Lace Work of Mathilde Hrdlicka

Illustration: Mathilde Hrdlicka. Pillow lace collar, 1905.

Although lace making was by no means a new endeavour in Austria at the beginning of the twentieth century, it did take on a new direction and a new dynamism from that that had been seen through most of the nineteenth century. Within the confines of the cultural patchwork that was the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was a whole panoply of traditional styles connected to the many nationalities that made up the Empire. Therefore, there was a wide-ranging choice of unique and individual craft skills ranging from Polish to Bosnian and Czech to Romanian with many others in between. Within this rich heritage if traditions was formed a contemporary movement for the advancement of lace-making in Europe.

Although the Central School of Lace-Making was founded in Vienna in 1879 and was producing exceptional work during the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was at the turn of the new twentieth century that the School and its lace work really began to be recognised internationally.

Illustration: Mathilde Hrdlicka. Needlepoint lace design, 1905.

There were a number of key players within the Central School of Lace-Making, including such names as Johann Hrdlicka, his wife Mathilde and Franziska Hofmanninger. It is the work of Mathilde Hrdlicka along with that of Hofmanninger that is particularly impressive. More importantly, it goes some way into explaining the new dynamism that was to envelop Austrian lace work. The School literally stripped back all the vestiges of European lace-making, and rebuilt the craft skill with an emphasis on a professional design process and an attention towards observationally inspired decoration. This meant that the natural world was to play a much larger role in lace design work and with that a much more natural and relaxed decorative feel was emphasised, one that perhaps could not be as clearly identified within the purer tradition of lace making.

The illustrations shown here are all lace design work produced by Hrdlicka in around 1905. They show how far the Austrian contemporary movement within the lace craft had progressed. Although there is a certain element of contemporary styling that could be called, at least superficially, Art Nouveau, the work is in fact much more part of the movement within Austria towards a contemporary Austrian style that was unique to Central Europe. Although all of the designs are the work of Hrdlicka at the Central School, it must be remembered that the actual lace-making itself could have taken place in a variety of schools throughout the Empire and so these pieces are not necessarily from Vienna itself.

Illustration: Mathilde Hrdlicka. Pillow lace design, 1905.

It could be said that Hrdlicka, along with a whole generation of designers, tutors and critics within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were moving the decorative world of Central Europe along relatively radical contemporary lines. Although lace itself does not necessarily lend itself to the radical and the contemporary, an attempt was made to restructure the craft in order to reflect the changing world, which included an emphasis on new forms of creativity.

One of the interesting points concerning the Central School of Lace-Making in Vienna was the fact that because the Austro-Hungarian Empire was relatively centralist in nature, it meant that the School itself was involved within education throughout the Empire. Therefore, the School was able to clearly spread its contemporary ideals throughout the many lace-making traditions of Central Europe. However, situations are rarely one-sided and it must be assumed that the various lace-making traditions across the Empire in their turn reflected back to the School. Therefore, in some ways at least the differing traditions, along with contemporary creativity, fused into a much stronger craft skills base. That stronger grounding in the contemporary was to outlast the Empire, and was in fact to continue within the schooling of the separate nations that were eventually to make up much of Central Europe and the Balkans. Many schools and colleges throughout the region have had and still do have a contemporary and modernist approach to the education and art, design and craft while still maintaining the parameters of tradition within those subjects. An attitude and system that is often overlooked by those in Western Europe and North America.

Illustration: Mathilde Hrdlicka. Pillow lace collar, 1905.

Although it may seem a small step to take in the large and long history of a craft skill as diverse as lace-making, the Austrian system promulgated by the Central School in Vienna, along with the likes of Hrdlicka, was lauded across Europe and North America in numerous publications. It was inevitably held up as an excellent example of a traditional craft skill that was being restructured and reinterpreted to the meet the needs of the new century and that of the contemporary world. What is important overall is not so much the attempt to restructure and redefine lace-making in central Europe, but the attempt to structure a craft skill as a profession. By establishing an educational school for lace-making, Austria was in some ways setting a certain standard of education for the decorative arts. This could only ever really be achieved by government intervention as in the case of the Central School of Lace-Making. It may in itself, not have set the standard for Europe as a whole, but government recognition of the professional teaching of art, design and craft went some way in defining the template for the modern European model of state funded Schools and Colleges of Art and Design.

Illustration: Mathilde Hrdlicka. Needlepoint lace design, 1905.

