where are the dresses?

(i find it consistently frustrating trying to find images of gowns from a certain era. more and more are available from the twenties and the thirties, and i do love them, but there is something about this earlier era, call it aesthetic, call it glasgow-style, call it 'arts and crafts'.... whatever one calls it, i am awed by them.


yes, i've found a few to bring to this blog, but there are but a tiny few to find. where are the dresses? i've seen them in museums, occasionally, but in general they're not part of what gets put online. nor are they often illustrated in the really fairly large reference library i have here. metal, glass, ceramic, wood. but little if any textile -- mostly women's -- arts.

there are more illustrations of dresses than there are dresses.


could the difference in age alone be the reason for their invisibility? what is it about this one particular kind of embroidery that drives me wild? is it celtic in its roots? chinese/ japanese? guimard and macdonald look like they work from the same muse. some stories about glasgow here, and what a wealth was born there.)

...[A]ll costumes are caricatures. The basis of Art is not the Fancy Ball. Where there is loveliness of dress, there is no dressing up. And so, were our national attire delightful in colour, and in construction simple and sincere; were dress the expression of the loveliness that it shields and of the swiftness and motion that it does not impede; did its lines break from the shoulder instead of bulging from the waist; did the inverted wineglass cease to be the ideal of form; were these things brought about, as brought about they will be, then would painting be no longer an artificial reaction against the ugliness of life, but become, as it should be, the natural expression of life's beauty.

Nor would painting merely, but all the other arts also, be the gainers by a change such as that which I propose; the gainers, I mean, through the increased atmosphere of Beauty by which the artists would be surrounded and in which they would grow up. For Art is not to be taught in Academies. It is what one looks at, not what one listens to, that makes the artist. The real schools should be the streets.


There is not, for instance, a single delicate line, or delightful proportion, in the dress of the Greeks, which is not echoed exquisitely in their archi- tecture. A nation arrayed in stove-pipe hats and dress- improvers might have built the Pantechnichon possibly, but the Parthenon never.

And finally, there is this to be said: Art, it is true, can never have any other claim but her own perfection, and it may be that the artist, desiring merely to contemplate and to create, is wise in not busying himself about change in others: yet wisdom is not always the best; there are times when she sinks to the level of common-sense; and from the passionate folly of those -- and there are many -- who desire that Beauty shall be confined no longer to the bric-a-brac of the collector and the dust of the museum, but shall be, as it should be, the natural and national inheritance of all,-- from this noble unwisdom, I say, who knows what new loveliness shall be given to life, and, under these more exquisite conditions, what perfect artist born? Le milieu se renouvelant, l'art se renouvelle.

Oscar Wilde

while fred- erick cayley robinson's allegiance to the pre- raphaelite movement is obvious, and explicit, to my eye, given the outlining of forms, the asymmetrical balance on his canvases, and, to some extent, his subject matter, he was influenced by the japanese as well.

it's not surprising; he studied in paris at the very moment when japonisme was in bloom, the prints being shown and collected,





the work inspiring illustrator and painter (and jeweller, etc.) throughout the town. japonisme once removed?



obvious also is the charles rennie mackintosh influence. cayley robinson held a professorship at the glasgow school of art,



in mackintosh's wonderful building. the elongated simplification of form can be seen in the work of many artists from 'the glasgow school.'

mackintosh & vienna

i began to notice the similarities between the scottish designs, metalwork, glass, and of course embroidery, and that of the wiener werkstatte. this is not coincidental, as it turns out.

In 1900 Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his group "The Glasgow Four" were invited to show their work at the VIIIth exhibition of the Viennese Secession. Their designs, especially those of Charles Rennie Macintosh, exerted a profound influence on German and Austrian exponents of Jugendstil. Contact with Charles Rennie Mackintosh was crucial for Josef Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann, and Koloman Moser in particular. 1

mackintosh's design, with its nature-based simplicity and breakdown of the separation between art and craft (both things clearly influenced by the influx of japanese arts and crafts), was more appealing to the viennese than was the art nouveau they saw in france and belgium, which they saw as excessive. they, unlike mackintosh's fellow glaswegians, saw him as a genius.

