Tag Archives: Arts and Crafts Movement

Orientalism: Good & Bad

14 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by in Art, Orientalism, The Middle East, The Ottoman Empire

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The Palace Guard by Ludwig Deutshe (Tumber.com)

I am revisiting my post entitled Orientalism: Good or Bad.

Orientalism and Oriental Studies

My post entitled Orientalism: Good or Bad suggested that one could no longer use the word Orientalism. It had referred to paintings created by Western artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme and Horace Vernet who painted in a style called academicism, art as it was taught at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. However, the word Orientalism is still used and Orientalist paintings are sold at auctions and displayed in major museum Claude Piening describes Orientalism as a “genre.”

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/videos/2013/04/orientalist-paintings-sale.html

The link above takes one to publicity (3 minutes) about an auction at Sotheby’s in London. The auction took place in 2013. The word Orientalism was used to describe works by European artists depicting the East. Il was a two-day auction. On the first day, the works of Orientalists were sold. However, on the second day, Sotheby’s auctioned off Islamic art, rather than the paintings of 19th-century Europeans or Western artists featuring the Orient. Wikipedia gives a list of Orientalist Artists. (See List of Orientalist Artists.)

However, one now speaks of Oriental Studies, which includes Egyptology and the work of William Jones (28 September 1746 – 17 April 1794), the philologist who first recognized a relationship between European anguages and Indian languages. (See Indo-European languages, Wikipedia.)

Edward Said’s Orientalism

As for the patronizing Orientalism, studied in Edward Said‘s 1978 controversial Orientalism, it exists. The many depictions of voluptuous white nudes bathing and lounging in harems are examples of Dr Said’s Orientalism. Orientalism may be clichéd and, in this respect, can be associated with colonialism.

The East: Real or Borrowed

Despite its flaws, colonialism, British colonialism in particular, had the benefit of fostering an interest in the Orient, such as William Jones’ research Napoleon lost the Battle of the Nile, but the scholars who accompanied him founded Egyptology. Colonists, mostly British, also discovered objets d’art such as netsuke(s), small Japanese carvings used on belts for men, and cloisonnés, enamel, gems or glass poured into or inserted inside little metal walls called cloisons. They also discovered fine porcelain (now called china) and sumptuous Oriental rugs. These adorned their homes and to this day beautiful rooms often display fine Oriental vases and intricate rugs.

During the 19th century, members of the Arts and Crafts Movement replicated the motifs of the East. Artists and craftsmen associated with the Arts and Crafts movement could create homes decorated to reflect the East, Near or Far, including Japan. Ukiyo-e prints flooded Europe in the second half of the 19th century inaugurating Japonism. Oriental motifs adorned wallpapers, fabric, ceramic or class tiles made in the West. One could also purchase the finest china, made in England and other European countries.

Turquerie, however, was fashionable well before the 19th century. In 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople today’s Istanbul. Eastern Europe fell to the Ottoman Empire. The craze for chinoiserie also preceded the 19th century. As for Orientalism, it dates back to Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801). (See French Campaign in Egypt and Syria, Wikipedia.)

Harem by Théodore Chassériau
Harem by Théodore Chassériau
Reading the Letter, Ludwig Deutsch, 1899
Courtyard of House in Cairo, Willem de Farmas Festas, 1859

Orientalist Portraiture

I have focussed on Orientalist portraiture. We have seen Horace Vernet’s portrait of Mameluke Roustam Raza and Gérôme’s portrait of a black Bashi-Basouk. Both portraits are or will be housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but although taste varies, there are objective artistic standards. One may not wish to hang a reproduction of Gérôme’s black Bashi-Basouk in one’s home, but as a work of art, Gérôme’s Bashi-Basouk is an exceptional painting.

Conclusion

Therefore, although  a work of art may be clichéd, it may nevertheless be beautiful. The West has depicted the East at times successfully and, at other times, less so. In other words, the art of European painters depicting the East can be good or bad.

I have featured Horace Vernet’s Head of an Arab Man. Today’s choice is Ludwig Deutsh’s Palace Guard.

Love to everyone ♥

Sources and Resources

Portrait of a Mameluke, said to be Roustam Raza (ca. 1781–1845)

Portrait of a Mameluke, said to be Roustam Raza (ca. 1781–1845) (MMA, NY)

© Micheline Walker
14 September 2016
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L-M Boutet de Monvel in his Times

12 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by in Art, Children's Literature, France

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Jeanne d’Arc, p. 6

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Jeanne d’Arc, p. 7 (detail)

“God will help you.”
On a Summer day, when she was thirteen, she heard a voice calling to her. It was noon and she was in her father’s garden. She saw a flash of light and Michael the Archangel appeared to her.
He told her to be good and to go to church. He then spoke of the great misery that had befallen the kingdom of France and announced that she would rescue Charles VII, the heir to the throne of France, and lead him to Reims where he would be crowned.“Sir, I am but a humble girl. I would not know how to ride a horse and lead soldiers into battle.”
“God will help you,” replied the angel.
The child was overwhelmed and covered in tears.

