Owen Jones and Chinese Ornament

Illustration: Chinese Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Although Owen Jones was to publish a volume entirely dedicated to Chinese ornament in 1867, The Grammar of Chinese Ornament, he had included only a slim chapter on the subject in his 1856 volume The Grammar of Ornament. The earlier chapter was a much smaller affair than the 1867 book, but was also relatively small compared to some of the other chapters in the book. Only four colour plates were included along with one page of text.

Illustration: Satellite map of China.

Interestingly, Jones was relatively dismissive of Chinese architecture, ornamentation and decoration, something that he was to correct in the 1867 volume. He gave the distinct impression that as far as he was concerned Chinese decoration was a limited and localised style that was prone to stagnation. He seemed to find little if any development in either style or technical achievement. This could be conceived as either ignorance or lack of information, as the 1867 volume seemed much more acutely aware of the Chinese achievements in the decorative arts than the small chapter published in 1856.

The lack of both data and imagery in any form of first hand knowledge was a decidedly acute handicap to the critic. In the nineteenth century, particularly in the first half, collections tended to be limited and travel to such distant areas of the planet as China were both difficult and hazardous for most Europeans. To be limited to collections, mostly in London, was a distinct problem to both Jones in particular and any attempt to form a detailed criticism of world art, design and decoration in general. 

Illustration: Chinese Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

As the century progressed into its second half, examples from across the planet, much of it admittedly acquired through colonial invasions and occupations began to fill in the gaps in the knowledge base held by Europeans. This added greatly to the ever-widening vocabulary of the world of the decorative arts, while at the same time allowing critics to begin slowly and often painfully placing Europe within its correct context.

One point of praise that Jones did concede to Chinese decoration was that of the harmonious balance of colour. He felt that although the Chinese had no real significant history in either architecture or ornamentation, they had instead spent time and effort on the understanding of colour and its importance within the sphere of decoration.

Illustration: Chinese Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

It may seem astounding to us in the twenty first century that Jones so little understood the complexities and uniqueness of both Chinese culture and its contribution to the decorative arts. Chinese decoration appears to have had a long history in Europe through the Chinoiserie style. However, this was a largely European based interpretation of China conceived over a great distance and over considerable cultural and artistic barriers. it therefore had little if any merit as a legitimate style deriving from China itself.

To many Europeans China in 1856 was still considered an unexplored and mysterious culture full a uniqueness and individuality that was both perplexing and intriguing. As the century progressed, European confusion over Chinese culture and decoration became a little clearer as can be found in Jones's 1867 volume. As time progressed, Jones obviously began to understand and appreciate through more positive data and imagery, the complexities of a unique cultural heritage.

Illustration: Chinese Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Further reading links:
Grammar of Ornament: A Monumental Work of Art
Chinese No 3, Plate LXI, from The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones Giclee Poster Print by Owen Jones, 18x24
The Grammar of Chinese Ornament
Chinese Art (World of Art)
The Arts of China, Fifth Edition, Revised and Expanded
Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery
Art in China (Oxford History of Art)
Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs: A Comprehensive Handbook on Symbolism in Chinese Art through the Ages
Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty (The Culture & Civilization of China)
Chinese Art in Detail
Chinese Art and Culture
Chinese Lattice Designs CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)

John Illingworth Kay Wallpapers

Illustration: John Illingworth Kay. Rose Stripe wallpaper design, 1906.

The decorative work of the English designer John Illingworth Kay is often seen as both expansive and original, with large areas of foliage clustered throughout his work being a particular theme of his style of decoration. However, these examples of wallpaper work produced by him in the first decade of the twentieth century also show the ability of an artist or designer to control, or at least to temper, personal tastes or excesses to those of the larger public taste, or at least to that of their perceived taste.

Kay produced these examples for the English influential wallpaper manufacturer Essex & Co. Interestingly this was the same period that Kay was actually head of the design department of the company. He was to retain that position for the first two decades of the twentieth century. He saw the best of the early twentieth century phase of British design and decoration, with names such as Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, E L Pattison, Lindsay Philip Butterfield and T R Spence providing decorative pattern work for the wallpaper company.

 Illustration: John Illingworth Kay. Abingworth wallpaper design, 1907.