Influenced and encouraged by ... Mackintosh, Hoffmann and Moser realized their dream of founding a workshop for the applied arts to promote the best in design matched by the finest in craftsmanship. In June 1903 the Wiener Werkstätte was established; it "represented a not-previously achieved international high point in the applied arts, and, with its unmatched fine workmanship and exquisite taste, became the educator of the whole civilized world." 2

The Wiener Werkstätte believed that artistic endeavour should permeate all aspects of everyday life; no object was so menial that it could not be enhanced by beauty of form and execution ... [When] Mackintosh and [his wife] Margaret Macdonald had exhibited their work to the Viennese public, Hoffmann and Moser were intrigued with the elegance and sensibility of their creations, which is evident in the puristic simplicity and geometric austerity of their early objects.

The Japanese-inspired components of the workshops’ products were also important. The Secession had dedicated their sixth exhibition (1900) to Japanese art, and in Vienna in 1901 the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (now Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst) exhibited the woodcuts of Katsushika Hokusai. The textile patterns and inlay designs of Hoffmann and Moser share strong similarities with Japanese stencils and prints.

The distinctive trademark of the Wiener Werkstätte included the initials of both the designer and the executing craftsworker. The fine arts and the applied arts were awarded the same level of importance. The primary concern of the group was to respect the inherent decorative and functional qualities of the material used and to work within its natural properties. © Oxford University Press 2007

The story began with a competition launched in December 1900 by Zeitschrift FürInnen- dekoration, an innovative design magazine published in the German city of Darmstadt. European architects were invited to design an Art Lover's House. Mackintosh sent in his entry in March 1901, his one chance to design a house unfettered by financial constraints or a conservative client. But he was disqualified for failing to include the required number of drawings of the interior. He hastily completed the portfolio, which he then resubmitted. Delighted with the designs, the judges awarded Mackintosh a special prize (there was no outright winner).

Publication of these drawings did much to establish Mackintosh's reputation abroad as an original and distinctive architect, particularly in Austria and Germany. The Art Lover's House is an important twentieth-century building because it anticipates the abstract forms of Modernism. At first glance it could be an illustration from the thirties. Artists of the avant-garde Vienna Secession described Mackintosh as “our leader who showed us the way” – an acclaim that he was never able to gain at home. Rich Glasgow businessmen never quite took him seriously. 3

in france, poiret (dufy) and lalique were later to feel the influence of this style, but were, of course, french.

the japonisme timeline

AN EVOLVING, SUBJECTIVE TIMELINE of JAPONISME

1788
utamaro produces his series on insects in the garden;

1803
issa writes haiku about plovers

1831

hokusai paints 'the great wave' as part of '36 views of mt fuji';

1853
U.S. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry sails into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to the West.;

1855
walt whitman's 'leaves of grass' is published;

1856
felix bracquemond discovers hokusai's manga at his printer's shop.;

1857
hiroshige produces plum tree print.;

1859
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, published.;

1863
whistler discovers japanese prints in london and becomes an emissary for japonisme in europe;

1864
whistler paints a friend in a kimono looking at japanese prints

1867
paris universal exposition introduces japanese art more widely to the west

1868
manet paints zola with japanese prints on his wall

1870
monet discovers japanese prints in holland;

1874
first impressionist exhibition in paris

1875
Morris & Co. established, promoting arts and crafts movement.

1876 monet paints his wife in a red kimono

1877 morse goes to japan and discovers japanese pottery

1878 whistler sues ruskin

1879 Thomas Edison demonstrates the electric light.;

1883monet moves to giverny and begins to create the japanese garden he will paint for the rest of his life.

1885
gilbert and sullivan produce the mikado;
yoshitoshi begins moon series;

1886 sargent paints 'carnation, lily, lily, rose';
john la farge visits japan;
van gogh first sees japanese prints.