 

Illustrations

  • the applied arts
  • Sir John Tenniel
  • Japonisme

Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel was a man of his times. His Vieilles chansons de France pour les petits enfants, published in 1883, and his Jeanne d’Arc, published in 1896, are products of an important turning-point in the history of European art: the acceptability of the applied arts. Successfully illustrated children’s literature could make it easier for artists to earn a living while remaining artists. Such had been and was the case in Britain. Sir John Tenniel was a cartoonist for Punch when he was asked to illustrate Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1872).[1]

If brilliantly illustrated, children’s literature could help ensure a better lifestyle for Sir John Tenniel, it could also benefit Boutet de Monvel without his having to choose a completely different profession. The required attributes were both the quality of the written text and that of its illustrations. Illustrated by John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass were a perfect marriage of word and art. Therefore, although he lived across the English channel, Tenniel was a precursor.

Japonisme, again

However, Louis-Maurice’s art was influenced by Japonisme, as was Walter Crane‘s (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915). Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel’s illustrations are characterized by his use of flat colours. This was a feature of the Japanese prints that flooded Europe in the second half of the 19th century.

For example, in the images shown above, Louis-Maurice’s black is a flat black. But Louis-Maurice also expressed dimensionality by juxtaposing a light and darker shade of the same colours. Joan’s hair is an example of this technique. However, simplicity is the chief characteristic of Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel’s art, including battle scenes where several human beings are depicted standing, riding a horse, or lying dead.

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Jeanne d’Arc, p. 26

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Jeanne d’Arc, p. 30 (le couronnement de Charles VII)

Word and Art

As for the combination of word and art, Boutet de Monvel’s text is mostly in boxes placed inside the page. Word and art are therefore integrated. Moreover, the text is told by Louis-Maurice himself. He may have had a source, but no author is named. In this regard, the art of Boutet de Monvel resembles the art of Beatrix Potter, except that Louis-Maurice did not invent the story of Joan of Arc. It had been told. Alexandre Dumas had written a Jeanne d’Arc (Internet Archives).

The Technique: Watercolours in Zincotype

In the case of Jeanne d’Arc, Louis-Maurice made a series of watercolours that were reproduced in zincotype, “a new photo engraving process using etching in conjunction with coloured inks.” (See Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel, Wikipedia.) Great progress had been made since the invention of the printing press. In fact, Europe had entered its industrial revolution for more than a century, which meant that duplicating images had become quite inexpensive.

Nevertheless, etching remained a good starting-point. If colours were used, however, it was a time-consuming endeavour. Yet, colours were used. Later, Louis-Maurice’s son, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, perfected etching and “became the undisputed master of this technique.” (See Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Wikipedia.)

Artist and Illustrator

Louis-Maurice’s trajectory is somewhat unique. He was at first an artist who painted one-of-a-kind art works. After he married and his son Roger was born, he needed to supplement his income. He therefore turned to illustrating books for practical reasons only to realize he liked this kind of work. He had many customers. Nobel Prize laureate Anatole France was one of Louis-Maurice’s customers.

But Louis-Maurice also had projects of his own. The first was his Vieilles chansons de France pour les petits enfants (1883). French organist and composer Charles Marie Widor set the words to music. Louis-Maurice’s second project was Jeanne d’Arc (1896). His illustrations were so exquisite that the books he illustrated sold well, which enabled him to be both an illustrator and the creator of one-of-a-kind works of art.

A Lifestyle & a Social Life

Therefore, Boutet de Monvel is one of the artists who inaugurated a lifestyle for today’s artists. It is not uncommon for artists to produce both relatively inexpensive prints and rather expensive paintings. This is how several artists put bread on the table, so to speak. In the early 20th century, artists also hand coloured photographs or combined in some other way photography and painting.

Louis-Maurice’s illustrations also allowed him a rich social life. He befriended not only writers but also artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who made posters, and Edgard Degas, who was a printmaker and taught this technique to Mary Cassatt. Moreover, artist Édouard Detaille (1848 – 1912) introduced him to members of the newly-established Société des aquarellistes français (“the society of French watercolourists”). Louis-Maurice showed one work for approval and it was well received. Consequently, he was voted a member of the Société almost immediately. However, he had already been an ‘artist’ and had continued to produce original paintings.

(Please click on the images to enlarge them.)

Jeanne d’Arc, p. 11 (Joan identifies Charles VII)
Jeanne d’Arc, p. 32 (The people and Jeanne d’Arc)
p. 44
p. 45

Jeanne d’Arc identifies Charles VII
The people and Jeanne d’Arc
Jeanne d’Arc’s trial
Jeanne d’Arc sentenced to death

The Arts and Crafts Movement

Painters may become illustrators, but illustrators do not necessarily turn to painting. Nowadays, however, an illustrator is considered an artist, but someone had to lead the way. More than anyone else, William Morris was eclectic, and so were the artists associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. The comparison is unavoidable. The Arts and Crafts movement validated the applied arts thereby broadening the realm of things artistic and it spread abroad to countries where circumstances paralleled the British experience.

