Category Archives: Medium

mediums

The Record of the Metropolitan Fair

“View in the Wigwam” by J. Gurney and Son, Photographers

 

A Record of the Metropolitan Fair: in aid of the United States Sanitary Commission, held at New York, in April, 1864, with photographs. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1867. John Shaw Pierson Civil War Collection, W25.67.6

Following on the success of the Chicago Sanitary Fair in 1863, the Metropolitan City of New York’s Sanitary Commission organized their own fair to raise money for Union Army soldiers and their families. Privately funded and managed primarily by female volunteers, the fair would help with the soldiers’ back pay, distribute supplies to camp hospitals, and support other organizations hurt by the American Civil War.

After several delays, the Metropolitan Fair was held from April 4 to 23, 1864, and raised $1,34 million dollars. Several years later, A Record of the Metropolitan Fair was published, printed at the distinguish Riverside Press of H.O. Houghton, with 8 original albumen photographs pasted in every volume, after negatives by the celebrated photographer Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1895) and the practically unknown Maurice Stadtfeld (ca.1831-1881). Princeton owns a copy collected at the time of publication by John Shaw Pierson, class of 1840, whose thousands of gifts to the library began arriving in 1869.

“View in the Art Gallery” by J. Gurney and Son, photographers.

“Hartford Booth” by M. Stadtfeld, photographer.

 

A season ticket to the Metropolitan Fair was $5, which allowed visitors to attend all the events and see all the displays at the 22nd Regiment Armory, 125 West 14th Street, as well as the other buildings and venues constructed solely for the three weeks of the fair. Performances were held by an international array of musicians including indigenous Americans who brought their own buffalo-skin teepee in which to perform. Cooking demonstrations took place in the Knickerbocker Kitchen, rare books and manuscripts were sold at the Metropolitan Book Department on the second floor while a working photography studio operated on the third floor. Barrels of free clothing and other items were offered to anyone who might be in need.

In the main hall of the Armory, an exhibition of paintings was hung including Albert Bierstadt’s Rocky Mountains opposite Frederic Edwin Church’s Heart of the Andes; and in the center Emanuel Leutze’s mammoth Washington Crossing the Delaware. Leutze’s original painting of this scene had been destroyed and so, in 1850 he painted a second version purchased by Marshall O. Roberts that was lent to the Fair. Later the painting was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by John Stewart Kennedy.

A newspaper called The Spirit of the Fair was published daily with a serial essay by James Fenimore Cooper to make sure people read each issue. The main contract for images from the fair went to Jeremiah Gurney whose elegant gallery was nearby at 707 Broadway. J. Gurney & Sons produced the majority of the official photographs sold or distributed during the fair from the Armory and afterwards at their own studio. Two of the prints included in The Record of the Metropolitan Fair are credited to Maurice Stadtfeld, whose studio was just up the block from Gurney at 711 Broadway. Only recently established in New York, Stadtfeld may have been engaged by Gurney and his son Benjamin to help with the enormous demand for prints.

“View in Arms and Trophies Room” by J. Gurney and Son, photographers

 

“View in Curiosity Shop” by J. Gurney and Son, photographers

 

“Irving Cockloft” by J. Gurney and Son photographers

 

“View in Main Hall, 14th Street Building” by J. Gurney and Son, photographers

 

“Costumes of Ladies in Knickerbocker Kitchen” by M. Stadtfeld, photographer

Corona Ek Mahamari = Corona An Epidemic

 

 

 

Vijay Sadashiv Mashe, Corona Ek Mahamari [Corona an Epidemic], 2020. Cow dung background, poster color on traditionally treated cloth. 104 x 78 cm. Graphic Arts Collection 2021.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a dense composite painting by the contemporary Warli artist Vijay Sadashiv Mashe. The son of Sadashiv Mashe and grandson of Jivjy Soma Mashe, Vijay continues the traditions of the Warli painters, but with an international consciousness. The simplicity of the forms lends itself to the representation of our global pandemic and its consequences in India and beyond.