1887 van gogh paints hiroshige's plum tree print;
pierre loti writes 'madame chrysantheme'

1888 s. bing starts magazine 'artistic japan' to foster interest in japanese arts and crafts.;Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society founded in London.
1890 van gogh dies;
lafcadio hearn moves to japan.

1891arthur wesley dow establishes his art school; first lautrec music-hall posters;
mary cassatt completes her mother & child prints, inspired by those of utamaro;

1892 Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company established.;

1893 munch paints 'the scream';
Aubrey Beardsley design published in the first issue of the magazine The Studio.;

1894
mucha's first art nouveau poster, gismonda with sarah bernhardt;

1895
S. Bing opens his gallery/shop L'Art Nouveau.

1898 john luther long writes short story 'madam butterfly' based on loti's 1887 novel;

mackintosh begins his school in glasgow;

1899 René Lalique designs Dragonfly woman corsage ornament;

1900 Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, published.;

1901 lautrec dies; gauguin dies;
Queen Victoria dies;
stickley starts the craftsman magazine.
1902riviere produces set of prints '36 views of the eiffel tower' based on hokusai's '36 views' series; note that the tower is almost always shown with no top, so it resembles fuji.
1903 whistler dies;
the wiener werkstatte is founded.

(i'll continue to work on this, only re-publishing after significant changes. it seems, i'm noticing how the year 1900 really did seem an important marking point. i'm going to start part II of this timeline when i feel satisfied enough -- for the moment -- with part I. I'll reproduce the items from 1900 on in that topic.

museum tuesday

from yarnstorm i learn today about the scottish colourists, whose wonderful works may be found at the kelvingrove art gallery and museum in glasgow, and elsewhere.

The Age of Enchantment

Beardsley, Dulac and their Contemporaries 1890-1930
The exhibition of British fantasy illustration will be the first such exhibition in Britain and the first worldwide for over 20 years. All works come largely from British museums and private collections, many of these will never have been seen publicly before. Borrowing from the past, illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley, Edmund Dulac and Kay Nielson had lavish colour plates published in children's books such as The Arabian Nights, which became the coffee table books for a new age.

28th November 2007 - 17th February 2008 • Dulwich Picture Gallery • Gallery Road, Dulwich • London • 020 8693 5254

(featuring online lectures, videos, and comments on the times and the artists.)

GUSTAV KLIMT: THE RONALD S. LAUDER AND SERGE SABARSKY COLLECTIONS
October 18, 2007 - June 30, 2008

Spring 2008 WIENER WERKSTÄTTE JEWELRY
March 27-June 30, 2008

Summer 2008 NEW WORLDS: GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN ART, 1890-1940
July 10-September 22, 2008

Spring 2009 THE BIRTH OF EXPRESSIONISM: BRÜCKE IN DRESDEN AND BERLIN, 1905-1913
February 26-June 29, 2009

the neue gallery
1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street
new york new york

regarding the neue gallery, christopher benfey (who wrote the great wave about the historical process of japonisme), in slate magazine says, "The stratospheric price that cosmetics maven Ronald S. Lauder shelled out for Gustav Klimt's 1907 society portrait Adele Bloch-Bauer I—reportedly $135 million, [is] the most ever paid for a work of art....

"No American has done more than Lauder, a former ambassador to Austria, to raise the visibility (and enhance the value) of often neglected German and Austrian art in the United States.

The Bloch-Bauers were Jewish and the Nazis liked Klimts. Adele died in 1925 of meningitis. After Germany annexed Austria in 1938, her husband fled to Switzerland, where he died in 1945, having left his art collection behind. The Nazis put three of the paintings in the Austrian Gallery and sold the rest. A complicated restitution case played out over many years, eventually going to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Mrs. Altmann, who lives in Los Angeles, could sue the Austrian government in American courts for her family's lost property. In January, she was awarded the portrait of her aunt along with four other Klimt paintings, including a later portrait of Adele and three extraordinary landscapes (a genre in which Klimt excelled). During the legal maneuvering, Ronald Lauder remained a staunch supporter of Mrs. Altmann, and his loyalty was richly rewarded in the privately arranged sale."

take three

okay--here's my latest theory: in her perhaps-too-clever-for-her-own-good attempt to create her own 'chop,' as was the thing-to-do at that time, she reversed her E, thus creating what looked more like a B than a creative reuse of her own initials.

the font i used was a demo of a jessie m king font from scriptorium. jessie m king was also part of the glasgow scene at the same time, and in fact the two women did projects together.