Edwardian England was a period of mixed and often acute contrasts. Socially, politically and artistically it could be said that England was at its most static with the small minority at the top of society holding firmly on to the reigns of power and privilege, while the majority at the bottom were beginning to show obvious signs of irritation and discontent with the imposed status quo. It was obvious to many that society was going to have to accommodate a much larger participation in all aspects of life from all social classes. However, the uneasy and unjust balance between the few 'haves' and the majority 'have-nots' was maintained largely unscathed throughout the Edwardian era. This has given us the often repeated idea that Edwardian England was that of a long and sentimental late summer of garden parties and country retreats. Interestingly, those who maintain this sentiment often derive from the social classes that would never have been allowed to participate in this fantasy in the first place. 

Illustration: John Illingworth Kay. Bianca wallpaper design, 1907.

It would perhaps be more accurate to portray Edwardian England as a society and culture that was locked into a strict framework. This framework was used to strangle any form of upheaval or large-scale change in the status quo. It could be fairly seen as a period when the upper classes attempted to put the brake on any further social or cultural change. Particularly change that was to effect the status and power of women, the working man and even that of the Empire. These changes could, and eventually did affect the position of this small minority, dissolving its influence and power to a great extent.

Society is often reflected in the arts and particularly those of the decorative arts. The formalised and conservative structure of Kay's wallpaper design work could be said to at least partially reflect the stiff intransigence of many aspects of English life. While the rest of Europe largely came to accept, and in many cases to even embrace the tenets of the Art Nouveau movement, England was both cautious and tempered in its approach. Many of the decorative and art magazines published in London were openly scathing of what was considered the 'new movement'. The abandonment of formal structure and the indulgence in the contemporary was considered by many to be shortsighted and contrary to the English way.

Illustration: John Illingworth Kay. Walden wallpaper design, 1907.

Although there is an element of individuality and the contemporary within these designs, and to be fair Kay did produce more varied and luxurious pattern work for wallpaper production, the examples shown here are locked into a fairly rigid and formal structure. In some ways at least, they do reflect the formal cautiousness of the English. To embrace the new and the untried would be to embrace change in more avenues than was perhaps acceptable for Edwardian England.

Further reading links:
The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society
The Diehards: Aristocratic Society and Politics in Edwardian England (Harvard Historical Studies)
Women and Social Action in Victorian and Edwardian England
Twentieth-Century Pattern Design
Wallpaper: A History of Style and Trends
Wallpaper
The Papered Wall: The History, Patterns and Techniques of Wallpaper, Second Edition
Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I
Wallpaper: The Ultimate Guide
Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings
The Walls Are Talking: Wallpaper, Art and Culture
Wall Papers for Historic Buildings: A Guide to Selecting Reproduction Wallpapers
London Wallpapers: Their Manufacture and Use 1690-1840 (Revised Edition)
Wallpaper (Historic Houses Trust Collection)

Felt Artwork of Nancy Clearwater Herman

Illustration: Nancy Clearwater Herman. In the Lady's Room.

Felt work can be achieved through a number of formats and craft disciplines. To many it may seem thick, woolly and uneasy to manipulate. However, there are various means of controlling the chance and often arbitrary results of standard felting. Needle felting is a particularly good format as it allows a larger element of both precision and definition within felting. Compositions can be manipulated and engineered into any amount of decorative pattern and artwork. The artistic parameters of needle felting are particularly rich as is shown in the textile artwork of Nancy Clearwater Herman.

Herman has produced a set of compositions that helps to lay to rest the idea that felt is a medium best suited to the practical and domestic aspects of textiles, rather than any form of fine art textiles. She has produced work that is extraordinarily exact, while at the same time being free from most forms of mechanised textile production.

Illustration: Nancy Clearwater Herman. Secrets.

Needle felting at its simplest level can be produced using one thin barbed needle. This simple but effective tool lends itself to be interpreted by any artist as would a pencil or paintbrush. Herman has used this process to produce work that although textile based has the look and feel of a more exacting discipline. However, the element of control over both the process and result are tempered by the intimate relationship between both tool and raw material. The artist is well aware that she is using a process that is countless generations old. Felt goes back in time to our earliest craft discoveries. It is both this sense of the endless continuation of tradition and the familiarity and the contained intimacy of the craft of needle felting that has produced the resulting work of Herman.

