milady's fancy

the cleveland museum of art has put together a lesson plan about fans in japan:

• Fan-- a visual symbol of a person’s profession or rank in society
• Folding fans—thought to have been invented in Japan for imperial ceremonial use
• Hiogi—a wedge-shaped or crescent folding fan with wooden blades
• Komori ogi—literally “bat fan,” a folding fan made of paper
• Ogi-e—fan painting
• Uchiwa—a round fan

• Fans have long played an important role in Japan where they were carried by both men and women. In addition to performing the practical function of cooling the air and shooing away insects, they were an indication of rank and status; the fan carried by a courtier would be different from that of a samurai warrior or a Zen tea master.

• The uchiwa, or round flat fan, is believed to be the earliest form and to have been imported originally from China.

• The folding fan, hiogi, is thought to have been invented in Japan in the 7th century and was initially reserved for the sole use of the emperor in performing court ceremonies. It was made from slender wooden blades fastened securely at one end with threads running through holes in the other end so that it could be spread open in a radiating arch.

• The earliest wood fans were undecorated. Later fans were made of paper and silk enhanced with calligraphy or painting.

• The use of fans became gradually more widespread and spread through all levels of society.


• The union of function with beauty, which is one of the benchmarks of Japanese
aesthetics, is particularly apparent in the creation of fans. Painters used their
distinctive shapes to create individual artistic expressions in ink or color.

• The oldest folding fans in existence date from the end of the 12th century. Since most fans were essentially items of everyday use, they were discarded when worn out, broken, or replaced. Later on, however, many famous artists began to paint
fans, which have been prized and preserved by collectors.

• The use of fans has long been represented in Japanese art and literature; the first literary mention of the folding fan appears in an 8th-century poem and the epic tales of the Heian period, The Tale of Genji and the Tales of Ise, make frequent references to them. The use of fans is frequently depicted on both hanging scrolls and folding screens.

• Although fans are generally associated with Asia, they inspired many 19th-century Western artists to create their versions.

• Fans are often given as gifts or as tokens of esteem.

(you know that second-to-last one really wants a decent explanation!)


(william chase; kunisada, ogi-fan shape inset by hiroshige; advertising fans for sarah bernhardt's favorite powder; kunisada utagawa's fan-seller; from ebay; more uses of japanese imagery for advertising purposes; tessai tomioka; aesthetic japonisme; one in a long series of fan illustrations bound into manga by many noted japanese artists; from designer poiret; and another fan design.)

boekbinders, boeklovers, boeksellers, all

for theorist, bibliophile, and bookarts, the jugendstil stylings of theo molkenboer. (click 'vaste tentoonstelling,' then 'overzicht.') and for everyone else for whom books will always "still exist."

et peut-être un autre

Der 'Jugendstil' wurde benannt nach der seit 1896 in München erscheinenden Zeitschrift »Jugend«, die diese Stilrichtung propagierte. Ziel des Jugendstils war die Erneuerung der angewandten und bildenden Künste, wobei die sinnliche Ausstrahlung und die künstlerische Fantasie im Vordergrund standen.

Typisch für den Jugendstil sind dekorative, 'fließende', der Pflanzenwelt entlehnte Ornamente. Bedeutende Vertreter der Kunstrichtung, die in Frankreich 'Art Nouveau' und in England 'Modern Style' hieß, waren u.a.: Henry van de Velde, Aubrey Beardsley, Peter Behrens, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Louis Comfort Tiffany und Gustav Klimt.1

the smaller arts I

i discovered a blog today that was new to me,

and filled with wonders.

how could i have forgotten?

bjo nordfeldt

times and tides

Van Gogh might have been inspired not only to contrast the vivid blue of the water and the yellow of the bridge, but also to identify the Japanese climate with the Midi de France, by the following passage on Monet that Théodore Duret published in his Critique d’Avant garde:

It was not until the Japanese albums came into our hands that painters could juxta-
pose on the canvas a roof of audacious red, a yellow road, and the blue of water.

Before the model was provided by the Japan- ese, it was impossible... Every time I
contemplate the Japanese albums, I say to myself, yes, it was just in that way that
nature appeared to my eye, in a luminous and transparent atmosphere. . . without attenuation or gradation, [just as] in the Midi of the France, where every color appears glaring and intense in summer.1

so i am left wondering: had the different styles developed from different technologies or different perceptions?, different philosophies, different values, or some reason i'll never understand?

(hokusai, bilibin, courbet, kunisada)

les fleurs de mal

'contemporary criticism of [charles] meunier was mixed.

although most observers found him talented, innovative, and instinctive, he offended contemporary bibliophiles by producing vast numbers of covers containing emblematic and pictorial themes, often thought to be gaudy and crudely executed commercial ventures pandering to the tastes of the period's bourgeoisie.




his output was prodigious and he moved with ease between styles and periods, a fact which further offended purists who felt that his talent lay primarily in the creation of half-bindings with decorative spines.'