Further reading links:
Vienna, 1890-1920
Art & Society: The New Art Movement in Vienna, 1897-1914
Vienna 1900: Art, Architecture, Design
Vienna 1900 (Memoires)
Vienna 1900: Art and Culture
Vienna in the Age of Uncertainty: Science, Liberalism, and Private Life
Klimt, Schiele, Moser, Kokoschka: Vienna 1900
Freud, Dora, and Vienna 1900
Rethinking Vienna 1900 (Austrian History, Culture and Society, 3)
Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture
A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889
Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin De Siecle Vienna

Embroidered Book Covers

Illustration: Embroidered bible cover, 16th century.

Embroidery is such a diverse and accomplished discipline that it has been used extensively as both a domestic and formal decorative tool. Human culture has used decoration and pattern in order to embellish most areas of life and that of book covers was no different.

It is hard to pinpoint when embroidered as opposed to any other form of decoration on book covers was used as a genre. Most European examples seem to point to the fifteenth century and the development of the printing press when book production, although still rare and limited by our own standards, was becoming much more part of everyday life, at least for the educated classes.

Illustration: Book of Christian Prayers with embroidered book cover, 1581.

Embroidered pattern work on book covers often followed the description, theme and content of the book itself. Therefore embroidery motifs and pattern would reflect the religious, historical or mythological subjects of the book and would be seen played out on the cover.

As with many cases when dealing with the history of textile crafts, there was very often a grading of craft skill and accomplishment. Many of the embroidered book covers destined for European royalty were often works of art in their own right. Silver and gold thread was used extensively, both to impress and to prolong the life of the textile cover.

Illustration: Henshaw's Florae Successivae with embroidered book cover, 1632.

Due to the practical three-dimensional construction of a book and the natural two-dimensional quality of embroidery, the two often did not work well together. Embroidered covers could quickly appear worn at the hinges and spine of the book and the edges could unravel, as could the stitching itself. The embroiderer needed to take the three-dimensional quality of the book into consideration. This meant that they had to be aware of the many factors that went naturally with the book particularly that of the wear and tear produced by continual opening and closing of the front cover and the pressure on the hinges and spine. If the cover became too overly heavy through the wrong use of materials, then the book may well not close properly, or if the embroidery work itself proved to be too slack then the cover could rumple and look untidy and unfinished. Metal braiding was often used to both bind and protect the edges of the book from excessive wear, but to give the embroidered covers a more secure framework in which to work.

Illustration: The Whole Booke of Psalmes with embroidered book cover, 1641.

There were so many factors that were outside the usual parameters of the embroiderer that in many cases a professional bookbinder would both offer advice concerning margins and acceptable materials, and would usually place the book cover with the book after the embroiderer had finished. However, this did not stop a certain percentage of embroiderers, some of whom covered their own books, from embellishing and over-embellishing. This led to books being covered in precious metals, ribbon, and even bells, pearls and other trinkets as if the practical ideal of the book was entirely swallowed up by decoration and ornamentation.

Eventually embroidered book covers fell out of fashion. Whether this was due to changing tastes and aesthetics, or more mundanely due to the increasing regularity and supply of printed works, is unknown. However, though the professional mass production of bookbinding was to produce the craft of embossed leatherwork, which became a standard for book covers, though this too was used to introduce sometimes complex pattern work.

Illustration: Ernest A Taylor embroidered book cover, 1900.

Unfortunately, too few examples of embroidered book covers survive and those that have are often faded or have lost much of their original work and appeal. The images shown in this article are all illustrations of idealised early versions apart from the first and last images.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the revival of interest in embroidery and other needlework skills and crafts, an attempt was made to revive embroidered book covers as a reintroduced craft skill. An example from 1900 is illustrated in this article. It is a much simpler and cleaner example than those shown from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Although it was brave attempt to breathe new life into an old craft skill, many of these later examples were purely hobby pieces or student projects. They served no real purpose in an era where books were no longer seen as precious individual items of status, education and wealth, but were manufactured in their millions for an age that was beginning to see the rise of universal literacy.

Perhaps in some respects the end of embellished embroidered book covers meant the eventual end of literacy for the few.

Further reading links:
Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
British embroidery: Curious works from the seventeenth century (Williamsburg decorative arts series)
A Book of Flowers, Fruits, Beasts, Birds, and Flies: Seventeenth-Century Patterns for Embroiderers Printed and Sold by Peter Stent
English Embroidery in the Metropolitan Museum 1580-1700: 'Twixt Art and Nature (Published in Association with the Bard Graduate Centre for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture)
English Embroidery
English Embroideries--16th & 17th C. (Ashmolean Handbooks)
Guide to English Embroidery
English Embroidery in the Royal Ontario Museum.
English Crewel Designs: 16th to 18th Centuries (International Design Library)
The History of English Embroidery
Old English Embroidery: Its Technique and Symbolism.
STITCHES FROM OLD ENGLISH EMBROIDERIES
Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Wladyslaw Skoczylas and the Polish Identity

Illustration: Wladyslaw Skoczylas. Tapestry design, 1925.

