Category Archives: Medium

mediums

The Four Accomplishments

utamaro go playingKitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Go Playing, no date (about 1790). Color woodblock print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2009.00694. Vertical Ôban. From the series Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga).

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The Graphic Arts Collection holds one of Utamaro’s four prints depicting the four cultural activities or arts to be mastered by an ideal Chinese scholar. These include the playing of the musical instrument gin; playing the board game weigi (later changed to go); the art of calligraphy; and that of painting. Utamaro parodies the tradition by showing courtesans rather than scholarly gentlemen playing the game of go.

 

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Here is another from the series, owned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
sc155944Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Calligraphy (Sho), from an untitled series of the Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga), about 1790–91. Vertical ôban. © Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The Epicures’ Prayer!! and other Rowlandsons

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rowlandson prayers7O mighty Epicurus! make a hash of mine Enemies and barbacue their Malevolence; gather my Friends around me like unto a Ragout of Sweet-breads; and should I ever found a City let it be filled with good Things, and fat be the Men, fat be the Women, and fat be the Strangers surjourning therein.

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rowlandson prayers4O ye whose Breeches Pockets burn, Give lucky Peter Puff a turn; When Fortune beckons, never scorn her, But seek her Office, round the Corner. You cannot well mistake the Door, The Lamp is green–the Number four.

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rowlandson prayers3 O all ye Household Gods who preside over cleanliness and good management, aid me in my arduous undertaking…

 

The Graphic Arts Collection holds a number of sets of prayers and journals engraved by Thomas Rowlandson. The ones posted here are from a bound set that comes with a hand-written index, presumably by Dixon Q. Brown, our donor.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), Prayers and Journals, engraved by Rowlandson after George Moutard Woodward (ca. 1760-1809) ([London]: R. Ackerman, printed by E. Spragg, No. 27, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden, 1801-1802]). Twelve prints with accompanying text; nine of the prints are from the Prayers series, most dated 1801, and three are from the Journals series, dated 1802. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1801.5.
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The Chignon, both print and plate

cruikshank chignon1George Cruikshank (1792-1878), The Chignon, 1870. Colored etching and copper printing plate. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2010.01192. Gift of Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888.

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The Meirs Collection of Cruikshanlciana, consists of 894 illustrated books as well as hundreds of prints, drawings, and watercolors presented by Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888.

One of the many treasures Meirs collected and had specially bound is this pairing of an etched copper plate and the hand colored etching pulled from that plate.

For more information about Princeton’s holdings see E. D. H. Johnson, “The George Cruikshank Collection at Princeton,” The Princeton University Library Chronicle 85 (1973-74): 1-33.

cruikshank chignon3Lettered below image “Designed & Etched by George Cruikshank” “The Chignon. The Chignon is a sort of Cupid’s nest, But where the little fellow has little rest, For it seems to be the Ladies delight, To keep him firing away, from Morn till night, But the brave Chaps who are hit, know tis their lot, And if the truth must be told, they like to be Shot! GCk 1870” and “London. Pub.d by W. Tweedie 337 Strand-”
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Questione

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Questione Romana Risolta (The Roman Question Resolved), no date (ca. 1929). Pen and watercolor. Graphic Arts Collection GAX European drawings

This unsigned drawing might be for a cartoon by Thomas Theodor Heine (1867-1948), a German artist and caricaturist, best known for the satirical Munich magazine Simplicissimus. However, the it might be from a later period. If you have seen the final printed version, please let us know. Note the artist’s mark on the lower right corner.

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Nordfeldt on Wall Street

nordfeldt wall streetBror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955), Wall Street, no date. Drypoint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2015- in process
nordfeldt wall street reversedThe same view today up Broad Street, looking toward Federal Hall at the corner of Wall Street. I have laterally reversed the image to match the etching above.
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There are two Nordfeldt drypoints from the early twentieth century entitled Wall Street or New York: Wall Street. One is looking west on Wall Street with a view of Trinity Church. The second one, seen here, is actually a view looking north on Broad Street, standing close to Exchange Place, ending with Federal Hall at Wall Street. A third drypoint focuses on a similar area in lower Manhattan looking north on Broadway. The three are often confused.
nordfeldt wall street2Detail of Nordfeldt’s drypoint

nordfeldt wall street 7Detail without reversing the architecture.

In the actual street, we see the old New York Stock Exchange on the left and the Federal Hall slightly to the right. Broad Street was named because it was broader than the other streets in the area. It follows the route of a colonial canal that emptied into the east River, until it was filled in and paved in 1676.

This corner offers an amazing view of three classical orders of columns: the plain, heavy Doric at Federal Hall; the slender Ionic at 14 Wall Street; and the elaborate Corinthian with their decorative capitals at the Stock Exchange (detail below).

