet seaglass-colored bowtie for this insane exhibit? Dog placed a bounty on that tie in 1982 when it was stolen from his dressing room right before the Spring Formal. He offered $1,000 and a place at the Headmaster’s Table in exchange for the return of the tie in good condition. It had unspecified sentimental value. The tie never showed up. Guard that tie carefully! Dog left a bequest to cover the reward in his will when he died in 1985–and he invested that money very well.
MrsAF
Mystery solved. The seaglass-green velvet tie was a gift from my husband, Archibald Felton, old school chum of Dog’s and later Headmaster himself. They were secret lovers. At another time they could have married each other and I could have married Bitsy.
MargaretGS
The tie attributed to Biff should be credited to Bitsy, his wife. Back in 78, the school was flooded and Biff had a nervous breakdown. His wife installed him in the World War I Memorial Tower (high above the floodwaters) with a hot water bottle and a bottle of gin. She arranged the evacuation of the school acting as his “secretary” and used his name to coordinate with parents, local officials, and contractors on the campus rebuild. No one was the wiser when Biff stumbled down from the tower in September of the next year to take the helm.
Bitsy1943
Yes, it is Bitsy here! Love the Facebook. Back in the day mental illness was terribly stigmatized. If it were known that my husband was having a breakdown he would have lost his job and we would have lost our home. The truth was I did his job for him even in the best of times. During my emergency tenure, I was able to get Old Roger out of school housing on Retirement Row and save many students from his advances. When I passed on complaints about him to the Board I was laughed out of the room and butt-pinched on the way out. I wore that bowtie as a choker with a rhinestone brooch every day of the flood. And yes, Alastair, it was an Old Felstedian. See the classic pattern on Captain Nash in From Russia With Love.
Notes:
The curator has made the correction, and Bitsy’s Old Felstedian bowtie is now properly attributed.
The millennial in charge of the event noted that the metrics were good on engagement, which is the ultimate goal of the art exhibit. Controversy equals clicks, she said with a sigh.
Merch from the exhibit is also selling well with replicas of the most-loved bowties racking up sales.
The millennial marketer was under the impression that the ties were selling to Gen Z students who were looking to incorporate them into Etsy-inspired crafting projects and or wearing them ironically. But when she went in to look at the analytics on the dropshipping portal she found that almost all of the sales originated from an Onlyfans account link.
You might also be interested in another Museum of Insider Art Show: Weekend House Paintings