Moreover, not only did Louis-Maurice meet the writers whose work he illustrated, but he was also invited to participate in the Exhibition of Viennese Secession of 1899, the Jugendstil that supported the applied arts and avant-gardisme. (See Art Nouveau, Wikipedia.) Gustav Klimt is the best-known representative of the Vienna Jugendstil.

We associate Alphonse Mucha with Art Nouveau. His art was curvilinear, but Art Nouveau also incorporated innovative art and total art. It was a synthesis: Gesamtkunstwerk, a feature associated with the last years of the 19th century.

In short, Louis-Maurice was a man of his times, as would be his son, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, his nephews, George Barbier and Pierre Brissaud, and ‘artists’ everywhere.

 

With kind regards to all of you. ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

____________________

[1] “Sir John Tenniel”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 11 janv.. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Tenniel>.

—ooo—

Music: Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1935-36)
The Siege of Orleans (12 October 1428 – 8 May 1429)

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Jeanne d’Arc arrested

© Micheline Walker
11 January 2016
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Walter Crane: from Slavery to Wage-Slavery

21 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Art, Socialism, United States

≈ 14 Comments

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Walter Crane by Frederick Hollyer, 1886 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am  closing this mini-series on art in 19th-century Britain, except for future posts on individual artists: Aubrey Beardsley, Kate Greenaway, Randolph Caldecott, as well as artists who illustrated their own texts, a foremost example being Beatrix Potter.

Walter_Crane_as_a_Child_by_Thomas_Crane

Walter Crane by his father Thomas Crane (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

From Abolitionism to Socialism

  • Immigrants to the United States
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • Wage Slavery

However, before closing, I can’t resist taking a closer look at Walter Crane who dared say the “Chicago four” (see Haymarket affair, Wikipedia) had been wrongfully convicted. His contracts were cancelled and he was shipped back to Britain.

As I read about Walter Crane, it occurred to me that slavery laid the foundation for wage slavery and that, consequently, there might be a link between abolitionism and socialism (labour unions).

Most immigrants to the United States were people escaping persecution, poverty, a change of régime, not to mention revolutions or other evils. There was no room in Europe for the Pilgrim Fathers and the Puritans, but there was land in what was or would become the United States.

However, among immigrants to the United States, there were persons seeking far more than the acquisition of a little white house surrounded by a picket fence. They were seeking the privileges that birth conferred upon European aristocrats, and which money might confer upon certain immigrants. Slavery had afforded nearly free wealth to plantation owners. Once a plantation owner had bought his slaves, wealth was within easy reach. Could the same not be done for industrialists?

In fact, the British had laughed when they read the text of the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1876). Britain was about to lose its better-located American colony, but as principal writer of the United States Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was seeking for the white what the black slaves could not attain and it so happened that Thomas Jefferson owned a large number of slaves.

If there were slaves, all men were not created equal. If there were slaves, the Creator had not endowed man with certain unalienable rights. Finally, if there were slaves, they did not possess a life of their own. They therefore had no rights and could in no way pursue happiness?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I am inclined to think that Jefferson meant what he wrote, but that he was dependent on his slaves to the point of blindness and that he perhaps could not see the blacks as altogether human. He was unable to travel to France, where he spent several years, unaccompanied. He took slaves with him.

Therefore, it is possible that slavery had left in the American mind the thwarted notion that wealthy did not have to earn their wealth, which could serve to explain why an employer hired children and overworked employees he also underpaid. There was a ‘precedent:’ slavery. Workers were not owned, but why should they be paid adequately when the goal of the industrialist was to make as large a profit as possible. This could explain why Walter Crane, a socialist, made himself persona non grata at a gathering of polite society in Boston. Employers had rights: a profit.

It has been labelled wage slavery.

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Design by Walter Crane (Photo credit: Google Images)

The Gilded Age

  • a mindset
  • wage slavery
  • entitlement, or a “right” to

Slavery could be and was abolished, at a price: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. But what could not be removed was a mindset. There was a precedent. Slaves had made the plantation owner rich, so factory owners would pay workers a less than adequate salary. Machines had increased productivity and so would employees.

“Increased mechanization of industry is a major mark of the Gilded Age‘s search for cheaper ways to create more product.” (See Gilded Age, Wikipedia.)

In other words, one type of slavery, the enslavement of the blacks, would be followed by another type: wage slavery.

“According to historian Steve Fraser, workers generally earned less than $800 a year, which kept them mired in poverty. Workers had to put in roughly 60 hours a week to earn this much.”

The Haymarket Affair

  • Walter Crane driven out of the United States
  • Socialism = Labour Unions

Consequently, abolitionism was followed by socialism or a degree of Marxism. After the Haymarket affair (1886), labour unions would develop. Employees paid union dues to be protected and it occurred to certain new Americans that they too could levy dues from businesses to ‘protect them.’

The Boston socialites who drove Walter Crane out of the United States may have been the wives of wealthy factory employers. In fact, they may have been the wealthy employers themselves. Yet, the social Walter Crane attended in 1891 was a Boston anarchist meeting. How could anarchists drive an artist out of a country? It seems that the expulsion of Walter Crane was a sign of things to come, a ‘precedent.’ A few decades later, McCarthyism arose.