Read more about the Indian Warli Community projects at the V&A Museum of Childhood: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-of-childhood/warli-at-moc

Migrant Labor Goes Home, 2020

Pushpa Kumari, Migrant Labor Goes Home, 2020. Natural color on cow dung, washed handmade paper. 67 x 54 cm. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021.

This recent acquisition painted by Pushpa Kumari is part of our ongoing effort to document the work of contemporary Indian indigenous artists during the 2020-2021 pandemic.

The following description was written by Anubhav Nath of Ojas Art:

“Shiv-Parvati play an important role in Madhubani art. They are depicted as Ardhnareswar, which portrays a perfectly fused balance of divine masculine and feminine energies.

In April 2020, caught unaware, thousands of migrant labor walked thousands of miles to their homes in the region of Bihar, from where this art form originates. This work refers to a lot of images from local media in connection to the migrant labor headed back and the duress they faced.

People walking with families in never ending queues with children being dragged on suitcases; a woman collapsing and eventually dying on the railway track as her infant child continued to breast-feed and laborers being washed down with disinfectant before being allowed to enter a village.

These images are symbolic of the lockdown, and have been translated into a traditional Madhubani style very effectively and poignantly.”

Woodward’s Caricature Magazine. Why do you laugh? Change only the name and this story is about you.

The Caricature Magazine Or Hudibrastic Mirror. By G.M. Woodward. Etchings by Thomas Rowlandson, Isaac Cruikshank, and Charles Williams, after George Moutard Woodward, published by Thomas Tegg. 1807-09.

Volume 1. September 1, 1807. Quid rides? Mutato nomine et de te fabula narrator = Why do you laugh? Change only the name and this story is about you.–Horace, Satires 1. 1. 68–72. Front cover above, back cover (tail piece) below.

Volume 1, tailpiece.

Between September 1807 and November 1809, George Moutard Woodward’s humorous designs were etched and hand colored by Isaac Cruikshank, Charles Williams, Thomas Rowlandson, and others, then published by Thomas Tegg as The Caricature Magazine, or, Hudibrastic Mirror. Each plate was reissued several times and the serial run reissued in 1821. Because of the multiple versions, it has been difficult to conclusively describe this serial. In addition, it is often mixed up with The caricature Magazine by Thomas Rowlandson. Princeton owns 4 bound volumes of Tegg’s magazine published from No. 111 Cheapside, between 1807 and 1809. Dorothy George agreed that the original series included only 4 volumes.

 

Volume 2. On the left. are Whimsical Characters ascending to the Temple of Fame. On the left. is A Grotesque Deputation from the Temple of Momus – returnig [sic] thanks for past favors and soliciting future patronage.

Front cover above, back cover below. Volume 2. July 2, 1808. Between the two processions and forming a tail-piece is ‘The Genius of Caricature,’

 

Volume 3. Front cover above, back cover below. 1809. Tail Piece offers a street scene showing Tegg’s printshop, the Apollo Library at 111 Cheapside, with signs above its windows reading “Libraries purchased or exchanged,” and advertisements: ‘Spirit of fresh wit / Spirit of English wit / Marmion travestee / The whale / An auction at eight precisely.” Below the image is a quotation from Pope: “Eye Natures walks, shoot Folly as it flies. / And catch the manners living as they rise.”

 

 

Volume 4. Before November 1809. Missing the back cover.

Not to be confused with a separate, vertical run titled The Caricature Magazine or Mirror of Mirth... by Thomas Rowlandson, 1809?

China Painting

Porcelain paints case, 1880s. German. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a linen case containing 98 glass vials filled with powder pigments to be used in the painting of porcelain wares, also known as china painting. The pigment is now permanently sealed in the vials with the cork tightly fixed to the glass. Each vial is numbered with a paper label. “China or porcelain paint pigment does not dissolve in water or oil, because the pigments are made up of metallic oxides blended with fine powdered glass. The powdered glass acted as a flux so that the glaze and coloured paint would adhere together permanently upon firing.”

