japonisme: a man for all seasons: 1902

08 January 2010

a man for all seasons: 1902

well, i have decided to go about this differently. starting at beginning... theo van hoytema, in the early 1900s, made 17 calendars. each included a seasonal lithograph for each month, though the one for 1918 is sketchy as that was the year of hoytema's death.

of hoytema, ArtDaily says, "Theodoor van Hoytema, a Dutch painter, lithographer and designer, was born in The Hague. He made many watercolours and drawings of plants and animals, which clearly reveal his appreciation for Japanese prints: he often outlined the separate areas of flat color with ink, in imitation of such prints, and he could describe the characteristic attitudes of animals with a masterly economy of line. 1

i was going to wait until i had assembled every month for every year, but it's already taken me days and days, and will likely be multiples of that to come. I didn't want to wait that long before posting anything. plus, the entire run would have been a massive post.

so i'll do one year at a time. interestingly, the only one i have every month for is 1902, the first year they appeared, so i'll start with that. don't know yet if the rest will be in chronological order.

to my knowledge, this has never been done before; the complete set, or even anything like it, has certainly never before published online, and the only book i've found devoted to the subject is missing many months for nearly every year. additionally, i've had a very hard time digging up information on hoytema in english, so i've ordered a bunch of books from the library.* that way i can include more about the artist as i go on.













*complete bibliography to be included with the final entry

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8 Comments:

Blogger Jacob Russell said...

Wow... any way to get reproductions of these?

09 January, 2010 10:39  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

the only thing i know of, jacob, is this.

09 January, 2010 12:27  
Blogger Tess Kincaid said...

Hello! It's been a while since I've visited your blog. These are absolutely gorgeous.

10 January, 2010 09:28  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

willow! how wonderful to see you! happy new decade.

yeah, the more i study them, the more blown away i feel. and frustrated that so far none of the books from the library mention him! but more are coming!

10 January, 2010 12:16  
Blogger Laura Ottina said...

Hi! Thanks for your comments on animalarium.
In response to your request, definitely yes. I was already going to write you and offer to send scans for whatever months you need. Only, I had no idea that you were using materials from the same book. This makes our synchronicity even stranger!
Indeed, I am italian, and the short bio is excerpted from the book. When I have a little extra time I'll translate more bits for you... I often feel the same frustration as you when I can't find any info on an artist I love!

11 January, 2010 00:22  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

laura--thank you! i would love whatever you think is interesting. what kind of person spends his life so deeply committed to critters (mostly birds).

(actually, i'm using materials from as many places as i can find! what's really frustrating is when i find images that have no year on them and they're among the months missing from the book. aggh, more to say but i'll save it for the post, where i'll also thank jalf for his generous contribution too.

11 January, 2010 10:28  
Blogger P.Gaye Tapp at Little Augury said...

I am enjoying following along on your blog-unique indeed and have added you to my blog list. These images are beautiful. la

12 January, 2010 07:57  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

welcome, la, and thank you.

12 January, 2010 08:22  

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