Aesthetic Movement Flashcards
“The Potter’s Wheeler” from Christopher Dresser, Japan: It’s Architecture, Art, and Manufacture
London, Longmans, Green
1882
Christopher Dresser goes to Japan for Tiffany & Co.
Japanese goods unseen by Americans - unique, clean, modern
truth in materials, honest in construction
Taste for Japanese includes anything Asian - cultural ignorance
Rookwood Pottery
Vase, 1882
founded in 1880 by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, daughter of wealthy Joseph Longworth
inspired by Japanese and French ceramics at Philadelphia Centennial
designed to be at least as decorative as useful
Harriet Elizabeth Wilcox, decorator
Rookwood Pottery, Vase
Cincinnati, 1899
decorative figures of China men - interest in Japan
Associated Artists
Veterans (Tiffany) Room
Seventh Regiment Armory, New York
1879 - 80
every surface has potential for decoration
Room by Herter Brothers
International influence
Aesthetic Movement
1876 - 1900
interest in aesthetics, not necessarily a movement, no unified group
“art for art’s sake”
cult of beauty, approach interior design & life as multisensory experience, objects prized for ways they integrate beauty into life
not interested in reforming industry, interested in private sphere & creating center of beauty, arrangement of objects
harmony in diverse objects to pursue aesthetic ideals, come together in symphony instead of fighting each other
Dandy
Example - Oscar Wilde, “everyday I aspire to be as beautiful as my blue and white pottery”
effeminate, interest in beauty, interiority, self-involved which is how aestheticism becomes about interiorization
opposite of Fleneur - modern icon, goes outside, witness modern life
Dandy can’t go and do things the flaneur is doing
Lockwood de Forest
screen, teak, plaited matting and mixed metals
Ahmedabad, India, and/or New York
1881 - 90
James McNeil Whistler
Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room and Rose and Silver: The Princess from the Land of Porcelain
home of Frederick R. Leyland
Liverpool, England, 1876-77
each singular element coming in to contribute to a harmonious whole
beauty prized above all, harmony between decorative arts, Room named as if it was an artwork, both arts treated equally, unified space
Japanism, orientalism, peacock, vanity - consumption, collecting, wealth, early example of aestheticism in America
Whistler gets out of control in Leyland’s mind, didnt ask for all he did, can’t take it back, results in lawsuit, Whistler paints into the walls a threat, 2 peacocks represent Whistler and Leyland who is sqwaking trying to show feathers, Leyland ends up paying
Thomas Jeckyll and Barnard, Bishop and Barnard
Sunflower andiron
brass
1876
Lockwood de Forest, designer
“Hindoo” fireplace surround
Olana, 1887
probably made in India
Unknown designer (often attributed to Helena Gilder)
cover design for The New Day: A Poem in Songs and Sonnets by Richard Watson Gilder
illustrations engraved by Henry Mash, gold stamped blue cloth
1876
aestheticism
Alexandre Sandler “Much in Little Space”
illustration from Clarence Cook, The House Beautiful: Essays on Beds and Tables, Stools and Candlesticks (London: 1878, NY: 1881)
Immediately printed as “A Comfortable Corner” by Lucy Orrinsmith for The Drawing Room: Its Decoration and Furniture (London: 1878)
furniture should tell about who you are as a person, never have anything that isn’t functional
diverse influences to show one’s cultivation
Frederick Edwin Church
Hall Court, Olana
1886
ecelecticism, Japanese, Turkish, orientalism
cultivates artistic persona, documents his travels
varying degrees of decoration, international influence
A.A. Vantine & Co.
Table, inlaid wood
1885
Turkish, side table probably used for smoking in original context
fantasy of objects equally as important to object itself
George Hunzinger (German immigre)
armchair
walnut, black ash, modern upholstery
New York, 1869
eclectic style, leading figure in patent furniture
George A. Schastey and Company
Worktable
amaranth, satinwood, walnut, mahogany, poplar, brass, pewter or lead, mother-of-peal, glass, unknown colored resin
1881-1882
identified as Schastey by patterning reminiscent of work in Rockefeller Room
high end furniture, matched with full interior, designed en suite
George A. Schastey
German immigre, comes to US in 1849
trained with Herter Brothers, works in many workshops, splits off to establish his own firm and becomes competitor
high end furniture cabinetmaker part of collector’s market, turning into leading interior designers, full interior enembles
work often confused with Herter
Herter Brothers
Partnership of Gustave and Christian Herter
Gustave moves in 1848, brother in 1859
1864 aesthetic movement is just begining to take form
Gustave returns to Germany and Christian becomes leading designer
interest in handicraft, running a factory but still artisans executing designs
Herter Brothers
Cabinet
maple, oak or chesnut, stamped and gilt paper, gilding inlay and carved decoration, original brass pulls and key
1880
architectural form, exotic woods, Japanism
expression of global influece
Herter Brothers
Fire Screen
gilded wood, painted and gilded wood panels, brocaded silk, embossed paper
1878-80
more obviously Japanese, garland on top, urn, paw feet
Candace Wheeler for Associated Artists
Consider the Lilies of the Field
curtain, 1879
patenting new techniques, copyrights her designs
Candace Wheeler
Honeybee frieze and field wallpaper
1881
reproduction manufactured by JR Burrows & Co., Rockland, MA 2006
designer thought about design, representing the “wellness” of its place by referencing classical order
multiple papers/designs to create architectural order
Associated Artists
Candice Wheeler, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Samuel Coleman
many design projects - Madison Square Garden, Mark Twain House, 7th Regiment Armory
Wheeler takes over, donates textiles to the Met
Dora Wheeler for Associated Artists
Penelope Unraveling Her Work at Night
silk embroidered with silk thread
1886
designed by Wheeler’s daughter, pro-woman independence
Penelope has agency in marrying process
developed a number of literary tapestries reference mythology, female heroines
considered innovative work, Wheeler patents “needlewoven tapestry” subtly embroidered work carefully modulated as paintings