I can hear it now:

Ethel Larcombe: Hey! check out this cool new chop I made!

Jessie M. King: Good try, Elly, but it looks too much like a B!

EL: Oh Jess, you're always such a buzz-kill.

JMK: You just wait -- a hundred years from now, nobody will know who did your most famous drawing!

EL: Now you're saying I've already peaked??!

scotland and japan

i have come across a number of painters of this era who are western, and who paint in a decidedly western style, but favor japanese subjects. one of these is the scottish painter edward atkinson hornel.

while some of his paintings and drawings take on the asymmetry of the japanese prints, in general his main influence was the beauty of what he saw in japan.




hornel was sent to japan with his friend george henry, by his glasgow art dealer, alexander reid, who was responsible for interesting the two painters in the new wave of japonisme, and the old one of japanese prints.1






henry as well loved painting the visions he saw in japan, but only his watercolors survived the trip home; the oils were not sufficiently dry.2









an early subscriber to the infusion of japonisme, japan anyway, into literature was the man who called himself pierre loti. his 'madame chrysanthemum'3 is considered the first japonisme novel, a precursor to 'madame butterfly.' hornel created illustrations for it.

the book is here.

(top two images are hornel; the right-hand image below them is henry; the illustration is again by hornel; the last is of hornel by bessie macnichol.)

disagree with awe

In our narrow-minded fuss over progress -- while displaying an artistic hubris that only listens to its own voice -- we would have already reached complete bankruptcy, despite the short duration of the modern movement, if Japanese art had not served it as a pillar. With few exceptions, every innovation we wanted to achieve in the realm of natural forms here in Europe had already been done as well, or often much better in Japan -- imparted to us with a certain deviation from its national style.

In Japan all the preconditions were at hand for a tendency toward this quasi-naturalistic sort of art: not organically-arranged forms in the manner of Greek art, but rather effects with completely smooth surfaces; instead of monumental structures, playful, simple forms whose only function is to be held in the hand and to be tenderly observed by an individual.

A rich technique, and nonetheless one which at times rests in the quality of handwork. A loving examination of nature, a measured stylization, one that has been practiced for centuries. A sensitivity for color, taken to its extreme, besides a good deal of plain childlikeness, a joy in the bizarre, in the wonderful ways of nature. It is an art from which one can learn an infinite amount and which could just as easily lead one astray.

Whoever is used to see art forms as something not coincidental -- as we should all be, the devotees of Winkelmann's art history -- who ever sees them instead as the necessary historical result of the general development of art, will find it unlikely that our century, which experienced a complete crisis of all views and lifestyles as a result of the appearance of the natural sciences, would be able to create its artistic expression purely from the reserve of the past.

A period that sets itself so strongly apart from the past, must, and will create for itself a new sphere of shapes, which one day will be recognized as the style of the natural scientific age.

Julius Lessing, "What's Modern in Art?" Berlin, 1898

here i offer a few more images from the book/exhibition in my last post, and some extrapolations. we've seen before the design inspirations that were the triangle of glasgow, vienna, and poiret with japan but more is offered: the hoffmann at the bottom left, the moser in the middle, and the japanese on top. was the comb made for expert? we'll never know, but if it was, it might lessen its inspirational value. we'll never answer these questions. as we've seen, people constantly disagreed at the time as well. but nobody can disagree with awe.

see the whole year of 1898 of "ver sacrum" from which many of the images these two posts were taken.