8_-Hammersmith-Socialist-League

(Photo credit: Google Images)

The Arts and Crafts Movement and Socialism

It should be noted however that although the Arts and Crafts Movement and William Morris are associated with socialism, William Morris owned a company and Kelmscott Press. Machines were used. They were not deemed useless; they were in fact very useful. Members of the Arts and Crafts Movement used machines. These increased the availability, at a reasonable price, of the various elements required to make a home beautiful: fabrics, wallpaper, decorative tiles, glassware, furniture, etc. Two stories merge: the Golden Age of Illustration, illustrations that could be reproduced, and the domestication of art, products that could be manufactured. However, Walter Crane was a member of the Art Workers Guild.

Almost immediately below, a photograph shows Morris & Co.‘s employees weaving at his Merton factory.

(See Arts and Crafts Movement, Wikipedia.)

The weaving shed in Morris & Co's factory at Merton, which opened in the 1880s

The weaving shed in Morris & Co.‘s factory at Merton, which opened in the 1880s

Walter Crane: Women’s Clothing

  • a woman’s health
  • liberty

I forgot to mention that Walter Crane was a ‘clothes activist.’ He was “a Vice President of the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union, a movement begun in 1890.” (See Walter Crane, Wikipedia.) Women were forcing themselves into corsets and very tight clothes. Crane therefore militated against tight-fitting garments. Bless him! About two or three decades later, Coco Chanel started designing flexible clothes. Jersey was a fabric Coco Chanel loved.

Conclusion

The impact of the Industrial Revolution cannot be understated. Machines did the work, but our industrialists did not differ substantially from slave-owners. The goal was a profit even if the welfare of workers was put in jeopardy. A profit was a noble goal. People tend to have a good opinion of themselves and they may close their eyes if money is to be gained and even ill-gained.

Thus were born our labour unions.

With kind greetings to everyone. ♥

Walter Crane & Johann Strauss
“Roses from the South”

thm_solidarity-of-labour

(Photo credit: Google Images)

© Micheline Walker
21 December 2015
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William Morris & Walter Crane: Socialism

17 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in Britain

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The Poppy Tile by Walter Crane (Photo credit: Google Images)

The Industrial Age and Socialism

In our discussion of art in Britain during the 19th century, I mentioned that William Morris and Walter Crane were socialist activists. The Industrial Revolution (beginning in the middle of the 18th century) led to an abuse of workers. Workers were often very young, they worked 60 hours a week over 6 days, the noise produced by machines was deafening, repeated movements, crippling, not to mention other detrimental consequences.

William Morris was born to a wealthy family and Morris & Co. was a successful business venture. By and large, employees of  Morris & Co. (now Liberty of London and Sanderson [the designs]) were craftsmen, as was William Morris himself. The Kelmscott Chaucer, printed at the Kelmscott Press, named after Morris’ Kelmscott Manor, which he rented, was a modern illuminated manuscript. Morris was a calligrapher and painter as was his friend Sir Edward Burne-Jones. When the Kelmscott Chaucer was published, in 1896, it was as a joint effort and the first two copies were presented to William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

However, the work differed from a craft in that it was printed, which made it accessible to several individuals. The books produced by the Kelmscott Press are ancestors to books produced by the current Folio Society. In particular, the paper will not age into a brittle and yellow paper. It is acid-free paper or nearly so. It is the paper used by waltercolour artists and printmakers. An artwork will not otherwise survive.

Such were the books printed by the Kelmscott Press, established in 1881. Liberty of London has to use mechanization or it could not offer fabrics, etc. in bulk. But times have changed. The forty-hour week is no longer a rarity and workers use headphones to deafen the sound. However, the abuse has not ended and the working environments where abuse occurs are not restricted to factories.

Walter Crane - Neptune's Horses

Neptune’s Horses by Walter Crane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Walter Crane

  • the arts domesticated
  • Arts & Crafts exhibition in the US

To keep this post brief, I will focus on Walter Crane’s activities as a member of the Socialist movement (socialism) to which he was introduced under William Morris‘ influence. As an artist, both he and Morris tried to “bring art into the daily life of all classes.” (See Walter Crane, Wikipedia.) The products of today’s Liberty of London can be described as carriage trade). For instance, the lovely tote bags it sells are not available to the poorer classes, poverty still exists, but it is art domesticated. There is truth however to the saying that no one is sufficiently rich to buy a product that will not last or to overindulge in the trendy.

william_morris_quote_artscrafts_framed_tile

Crane was not an anarchist, but when domestic and other art designed by members of the Arts and Crafts movement were exhibited in the United States, Walter Crane attended a social in Boston and said that the “Chicago four,” who had been executed, were wrongfully convicted. No sooner did he voice his opinion that he was shipped back to London. Workers were agitating in the hope of bringing the work week down from 60 hours to 48 hours.

