talwin morris's glasgow japonisme

how delicious it has been, lingering among the beauty of the book covers of talwin morris, scottish practitioner of japonisme.

he instructs us on the importance of design, insisting upon the sensuous beauty implied within the studies of home, and horse, wordlessly, but with just one look.

carpenters are revealed as the noble artists that they truly are by symbol alone.

and morris, sometimes, simply creates an added beauty to the already beautiful.



With [the Japanese style's] absence of central perspective, along with the expressive linear lines or organic form, the style itself is ideal to apply to a flat surface of book design. Within the composition there can also be cutting of details within the composition and instead of the perspective moving into the the picture space there was a tendency to move up the picture space. These stylistic characteristics can create a flat decorative effect.

Along with these stylistic characteristics, there was another Japanese influence. In Western Society, the Hierarchy of Genres shows that History painting is the highest of all art forms. This however was different in Japan which placed significant importance upon items such as laquerware and porcelain. These objects would have been of lower importance to the West before this time. These objects then became very important and can be seen in the way in which Blackie and Sons [a publisher with whom morris worked] placed artistic emphasis upon the book cover, which had previously been of little importance.1

links:

morris collection

•

talwin morris

•

talwin morris book design

moments in the day

in costume, subject, and layout, the paintings below embody some of the touching, beautiful gifts we received from the japanese. in addition, we are introduced to three new artists. how can we not know their names? is their work less worthy than those we know? why do i keep asking this question? perhaps instead i should continuously celebrate treasures found.

from le divan fumoir bohemien. and many thanks to the illustrious pk for the pointer. this blog is full with many beauties, unexpected, domestic. check it out.

Elisabeth Nourse. Les volets clos. Musée d'Orsay


E. Saglio. La buanderie. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille.


Edmund Tarbell. Across the Room.

also found on this blog is a link to an amazing collection from a museum in japan. click the uppermost image, which is attributed to ahugetsu tokan.

Opus From Space

Almost everything I know is glad
to be born – not only the desert orangetip,
on the twist flower or tansy, shaking
birth moisture from its wings, but also the naked
warbler nesting, head wavering toward sky,
and the honey possum, the pygmy possum,
blind, hairless thimbles of forward,
press and part.

Almost everything I've seen pushes
toward the place of that state as if there were
no knowing any other – the violent crack
and seed-propelling shot of the witch hazel pod,
the philosophy implicit in the inside out
seed-thrust of the wood-sorrel. All hairy
saltcedar seeds are single-minded
in their grasping of wind and spinning
for luck toward birth by water.

And I'm fairly shocked to consider
all the bludgeonings and batterings going on
continually, the head-rammings, wing-furors,
and beak-crackings fighting for release
inside gelatinous shells, leather shells,
calcium shells or rough, horny shells. Legs
and shoulders, knees and elbows flail likewise
against their womb walls everywhere, in pine
forest niches, seepage banks and boggy
prairies, among savannah grasses, on woven
mats and perfumed linen sheets.

Mad zealots, every one, even before
beginning they are dark dust-congealings
of pure frenzy to come to light.

Almost everything I know rages to be born,
the obsession

founding itself explicitly
in the coming bone harps

and ladders,
the heart-thrusts, vessels and voices
of all those speeding with clear and total
fury toward this singular honor.

Pattiann Rogers

(from Eating Bread And Honey)

sunrise

Sunrise, sunset


(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)
I don't remember growing older
When did they?

(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he get to be so tall?

(Golde)
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?

(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

(Tevye)
What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?

(Tevye)
Now they must learn from one another
Day by day

(Perchik)
They look so natural together


(Hodel)
Just like two newlyweds should be

(Perchik & Hodel)
Is there a canopy in store for me?






(All)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears


(from fiddler on the roof, of course, by jerry bock and sheldon harnick.)

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

Ye shepherds tell me have you seen my Flora pass this way? a wreath around her head she wore, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, and in her hand a crook she bore and sweets her breath compose. the beauteous wreath that decks her head forms her description true, hands lily white, lips crimson red, and cheeks of rosy hue.1

"The seasons went from August till the beginning of November "Sargent would dress the children in white sweaters which came down to their ankles, over which he pulled the dresses that appeared in the picture. He himself would be muffled up like an Artic explorer. At the same time the roses gradually faded and died, and Marshall and Snelgrive had to be requisitioned for artificial substitutes, which were fixed to the withered bushes . . . . In November, 1885, the unfinished picture was stored in the Millets' barn. When in 1886 the Barnard children returned to Broadway the sittings were resumed.
(Charteris , P75) 2

(lillian genth; duane michals; john singer sargent; helen turner; helen turner; emerson van gorder luther)

golden globes

(maxfield parrish; toshi yoshida; jowett; woodbury; tiffany)