As Debby DuBay writes in The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles:

…Women played significant roles in the birth of the china-painting movement in America. In 1873 in Cincinnati, Karl Lagenbeck, an immigrant ceramic chemist, and his neighbor, Maria Longworth Nicols (1849-1932) experimented with over-glaze china paints. Maria, a student at the McMicken School of Design, placed some of her decorated pieces on display at a student exhibition. Several classmates, specifically one Mary Louise McLaughlin (1847-1939), was so smitten by the beauty of Nicols’ work that she requested their instructor, Ben Pitman, to purchase the necessary supplies to paint on porcelain.

With so much interest in this new art form, Pitman engaged Marie Eggers, an immigrant who had studied the art of china painting in the Dresden factory, to teach a class in 1874. This group of students entered their wares in the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and were responsible for exposing millions of Americans to this new art form.

…By 1877 there had been several books published in Europe on directions for painting on china for amateurs, but it is student Mary Louise McLaughlin who published the first book in America – China Painting, A Practical Manual for the Use of Amateurs in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain. McLaughlin’s infectious enthusiasm for this art form spread throughout the United States, and she is credited with educating the general public and those who could not attend classes on the art of china painting. Her book included information on tracing on china, china painting techniques and directions for gilding, firing, etc.

In 1879 McLaughlin formed the Woman’s Pottery Club. By 1881, there were major china painting studios in Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York, including The Osgood Art School established in New York City by Adelaide Harriett Osgood (1842-1910). But it is McLaughlin who is credited with influencing the entire nation and setting the standards for porcelain clubs established throughout the United States.–Painted Porcelain: Women Played a Major Role – The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles –by Debby DuBay.https://journalofantiques.com/features/hand-painted-porcelain-women-played-a-major-role/

Anita J. Ellis, The ceramic career of M. Louise McLaughlin (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press [for] Cincinnati Art Museum, 2003). NK4023.M382 E443 2003

Mary Louise McLaughlin, China painting: a practical manual for the use of amateurs in the decoration of hard porcelain (Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1877). ReCAP 738 M22

 

The Day of Rejoicing for Monopoly!

For the July 3, 1886, issue of The Reflector, an Illustrated Journal devoted to the Interests of Labor & Capital VS. Monopoly, the  double-page centerfold is captioned “The Day of Rejoicing for Monopoly! Over the ever-increasing Dependence of the Sovereign People,” and signed by both members of the publication’s art department, Peter Kraemer (1823-1907) and Conrad Rossi-Diehl (also known as Curt Rossi, 1842-1926).

 

“The Day of Rejoicing for Monopoly! Over the ever-increasing Dependence of the Sovereign People.” in The Reflector, an Illustrated Journal devoted to the Interests of Labor & Capital VS. Monopoly 1, no. 7 (July 3, 1886). Photographed from the New-York Historical Society Library.

The description of the cartoon reads:

“Our double page cartoon represents “The day we celebrate.” Columbia weeps; her proud bird is sad, and the ghosts of Washington and other founders of our Great Republic which float above the scene are amazed to find : that only the ‘favored few’ enjoy the fruits of the ‘Declaration of Independence’, whilst the masses have been reduced to a state of abject Dependence.– Even Uncle Sam must ‘doff’ his hat before the crowned Heads of the land.”

Together with editorial manager John Fredericks, Kraemer and Rossi produced this spectacular and little appreciated illustrated weekly in an attempt to overtake Puck and Judge with decidedly liberal politics and an anti-corporate point of view. Although not directly connected, the Knights of Labor are regularly quoted and supported in many issues. From May 22 to November 6, 1886, these three men wrote, drew, and lithographed their colorful publication that sold for six cents (or an optimistic $3.00 annually). The Reflector Publishing Company was based at 58 & 60 Fulton Street, with the printing done by the “power press printers” Eckstein & Porr in the same building.