William-Morris-SDF-Membership-Card

 

The Haymarket Affair & May 1st

On 4 May 1886, during a demonstration, in favour of the 48-hour week,  someone threw a dynamite bomb at the police. People then start to shoot. Seven (7) police officers and four (4) civilians died and many more were wounded. The Demonstration took pace at Haymarket Square in Chicago. (See Haymarket Affair, Wikipedia). The Chicago four were the four men who were hanged. Although none had thrown the bomb, one or more of the seven men who who were convicted had built it. One of the convicted men was sentenced to life imprisonment, but seven men were condemned to death. Among the seven, four were hanged, the death sentence of two workers was commuted to life imprisonment, and one committed suicide. Prisoners were pardoned in 1893 by governor John Peter Altgeld. Because of the Haymarket Affair, May 1st became the International Workers’ Day.

According to Wikipedia, “[f]or a long time he [Crane] provided the weekly cartoons for the Socialist organs Justice, The Commonweal and The Clarion. Many of these were collected as Cartoons for the Cause. He devoted much time and energy to the work of the Art Workers Guild, of which he was master in 1888 and 1889 and to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, which he helped to found in 1888.”

However, Walter Crane is best known for his illustrations and, in particular, for his illustrated edition of Edmund Spenser‘s Faerie Queene (1894-96). But he was a socialist activist. William Morris was a card-carrying member, as may have been Walter Crane.

Britomart viewing Artegal
Holiness defeats Error
Florimell saved by Proteus

Conclusion

William Morris and Walter Crane were both associated with at least two of the art movements of 19th-century English. Crane started out with the Pre-Raphaelites as did William Morris. Both were members of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and both were socialist activists. As for the movements, all culminated in the aesthetic movement and art produced as the 19th century drew to a close often displays the curvilinear Art Nouveau style. The borders of Walter Crane’s illustrations for Spenser’s Faerie Queene are an example of Art Nouveau. So are the borders of the Kelmscott Chaucer (see Sources and Resources).

Morris was the giant, the businessman, the coordinator, and immensely eclectic. In Walter Crane, we have the most prolific illustrator of his times. But both realized the industrial revolution had brought misery to workers and, therefore, to the lower classes. Awareness of this misery is associated mostly with William Morris and Walter Crane, but the Arts and Crafts Movement was nevertheless a statement.

akelei

Flora’s Feast by Water Crane, 1889 (Photo credit: Google Images)

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Windrush

Windrush by William Morris (ink and watercolour for fabric), 1881-83

Walter_Crane_-_The_Lady_of_Shalott_-_Google_Art_Project

The Lady of Shalott by Walter Crane

© Micheline Walker
17 December 2015
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William Morris: Art Domesticated

11 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by in Art, Britain

≈ 3 Comments

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william-morris-tiles

(Photo credit: Google Images)

William Morris: a Legendary Figure

In a much earlier post: The Columbine Tile: William Morris (November 2011), I associated William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Arts and Craft Movement (1880-1910). He founded the latter. However, William Morris straddles the four ‘movements’ we have been discussing, except that he is a medievalist. Our four movements are:

  1. the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848)
  2. the Arts and Crafts Movement (1880-1910)
  3. the Anglo-Japanese style (c. 1850)
  4. the Aesthetic Movement (c. 1850)

Many of the artists associated with the above movements knew one another and were members of more than one movement. For instance, William Morris was a medievalist yet he was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as a painter. Morris and employees of Morris & Co., William Morris’ company, designed and made furniture. It may not have been in the Anglo-Japanese style, but it was furniture.

Moreover, not only was Morris the founder of the Kelmscott Press, but he was also a calligrapher and illuminator. He and Sir Edward Burne-Jones  produced the Kelmscott Chaucer, a 19th-century illuminated manuscript, reviving a medieval practice. Production began in 1892 and the book was published in 1896, four months before William Morris’ early death.

It would be difficult to associate the Kelmscott Chaucer with the Arts and Crafts Movement.  The Kelmscott Chaucer is unique, but if it has to be classified, it would be considered a product of the Aesthetic Movement, the movement associated with Sir Edward Burne-Jones. He and Morris met as students at Oxford University and their friendship endured.

Burne-Jones contributed paintings and stained glass to the Red House, Sir Burne-Jones reinvented the medieval art of staining glass but he is usually associated with the Aesthetic Movement. In fact, all four movements culminated in the Aesthetic Movement and eclecticism is a characteristic shared by several artists belonging the above-named movements.

His medievalism is William Morris’ contribution to the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, but it is not ‘grotesque’ (from grotto: cave). Architects used the grotesque, such as gargoyles (water spouts), as well as stained glass windows. Both originate in the Middle Ages. Some Victorian houses have beautiful stained glass windows.

 

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SOL by Edward Burne-Jones, 1878 (from the Franklin Collection, 1970) (Photo credit: see Sources and Resources below)

Domesticity

“If I were asked to say what is at once the most important production of art and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, a beautiful home.”

William Morris quoted in the Guardian, 8 December 2015
Turner Prize winner Assemble debt to William Morris

The Arts and Crafts Movement‘s main characteristic is its domesticity. Artists and artisans made ceramic tiles, wallpaper, cushions, textiles, prints. Moreover, they were architects, cabinet-makers and interior designers. Although a piece of furniture such as Arthur William Godwin‘s sideboard, shown in an earlier post, would be very expensive, it could be said that it belongs to a democratization of the arts.