It would probably be wise to term Wladyslaw Skoczylas as a graphic artist or perhaps a fine art illustrator. He is seen as one of the leading, and by some even the principal purveyor of a national Polish cultural and artistic style within Poland during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

Skoczylas did not limit himself to pure graphics and illustration. He also produced fine art painting and design work for a number of textile based disciplines, including tapestry. However, it is Skoczylas graphic work, particularly in the genre of woodcut engraving, which inevitably influenced his work in other disciplines.

Illustration: Wladyslaw Skoczylas. Taniec (Dance) wood engraving, 1921.

The tapestry illustrated in this article was produced and shown at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs held in Paris. Poland was strongly represented in Paris, particularly amongst the textile arts. Skoczylas himself won a gold medal at the Exposition.

Although only one tapestry is shown in this article, it seemed fitting to add some of the artists wood engraving work along side the tapestry to give an indication of how closely the tapestry piece fits into the general work and style of Skoczylas. There is no doubt that for an artist who, though Polish by culture, was born and raised as a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a Polish national style, or at least a personal style that reflected and represented strong elements of the Polish culture and people, was an important factor to take into account when discussing the work of Skoczylas. Across disciplines, a number of Polish cultural aspects kept appearing and reappearing in the artists work.

Illustration: Wladyslaw Skoczylas. Pochod Zbojnikow colour wood engraving, 1916.

After the First World War, a number of nation states either appeared on the map of Europe for the first time such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, or were reintroduced after a long and sustained foreign occupation. Such resurrected states as Ireland, Finland, the Baltic States and Poland had either to reintroduce their national cultures on to the world stage, or in some cases decide what that culture was to represent and reflect within a modern European context.

Poland, which had been split between the German, Austrian and Russian Empires, had never, despite concerted and systematic pressure, relinquished its identity as a nation state. Poles were always aware that the maintenance of a strong and relatively unified national identity would be the only means by which eventually a national state would be able to reappear at some time in the future. National arts and crafts were always seen as an important element in retaining a homogenous identity within a culture. This was particularly acute in the case of the Poles, who had to deal with different identities across three empires. Despite these diverse empires using different forms of force and persuasion to divide Poles and to try to foster an identity that put German, Austrian and Russian affiliation before that of Poland, there was always a consistent attachment towards that of a national Polish identity through both art and craft that was much more than mere romantic sentiment.

Illustration: Wladyslaw Skoczylas. Pochod Zbojnikow colour wood engraving, 1916.

Skoczylas, along with other artists, musicians, writers and critics, saw themselves as part of a national Polish identity. Through the artwork illustrations shown in this article, the artist used Polish themes which could and often did include costume, historical, mythological and geographic locations that, although scattered across three European empires, were all connected to a national consciousness.

Essentially Polish culture survived due to a constant reiteration of what it was to be Polish. This retained the essential quality that separated them from other members of the empires and helped to maintain a unique identity that was to influence and structure a new and revived Polish culture when eventually independence from Germany, Austria and Russia was achieved. By the time of the 1925 Paris Exposition and the public display of Skoczylas tapestry, Poland was a fully formed culture and nation state with a definite identity and history that, despite repeated attempts in the past to erase, had in fact succeeded in remaining largely intact and relatively robust and contemporary in outlook and style.

Illustration: Wladyslaw Skoczylas. Zbojinicy z Kotlikiem (Highwaymen with Cauldron) wood engraving.

Polish history between 1795 when it ceased to exist on the European map and 1918 when it reappeared is a salutary lesson to any contemporary non-represented or non-representative state or people. Culture through national arts and crafts may not in the end succeed in achieving self-representation in its own right. However, keeping a solid identity through culture and craft helps to maintain a distinction between the represented and the non-represented that is difficult to erase.

Further reading links:
National Style and the Nation-State: Design in Poland from the Vernacular Revival to the International Style (Studies in Design & Material Culture)
Grafika Polska: Estampes Polonaises - Polish Prints 1918-1939
Out Looking In: Early Modern Polish Art, 1890-1918
Polish Art and Architecture, 1890-1980: An outline history of Polish 20th century art and architecture
Symbolist Art in Poland
Out Looking In: Early Modern Polish Art, 1890-1918
Early Polish Modern Art: Unity in Multiplicity
The graphic arts in Poland, 1945-1955
Western Amerykanski: Polish Poster Art and the Western
The Law of the Looking Glass: Cinema in Poland, 1896-1939 (Polish and Polish American Studies)