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2016, The Year of Shakespeare

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Detail of Falstaff

2016 will be the quatercentenary of William Shakespeare’s death and celebrations are planned around the globe on all aspects of Shakespearean history, poetry, and performance. We are planning several events at Princeton University, including a small gallery exhibition.

To that end, we pulled our elephant portfolio of Henry Bunbury’s Shakespeare prints–engravings with stipple and hand coloring–and I have posted a few of them here. The set was published by Thomas Macklin, manager of the Poet’s Gallery, in direct competition with John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery.

Bunbury’s designs were engraved over five year by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), Peltro William Tomkins (1760-1840), Thomas Cheeseman (active 1780-1790), and Robert Mitchell Meadows (died 1812).

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Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), Twenty-Two Plates Illustrative of Various Interesting Scenes in the Plays of Shakspeare (London: Published originally by the late T. Macklin, sold by J. Nichols & son, [1792-1796]). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize Rowlandson 1792.2e


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Plates include:
Falstaff Playing the Prince, the Prince Playing the King; Romeo and Juliet in Friar Lawrence’s Cell; Macbeth and The Murderers; Falstaff at Hern’s Oak; Jacques discovered by the Duke; Rosalind, Celia & Touchstone; Falstaff’s Escape; Tameing the Shrew; Falstaff Reproved by King Henry; Helena in The Dress of A Pilgrim; Prospero Disarming Ferdinand;
Dick the Butcher & Smith the Weaver seizing the Clerk of Chatham; Fluellen makeing Pistol eat the leek; Florizel & Autolicus, Exchange Garments; Falstaff with Hotspur on his Back; The Supposed Death of Imogen; Launce teaching his Dog crab, to behave as a Dog in all things; Falstaff at Justice Swallow’s Mustering his Recruits; Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, & The Clown; Dogbery and Verges with the watch; and two untitled

 

 

Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend

credit print
credit print6 Attributed to Johann Peter Wolff (1655-1711), Credit liegt tödlich kranck, kein artzt vertreibt den schmertz als der mit sehr viel geld curirt das mare hertz … (Credit lies deadly ill; no doctor will drive out the pain, when the man with lots of money heals the faint heart). Nürnberg: Johann Peter Wolff, [c.1710]. Engraving with stencil color. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process
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This stencil colored engraving, warning of the dangers of credit, was published by the Nuremberg firm of Johann Peter Wolff (1655-1711), possibly made by Wolff himself. In the early eighteenth century, his four sons took over the publishing company and continued producing copperplate engravings under his name.

The engraving highlights the risks of wastefulness and profligacy, warning that “credit lies deadly ill; no doctor will drive out the pain, when the man with lots of money heals the faint heart.” The consequences are clearly shown in the two central panels, while the three down each side warns us of the dangers of money and the folly of living beyond one’s means.


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The Gardens of England

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E. Adveno Brooke, fl. 1844-1864. The Gardens of England. London: T. McLean, 1857. [62] p., 25 leaves of chromolithographic plates: ill., col. front., 24 col. mounted plates ; 53 cm. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Oversize Rowlandson 6093e

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The gardens depicted include those at Trentham Park, Enville Hall, Bowood House, Alton Towers, Elvaston Castle, Shrublands Hall, Woburn Abbey, Holkham House, Castle Howard, and many others.

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To see the whole book online, try the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s site: https://archive.org/details/gardensEngland00Broo

 

Bertold Löffler (1874-1960)

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See also: Achim von Arnim (1781-1831). “Aus des Knaben Wunderhorn” (From the Young Boy’s Magic Horn) / [Achim von Arnim ; Clemens Brentano.] Bilder v. Berthold Löffler. Texte gesichtet v. Hans Fraungruber (Wien: Gerlach & Wiedling, [1902]). Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Euro 20 901

Vienna Secession Postcards

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12 postcards from the period leading up to the Vienna Secession sent to Joseph Hoffmann, 1895-96. Woodcuts, watercolor, pen and ink on paper. GC141 Postcards Collection

The Graphic Arts Collection holds a dozen postcards, both printed and hand drawn, collected by the Austrian artist and architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956). Some of the cards are dated 1895 or 1896, a time when Hoffmann has completed his studies under Otto Wagner at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and joins Wagner’s architectural firm in Vienna.

The following year, in April 1897, inspired by the artists of the Glasgow School, Hoffmann is a founding member of the Vienna Secession along with Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Wilhelm Bernatzik, and others.

See also Marquand’s complete set of Ver sacrum: Organ der Vereinigung Bildener Künstler Österreichs (Wien: Verlag Gerlach & Schenk, 1898-1903). Marquand Library (SAX): Rare Books Oversize N6494.W5 V47q