Wang, Gai, active 1677-1705 [王槩, active 1677-1705], Jie zi yuan hua zhuan : wu juan [芥子園畫傳 : 五卷]. Contributor: Li, Yu, 1611-1680? [李漁, 1611-1680?]. Edition: [Cai se tao yin ben][彩色套印本]. (China: s.n., Qing Kangxi, between 1679 and 1722].

The 13 volumes that make up Princeton University Library’s copy of Jie zi yuan hua zhuan, also known in the United States as the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, have been digitized and are now available in full online. Hope you enjoy reading through them, even without Chinese. The links are:
Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/9z9031252
Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/kh04dr094
Permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/fq977w17w

This woodcut portrait of George Washington (1732-1799) was published on the cover of Bickerstaff’s 1778 Boston almanack (said to be the second time the block was used). The caption reads “The Glorious Washington and Gate” referring to British-born Horatio Gate (1727-1806) who fought with Washington during the American revolutionary war. Not, perhaps, Washington’s best moment although it turns up again 13 years later on another almanack.

The block was printed by Ezekiel Russell (1743-1796) who worked in Boston, Salem, and from 1777 out of a shop in Danvers, Massachusetts. The subtitle states “being the second year of American Independence and the second after Leap-year, calculated for the meredian of Boston, Lat. 425 25 [degrees] N, containing besides what is necessary in an almanac, a variety of useful and interesting pieces.”

One year earlier, John Hancock made the cover of the almanack, described as “the anatomical man” meaning done from life, not imagined. The portrait was done “by a lady.”

Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanac for the year of our redemption 1777 (Danvers, 1776). Graphic Arts Collection Hamilton 78

Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanack, for the year of our redemption, 1778. Being the second year of American Independence…. (Danvers, Ma.: Printed by E. Russell, [1777]). Graphic Arts Collection Hamilton 82.

The neo-classical painter Angelica Kauffmann (born Switzerland, 1741-1807), was admired in her day, as much for her beauty as her painting. Her status as an artist was so great that she was included in 1768 as a founding member of the Royal Academy alongside Benjamin West and Paul Sandby. She was, however, not allowed in their life class because of the nude model.

Many of Kauffmann’s designs were engraved and published with various books of poetry or prose, such as this group of stories which includes John Dryden’s Love and Jealousy [Love Triumphant]; and Edward Moore’s Fables of the Female Self. In the present volume, Kauffmann was responsible for two of the designs and Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811) the others.

Angelica’s Ladies Library; or, Parents and Guardians Present (London: printed for J. Hamilton and Co. at the Shakspeare Library, Beech-Street, near Finsbury-Square; and Mrs. Harlow, Bookseller to Her Majesty, Pall-Mall, M.DCC.XCIV. [1794]). Gift of Dixon Q. Brown. Graphic Arts Collection Rowlandson 1794.2

In 1781, George Keate (1729-1797) wrote An Epistle to Angelica Kauffman. In a foreword, he notes (and I believe this is correctly transcribed) “Accidentally discoursing with Angelica, on the Subject of Colours, and making some Inquiry concerning one of them then on her Palette, she informed me that it was prepared from the Gums which envellop the Mummies brought from Egypt; and had, if skilfully used, a very happy Effect in some Parts of Painting.”

“This Circumstance suggested to me the Idea of the following Epistle; which presenting itself with some Air of Novelty, I pursued it with the greater Warmth, from the pleasurable Opportunity it afforded me of doing Justice to so distinguished an Artist, and celebrating the very uncommon Talents, the unaffected Diffidence, and amiable Disposition, which are so happily united in the Character of that Lady to whom this Poem is addressed.”

George Keate (1729-1797), An Epistle to Angelica Kauffman (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1781) Rare Books (Ex) 3808.85.332

When the Instituto Português de Conservas de Peixe (Portuguese Institute of Canned Fish) was established in Lisbon, a search was made for an ingenious writer/artist to convey the beauty and drama of tinned fish.

The Portuguese writer, painter, and film director José Leitão de Barros (1896-1967) took on the project organizing and directing an ensemble of visual artists including photographer Manuel Alves San Payo (1890-1974), painter José de Bragança, as well as Raúl Reis, Mário Novais, Raimundo Vaissier, Ferreira da Cunha e Almeida Graça and many others.

Leitão de Barros was a talented film director and designer, whose work began in 1918 with LeitMal de Espanha; O Homem dos Olhos Tortos; and Malmequer (1918); followed by Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores (1929); Festas da Curia (1927); Lisboa (1930); Maria do Mar (1930) and dozens of others. He also published and illustrated a variety of newspapers and magazines under another career as a photojournalist.

In 1940, he was named the Secretary General of the Exposição do Mundo Português (The Portuguese World Exhibition) held in Lisbon under President Oliveira Salazar. Three years later, he was chiefly responsible for the government supported “Peoples Fair” and went on to become director of the National Society of Fine Arts.

José Leitão de Barros (1896-1967), compiler, The Golden Book of Portuguese Tinned Fish (Lisbon: Instituto Português de Conservas de Peixe, 1938. Graphic Arts Collection GAX in process

Several of Leitão de Barros’s films are available online. Here is a sample:

From 1925 to 1934, Otto Neurath (1882-1945) was Director of the Gesellschafts-und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Vienna, where he and his team produced informational charts using a system of pictorial statistics. Neurath referred to them as Isotype (International System Of TYpographic Picture Education). This series of pictograms presents dry statistics in colorful, easy to understand visual images.

Neurath was invited to help establish an institute for pictorial statistics in Moscow, that became known as The All-Union Institute of Pictorial Statistics of Soviet Construction and Economy or the Izostat Institute.

“The most notable English-language Izostat publication,” writes Emma Minns, “is an album produced for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the design of which was overseen by the artist [El Lissitzky], USSR: An Album Illustrating the State Organization and National Economy of the USSR.”

“…The use of only photographs and Isotype charts brings an air of authority and gravitas to the books, and gives the impression that these are objective works concerned with facts, rather than anecdotes or points of view.” — Emma Minns, “Unity in Difference: The Representation of Life in the Soviet Union through Isotype,” A People Passing Rude (2012).

El Lissitzky (1890-1941), USSR. An Album Illustrating the State Organization and National Economy of the U.S.S.R., edited by Ivan V. Sautin and Ivan P. Ivanitsky (Moscow: Scientific Publishing Institute of Pictorial Statistics, 1939). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process