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The Emery House (Photo credit: The Guardian, UK)

William Morris: A Renaissance Man

Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896)  was a renaissance man. He is described as:

“an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role in propagating the early socialist movement in Britain.”
(See William Morris, Wikipedia.)

The Arts and Crafts Movement was an international movement. Swedish artist Carl Larsson (28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was an interior designer. He also worked as an illustrator and made paintings portraying his home, his wife and his children.

Artists associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement often used the curvilinear and international Art Nouveau style. After World War I, it would be replaced by Art Deco, but fine styles resurface or leave an imprint. Morris’ socialism will not be discussed here. We have pictures to look at.

My kindest regards to everyone. ♥

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The Columbine Tile by William Morris

 

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Acanthus Wallpaper by William Morris

 

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The Floral Tile by William Morris

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Sources and Resources

William Morris: Glasswork

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The Cock

© Micheline Walker
11 December 2015
revised: 12 December 2015
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William Morris’ Red House

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Art, England, Middle Ages, Romanticism

≈ 5 Comments

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Philip_Webb's_Red_House_in_Upton

Philip Webb‘s Red House

The above-featured Red House was co-designed by Philip Webb, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

In my post on Art in 19th-century England, I mentioned the Arts and Crafts movement, but realized that the Arts and Crafts movement had to be discussed separately. The Arts and Crafts movement grew into an international movement whose members and supporters valued the decorative arts and design. North American Mission style furniture, still a favourite in many homes, is considered an outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Arts and Crafts movement is sometimes viewed as a validation of the applied arts. In this regard, it has often been associated with William Blake‘s (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) rejection of the “Dark Satanic Mills,” of the industrial age, which it was to a large extent.

William Morris design, adapted by Charles Fairfax Murray, c. 1870
William Morris design adapted by Charles Fairfax, c. 1870 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Socialism

The Arts and Crafts movement, however, was also a precursor. It is one of the birthplaces of design and other applied arts. Moreover, because they rejected the industrial age, some members of the movement advocated socialism. Persons working in factories were looked upon as machines and made to work 60 hours a week in an unhealthy environment. Walter Crane (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915), known mainly as a prolific illustrator, but also a member of the Arts and Crafts movement, was associated with the international Socialist movement and opposed this kind of abuse. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a “socialist activist.” (See William Morris, Wikipedia.)

The Red House was built in Bexleyheath (London). Morris intended it to be his permanent home, but its location was not sufficiently central. Morris therefore moved his family to the more conveniently located Bloomsbury, where he established his company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.  (1861-1875), the future Morris & Co.

“The firm’s designs are still sold today under licences given to Sanderson and Sons (which markets the ‘Morris & Co.’ brand) and Liberty of London.”

That part of London had been home to the Bloomsbury Group and, therefore, to Virginia Woolf. Morris and his wife, Jane Burden Morris, Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti‘s muse, also rented Kelmscott Manor. It was their summer home.

Medievalism

William Morris is not associated with Japonism, except indirectly. Walter Crane’s illustrations were Japonist, but Crane was an eclectic artist. He also designed tiles and wallpaper. As for William Morris, he epitomizes eclecticism, but he was, first and foremost, a medievalist. He and Sir Edward Burne-Jones met as students at Oxford University and were both attracted to medievalism.

Morris and Burne-Jones shared their interest in the Middle Ages with French author Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) whose Hunchback of Notre-Dame or Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) is a favourite. Morris and Burne-Jones may in fact have been influenced by Victor Hugo. Medievalism was a characteristic of French Romanticism as was exoticism, such as orientalism.

Hugo’s Les Orientales (1829) is an example of orientalism. So are many of Jean-Léon Gérôme‘s (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) paintings, a few of which I have used in recent posts. Gérôme was an académicien at about the time académiciens started to fall into disrepute.

The Grotesque

When I started rewriting this post, I looked up the entry “Daniel Rabel,” in Wikipedia to get information on the “grotesque” in 17th-century France. The grotesque is associated with the Middle Ages: Quasimodo (the hunchback), gargoyles, misericords, but it resurfaces. I have written posts on stage and costume designer Daniel Rabel‘s “grotesque” ballets de cour. These will be listed separately.

Allow me to finish The Red House. I had nearly forgotten writing about Daniel Rabel, but I remember the Red House.

Kindest regards to all of you. ♥

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Morris & Co. Design (Photo credit: Google images)

© Micheline Walker
8 December 2015
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La Fontaine’s Fables Compiled & Walter Crane, 2nd Edition

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Art, Fables

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The Baby’s Own Æsop, illustrated by Walter Crane  (London, New York: Routledge, 1887)
Photo credit: http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/crane/
 
Crane_toybook
Crane’s interest in Japanese art is evident in this 1874 cover of a 
toy book, printed by Edmund Evans. 
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

Illustrator: Walter Crane

I have endeavoured to collect all my posts on Jean de La Fontaine (8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695), most of which are also discussions of Æsop‘s Fables. We have now discussed many fables by La Fontaine and Æsop. My list may therefore be incomplete.

