“This museum has come about because of a collection of postcards with a bathtub subject that began in 1993.”
Insurance Man. A 'Bamforth' Comic postcard that says "I'm the Insurance Man, Madam -- I called to see if you are fully covered." The suited man sticks his head in the door to the shock of a bathing blonde lady whom we see from the back. The term "to call" refers to dropping by in person, and is still commonly used in parts of English speaking Europe. This postcard was sent from Chicago to Pennsylvania in 1945 with a 1-cent stamp. It reads, "Having a swell time in Chicago. Will be seeing you soon. - Kathie." It was sent to Ed Lasky. The Postcard was published by Bamforth co. in NYC, as No. P-3.
Collection Principles. Dedicated to the bathtub in art, the virtual museum presents various collections of postcards (printed and handmade from the early 1900s to 2006), photographs, comics, drawings, paintings and accompanying text. The online exhibits include those from the museum’s collection of postcards in four galleries clustered around topics such as the “Art of a Bathtub Cake,” “More Peeping Toms (cards from the 1920s-1970s),” “Full Tub,” and “Beauty and the Bath;” Handmade Postcard Art (from those submitted to the site and those featured from the 2003 Bathtub Art Show in Portland, Oregon), Travel Bathtub Features from around the world (such as reminiscences from the World Championship Bathtub Races in Canada, and photographs of the his and her bathtubs of John and Mable Ringling in Sarasota, Florida), Fun (including clips of bathtub comics and illustrations of dumb laws about bathtubs); and an Art Gallery featuring tub artists and their art. There are a page of links to bathtubs, other art museums (e.g., unusual art museums), postcard collecting organizations, and mail art groups.
Object Characteristics. Black and white and color images of postcard art, drawings, sketches, caricatures, photographs of people and places in or around bathtubs, plus accompanying text, by the Museum Director or various artists. Most images are click to enlarge. The subjects range from the humorous and occasionally naughty “French postcard” style to the historical, as well as to artists’ artwork in many mediums. Most are accompanied by descriptive metadata, as noted below.
Metadata. Most images have accompanying descriptive metadata that include the artist or originator, title, date, medium, a short bio of the artist, and other historical or contextual information for the particular category or subject covered. The descriptive text, usually prepared by the Museum Director, is witty, well written and at times whimsical, all in support of the bathtub topic. The featured tub artists are listed in links that open to the particular art, with all of its descriptive information as well as a link to the artist’s Web site. In one case among the “new” handmade bathtub postcards added to the collection, there was no image on which to click. Each page on the site asserts copyright by the Bathtub Art Museum at the bottom of the page as well as a statement as to the Web site maintenance and the name of the Web host, with an email address for contact. There is no direct reference to the asserted rights of the artist who produced a particular postcard drawing or other artwork. The clip art of the bathtub comics does not include any information about the comic strip artists and only references copyright if it appears in the clipped image of the comic strip. Overall, it appears that the museum site has not been updated since 2006, in the case of the online exhibits, and 2007 in other areas.
Intended Audience. The primary audience appears to be art hobbyists of antique postcards, kitsch, novelties, and ephemera focused on bathtubs. Collectors of such bathtub art might be an intended audience except that there does not appear to be any effort to sell any of the images. Otherwise, the site and its images are fun entertainment, primarily for adults.
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