-- art nouveau and art deco bookbinding, duncan & de bartha

this story sounds sadly familiar....


also, it should be noted, i was unable to find anywhere what if any relationship existed between charles meunier and henri meunier.

the crane wife

a japanese fairy-tale with a thousand variations goes like this:

a lonesome farmer was walking through the forest one dark and snowy night when he heard a rustling just off his path. there he found a wounded crane.

he took the crane home and nursed it back to health. by spring the crane was well enough to set free. it made the man feel sadness and joy at the same time, watching the crane fly.

shortly before the summer season began, a young woman came to the farmer's village, and soon the two were in love and became married.

the next two years brought a terrible drought, and the farmer was distraught for his wife and himself. his wife then told him of her knowledge of weaving.

she wove such lustrous fabrics that they never came back home once they'd been to market; everyone wanted them. the farmer was delighted. but there was one catch. his wife told him he must never never view her weaving. and he promised.

time stretched on and for three years the farmer tended to his farming, loved his wife, and became a happy man. he wasn't one to question. but other farmers in the town questioned him about his wife, her weaving. how did she make these fabrics? their wives wanted to know! eventually the farmer began to wonder as well.

one afternoon he returned home from the fields earlier than expected, tiptoed into the house, and quietly lifted the curtain behind which his wife's loom was to be found. and there he saw a beautiful white crane, and beside her a basket of feathers for the weaving.

the next day, the man was alone again; he knew the secrets, and they were worth nothing to him at all.

(paul bruno; ludwig hohlwein; fumeroy; ohara koson.)

at green tea

at least that's what the polish/ english translator said przy zielonej herbacie translated as. whatever it means, and despite the fact that i can understand none of it, i often find something delightful there.

clearly sharing issues with this blog, i find artists, perspectives, new to me, no matter how well- known they are in poland. this artist is featured on stamps, money, street names, and schools, and yet is new to me. you too? thanks again, internet. and thanks, green tea.

the woman to the left is Irena Solska; and both of these are by Stanisław Wyspiański.

shangri-la

The Miho Museum

i discovered a museum online that is almost as good as visiting in person.


the collection is vast, and viewable online.









it's also idiosyncratic, quite varied. you could never see it all in one day....












and it puts some things into perspective. take this glass bowl from the 1st century a.d.


doesn't it make the lawsuits that flew between lafarge and tiffany over who invented iridescent glass seem foolish?


(sakai hoitsu; ito jakuchu; unknown marabu maker, 16th century carafe maker & iridescent bowl.)

a little more

this extraordinary mariano fortuny coat from the kyoto costume institute says the pattern is taken from a traditional japanese pattern.








i could not, however, find a larger image of this coat so instead i found a pattern i thought looked like it might be the same and recolored it. it may instead be lotus leaves but i just can't tell.

found this madeleine vionnet dress that i don't have anything to compare it with other than an ultimate standard of beauty.

oops--just found this quote "Vionnet really understood the kimono and took the geometric idea to construct her clothes — and that brought such freedom into European clothes in the 1920s," said Issey Miyake.

it just occurred to me that when i see kimono, i don't see fashion designers named.

fashioning consensus

japanese design effected western fashion in many different ways.

sometimes, kimono were imported, taken apart, and turned into western-style dresses







sometimes fabric design was (is) influenced by lacquerware.

sometimes by color and theme.

(much wonderful fashion is collected, lent, and displayed, by the kyoto costume institute. another resource is new york's met, where a poirot exhibit--see black coat--will be later this year. cocktail dress by dior. chikanabu toyohara & toyokuni utagawa did the prints.)

preserving legacy

many european art nouveau treasures were were spared destruction in WWII (as was kyoto);

many have been restored;
















many are still threatened;


















we appreciate them as we can.

painted ladies

i started off thinking today's post was going to be about one thing, and it turned out to be another. i'll see how including both does....

i began with this beautiful painting by richard emil miller. i had seen it in a book about a travelling exhibition of american impressionists put together by the smithsonian. it touched me deeply with it's capture of the moment, the light, reflections, her concentration. and of course the kimono.

i then came by this print by kunichika toyohara. it's from his series 'twenty-four hours in the life of a courtesan.' i then learned that kunichika, like many japanese artists, really liked to do series. a few of his many additional ones include "32 fashionable physiognomies,' 'Thirty-six good and evil beauties,' 'Popularity of the upstairs dressing room,' and 'Thirty-six modern restaurants.'1



after looking up kunichika, i looked up richard miller, the artist of the first painting, who, as it turns out, was yet another american who went to giverny and painted with the dappled light, strong patterning, and diagonal compositions that many of the japan-influenced impressionists were using.2

in another post, i pointed out similarities in the work between guy rose and frederick frieseke -- well, let's add richard miller, and numerous other artists who lived in giverney at that time, including lawton parker and others.

in fact, it turns out they all painted frieseke's wife, wearing that little wrap, and painted other things with astonishing similarity.