The ‘Golden Age’ of British book illustration

The illustrations shown in this post are by Walter Crane (1845–1915) who illustrated Æsop‘s Fables adapted for children. Crane lived during the ‘Golden Age’ of British book illustration. His contemporaries were Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Sir John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland), and other celebrated illustrators. (See The Golden Age of Illustration.)

Japonism of Toy Books

Crane was influenced by Japonisme: ukiyo-e prints. In England, Japonism was called the Anglo-Japanese Style. The Alphabet of Old Friends, shown above, one of Crane’s toy books, is an example of Japonism both from the point of view of subject matter (e.g. the heron or crane, the oranges) and style: flat colours, etc.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement

The Healthy and Artistic Dress Union

However, Crane is usually associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (middle of 19th century) and the Arts and Crafts Movement (1860 and 1910), movements that incorporated the decorative arts and design. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896), a leading member of both movements, designed wallpaper and tiles.  Interestingly, Walter Crane designed not only wallpaper, etc., but clothes for women, looser-fitting clothes. He was in fact a Vice President of the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union. This, I would not have suspected.

At first sight, Walter Crane’s moral for the “Fox and the Grapes” seems rather negative, if one focuses on the word disappointment: “The grapes of disappointment are always sour.” However, this moral may serve to lessen cognitive dissonance, if the grapes are deemed sour. Since Æsop‘s Fables are for anyone to retell, morals may differ from author to author.

La Fontaine’s illustrators

Walter Crane was a fine artist. He is the creator of “Neptune’s Horses,” an artwork that is somewhat reminiscent of Hokusai‘s Great Wave off Kanagawa. “Neptune’s Horses” is featured at the very bottom of this post. However, although Crane illustrated Æsop‘s Fables, and, by extension, some of La Fontaine’s Æsopic fables, the most famous illustrators of La Fontaine’s Fables are Jean-Baptiste Oudry, François  Chauveau, Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville, Gustave Doré, and others, some of whom I have already mentioned and some I will mention in future posts.

The Video

YouTube has a lovely video featuring Walter Crane’s art.  However, it does not show his illustrations of fables.  It does not fully belong to this post.  The music is Franz Schubert‘s (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) Ständchen, D. 957.

FABLES by Jean de La Fontaine (& Æsop)
(listed in alphabetical order: Boy, Cat, Cock, Fox…
 

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The following list is mostly alphabetical (cha, che, coq, bel). It simply provides the title La Fontaine gave to his Fables. My post are written in English. Sometimes the fable is named in both French and English. They are listed as book (of XII [12]) and number (XII.14)

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Franz Schubert: Ständchen, D. 957

  
Crane© Micheline Walker
September 24, 2013 
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Neptune’s Horses, Walter Crane, ill., 1892
Photo credit: Google Images
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)

La Fontaine’s Fables Compiled & Walter Crane

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Art, Fables

≈ 39 Comments

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5_4crane-babys-own

The Baby’s Own Æsop, illustrated by Walter Crane  (London, New York: Routledge, 1887)
Photo credit: http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/crane/
 
Crane_toybook
Crane’s interest in Japanese art is evident in this 1874 cover of a 
toy book, printed by Edmund Evans. 
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

Illustrator: Walter Crane

I have endeavoured to collect all my posts on Jean de La Fontaine (8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695), most of which are also discussions of Æsop‘s Fables.  We have now discussed many fables by La Fontaine and Æsop. My list may therefore be incomplete.

The ‘Golden Age’ of British book illustration

The illustrations shown in this post are by Walter Crane (1845–1915) who illustrated Æsop‘s Fables adapted for children. Crane lived during the ‘Golden Age’ of British book illustration. His contemporaries were Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Sir John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland), and other celebrated illustrators.

Japonism of Toy Books

Crane was influenced by Japonisme: ukiyo-e prints. In England, Japonism was called the Anglo-Japanese Style. The Alphabet of Old Friends, shown above, one of Crane’s toy books, is an example of Japonism both from the point of view of subject matter (e.g. the heron or crane, the oranges) and style: flat colours, etc.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement

The Healthy and Artistic Dress Union

However, Crane is usually associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (middle of 19th century onward) and the Arts and Crafts Movement (1860 and 1910), movements that incorporated the decorative arts and design.  William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896), a leading member of both movements, designed wallpaper and tiles.  Interestingly, Walter Crane designed not only wallpaper, etc., but clothes for women, looser-fitting clothes.  He was in fact a Vice President of the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union.  This, I would not have suspected.

At first sight, Walter Crane’s moral for the “Fox and the Grapes” seems rather negative, if one focusses on the word disappointment: “The grapes of disappointment are always sour.”  However, this moral may serve to lessen cognitive dissonance, if the grapes are deemed sour.  Since Æsop‘s Fables are for anyone to retell, morals may differ from author to author.