I have personally chosen only a few of Herman's felt pieces; she has many more compositions available to view on her website. What intrigued me most about the examples shown in this article are the contemporary but also ageless aspect of the compositions. It is intriguing to ponder that although the work of the artist has been produced in our own century, how much of the timelessness of the compositional material has been affected by the ageless process of both the felt making and the use of natural and naturally dyed wool. This begs the question how much of who we are now is us and how much is a memory of generations past.

Illustration: Nancy Clearwater Herman. Seeing Eye to Eye.

This of course does not take away from the achievement of Herman who has managed to both manipulate and personalise a tricky and not easily mastered technique. She has added enormously to the parameters of felt making and has helped to open the suggestion that there can be more to both felt making in general and needle felting in particular, than that of embellishment, decoration and pattern making.

The needle felt making aspect of Herman's work is only a partial one, she has a whole range of work in a number of mediums. Her work is in a number of private and public collections across the US and she has exhibited her work for the last thirty years. Her extensive and comprehensive website can be seen by following the link within the reference links section below. Herman also has a couple of regularly updated blogs, which can also be found in the reference links section.

Illustration: Nancy Clearwater Herman. Pass the Word.

Images of the artwork are used with the kind permission of the artist

Reference links:
Nancy Clearwater Herman website
Nancy Herman Paintings & Prints Blog
Postcards From Merion Blog

Hupa Basketry

Illustration: Traditional Hupa basket and purses.

The term Hupa basketry can be a confusing one as the term became associated with a number of distinctly individual people including the Hupa who all lived in the extreme northwest corner of what is now the state of California. The Karuk, Tolowa, Whilcut, Wiyot, Yurok and Hupa all produced basketry that was often seen as so similar by outsiders that much of it was subsequently tagged as Hupa by European American traders and collectors. The name Hupa became generally used because most of the basketry produced by the differing communities in the area was traded through the small town of Hoopa.

As with basketry the world over, local materials were paramount in the construction of Hupa basketry. Hazel, willow, conifer, pine, spruce and various grasses were used as raw materials. Coloured pattern work was also produced using locally procured ingredients for dying.

Illustration: Hupa mother with basketry hat, and child, 1924.

Basketry fuelled the practical every day domestic needs of the community. Large storage, carrying and gathering baskets tended towards the utilitarian, though decoration of this form of basketry was still often incorporated within the overall design of the piece.

Some of the basketry was so finely woven that it could be used as a cooking pot, rather than that of a clay based pot. However, this would then mean that the cooking basket couldn't be placed on the fire as a clay pot would, but instead would have hot stones placed in it in order to allow the contents to quickly boil without overly harming the basket. This was indeed a common practise by countless cultures across the planet and goes to show the age of the craft that many now believe considerably predates ceramics.

Illustration: Traditional Hupa basketry.

However, it was the largely decorative baskets, those that came to be known as trinket baskets, which really came to be widely known and associated as Hupa basketry. These baskets were traditionally given as gifts within communities, though as larger numbers started appearing within the tourist market, these specialised and finely woven baskets were to become almost exclusively a product of both the tourist and collectors market. The tourist trade was to eventually dominate basketry production and often dictated design and decoration that was foreign to indigenous communities but more in tune to that of the European American tradition.

A number of online sites both sell and display the best of Hupa basketry, some of which have been included within the reference links section below. Also included is the official Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe website where more can be found concerning the history, culture and contemporary world of the communities that go to make up the Hoopa Valley.

Further reading links:
Official Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe
Hupa Art
Hupa Basketry examples
Medicine Man Gallery
Native American Fine Art
Our Home Forever: The Hupa Indians of Northern California
Cry for Luck: Sacred Song and Speech Among the Yurok, Hupa, and Karok Indians of Northwestern California
Life and Culture of the Hupa
A Smoky Day at the Sugar Bowl - Hupa 20x30 poster
Hupa Language Dictionary
Tribes of California
Close View of the Hands of a Hupa Indian Weaving a Basket Photographic Poster Print by Dick Durrance, 36x48
California Native American Tribes Hupa Tribe (California's Native American Tribes)
Hupa Tribal Museum, In the Land of the Natinixwe (Where Rainbows Begin)
Curtis 1923 Photograph of Watching For Salmon - Hupa - Antique Photogravure Reproduction
The Phonology of the Hupa Language, Volume 5, issue 1; volume 5, issue 3
Historic Print (S): Fishing from canoe--Hupa
Historic Print (M): Hupa fisherman