La Fontaine’s illustrators

Walter Crane was a fine artist. He is the creator of “Neptune’s Horses,” an artwork that is somewhat reminiscent of Hokusai‘s Great Wave off Kanagawa. “Neptune’s Horses” is featured at the very bottom of this post. However, although Crane illustrated Æsop‘s Fables, and, by extension, some of La Fontaine’s Æsopic fables, the most famous illustrators of La Fontaine’s Fables are Jean-Baptiste Oudry, François Chauveau, Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville, Gustave Doré, and others, some of whom I have already mentioned and some I will mention in future posts.

The Video

YouTube has a lovely video featuring Walter Crane’s art. However, it does not show his illustrations of fables. It does not fully belong to this post. The music is Franz Schubert‘s (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) Ständchen, D. 957.

FABLES by Jean de La Fontaine 
(I like the fable entitled “The Man and the Snake” [X.1])
 

11_600

9_600606px-Can't_please_everyone2

Franz Schubert: Ständchen, D. 957

  
Crane© Micheline Walker
24 September 2013 
WordPress
 
Neptune’s Horses, 1892
Photo credit: Google Images
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)

Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément…

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Art, Fashion

≈ 13 Comments

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En effeuillant la marguerite

A new day has dawned that has a purer taste.  I am therefore featuring another George Barbier illustration for its youthfulness.  I am also featuring textile designs by William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896), a British designer, writer, printer: the Kelmscott Chaucer, a close friend of Sir Edward Burne-Jones: a man of many talents.

Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément…

In Barbier’s illustration, the Lady wonders whether he loves her un peu, beaucoup or passionnément…

When I was very young, long before I was interested in men, I would pick the petals off daisies.  The last petal told me an imaginary truth.  It’s a lovely memory, but it was another age.  An age when you waited for the gentleman to phone you.  An age when you were afraid he would turn his back on you if you showed your true feelings.

I am glad times have changed.  A woman should be able to phone a man and suggest a date.  But I miss picking at a daisy and I would like to wear that dress, but not to walk in the countryside.  I would wear it to walk in a beautifully manicured garden with little paths.

According to Wikipedia, William Morris was a “libertarian socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. He founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.”  I have featured works by William Morris in other posts.

As for George Barbier (1882-1932), he was a French illustrator.  The work shown above is entitled “N’en dites rien,” (Do not say a word about it).  It was featured in an exclusive fashion magazine called: La Gazette du Bon Ton, in 1913.  “Bon ton” means good taste.

George Barbier is featured with permission from Art Resource, NY.  As for the samples of textile designed by Mr Morris, Wikipedia was my source.

© Micheline Walker
9 July 2012
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The Columbine Tile: William Morris

16 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, England

≈ 1 Comment

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The Columbine Tile by William Morris
(Photo credit: artpassionsnet)

 

Yesterday, I decorated an appreciation post by inserting a picture of one tile, William Morris‘s Columbine Tile.

So let me now honour its creator: William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896).  I found a picture of this tile on a website you can access by clicking on William Morris.  Moreover, the tile is on the market.

William Morris is remembered mainly as a textile designer.  I became acquainted with his work when I visited the Metropolitan Music of Art, in New York.  But my interest grew when I realized that he was the illustrator of the 1896 Kelmscott Press edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400).

Morris’s illustrations are reminiscent of illuminated medieval books, books enhanced by enluminures or illuminations are now prized chiefly because of their fine calligraphy and their enluminures.  As I noted a few days ago, we remember John Amos Comenius because he published the first illustrated textbook.

However, let us return to William Morris to tell that he was also a writer.  Among other works, he wrote News from Nowhere (1890), a book considered as utopian.  He was also a predecessor to J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and J. K. Rowling, in that he published a fantasy novel entitled The Well at the World’s End (1896).

In the world of fine arts, Morris is associated with two Movements:

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Pre-Raphaelites championed the art of Michelangelo and, particularly, the paintings of Raphael, or Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (6 April or 28 March 1483 – 6 April 1529), not to mention Leonardo da Vinci.  So here we are once again at the Renaissance court of Urbino, the court where Castiglione observed courtly behaviour.  Il Libro del Cortegiano (The Book of the Courtier), published in Venice in 1528, is a description of courtly life as Castiglione knew it from his long stay at the court of Urbino. The Louvre houses Raphael’s portrait of Castiglione.

The Arts and Crafts Movement

As for the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris founded the Movement.  He had been inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819–1900), the foremost art critic of his time.  Members of the Movement were traditionalists and advocates of fine design and decoration, values often belittled by artists whose works require a neutral background in order to be best shown.  Beauty is everywhere, including in the manner one sets food on a plate.

Design for Trellis wallpaper by William Morris, 1862

Design for Trellis wallpaper by William Morris, 1862 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

William Morris is also associated with Sir Edward Burne-Jones (28 August 1833 – 17 June 1898), a friend and a business partner.  Sir Edward Burne-Jones’s paintings can be mistaken for medieval works.

The tile I have shown is a classic on the art of gradation.  The design is dark at the very bottom, which sits it, so to speak, and then, as we near the top, the blues mutate progressively to lighter and nuanced shades of blue.

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© Micheline Walker
16 November 2011
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