Their mission is defined in the second issue: “As labor alone creates capital, and capital—when properly employed—in turn increases the productively of labor, it will be the sole endeavor of this journal to combat monopoly, the evil which grows and thrives in proportion as it flourishes and fans the fratricidal feud between those agents of human progress and prosperity. Monopoly paralyzes the arm of the small capitalist and prostrates the wag-workers . unless labor and capital unite their strength in joint effort to check the sway of monopoly, disruptions and dismemberment will be imminent or the doom of a return to abject dependence—worse than feudal thraldom [sic]—is sealed.”

Both Kraemer and Rossi were trained in Munich, with long resumes that included book and commercial illustration. When the illustrated weekly closed, Rossi-Diehl joined John Ward Stimson (1850-1930) to establish the Artist Artisan Institute also called the New-York Institute for Artist-Artisans, on West 23rd street. See more: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2021/05/20/conrad-rossi-diehl/

On the cover of the July 3 issue is a cartoon titled “Sunday in our Free Country,” objecting to the growing temperance movement and prohibition of alcohol, stating: “On the title page we show the manner in which the ‘hand of the law’ lays hold of the offe[n]der against the dictates of Intolerance in our Land of Liberty. Supporting the ability of a citizen to partake in a humanizing beverage.”

In the early issues of The Reflector, the artists chose not to sign their lithographs, noting: “The editor of the new have workmen seems to take exception to the modesty which our artists have shown by withholding their signatures from the illustrations. They simply proposed to let the work stand on its merits—name of no name. the coat you wear is not a whit better or worse though it bear the names of a dozen tailors. Not all men seek notoriety.” In later issues, Kraemer signs the front and back cover illustrations and both Kraemer and Rossi sign the centerfold.

 

 

Adoration of the Magi, with camel

Giuseppe Niccolò Rossigliani, called Niccolò Vicentino (active about 1510–1550) after a drawing by Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, 1503–1540), The Adoration of the Magi, [between 1540 and 1560]. Chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks. Bartsch XII.029.2, ii/ii. Graphic Arts Collection GC094

 

This is the final state of Vicentino’s print, with the publisher Andrea Andreani’s monogram AA MDCv. Although Andreani was also an artist, he did not carve or print this woodcut. The first state has the letters FP for “Franciscus Parmensis” in the same position.

 

The print reproduces a drawing in the Louvre by Parmigianion:

Parmigianino (1503-1540), L’Adoration des mages, no date. Pen and ink, brush drawing. Musée du Louvre INV 6377

 

One of the nicest aspects of the chiaroscuro print is the simplicity of the camel, drawn in tone with the animal’s long neck accented in a single black line. Many artists included camels in their Adoration scenes but often used a horse as the model with limited success in its appearance.

http://www.larsdatter.com/camels.htm offers a wonderful set of links to various camels throughout the medieval and renaissance periods. A few have been included below.

El Greco (1541–1614), Adoración de los Reyes Magos known in English as Adoration of the Magi with Camels, between 1568 and 1569. Oil on panel. Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso

 

Giotto (active 1295-1337), Adorazione dei Magi, ca.1304-1306. Portion of frescoe in the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy.

 

One of the most charming of all the camels can be found at the Morgan Library, in a Persian manuscript:

Ibn Bakhtīshū (died 1058), Camel. Manāfi˓-i ḥayavān (The Benefits of Animals), in Persian, for Shams al-Dīn Ibn Ẓiyā˒ al-Dīn al-Zūshkī, between 1297 and 1300. Morgan Museum and Library MS M.500, fol. 16v

 

Larry Rivers (1923-2002), Beyond Camel, 1980. Acrylic on canvas. Privately owned.

The person with the most nose knows most

Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ (1809-1852), The Nose by Nikolai Gogol; English translation and commentary by Stanislav Shvabrin; sixteen drawings with collage by William Kentridge (San Francisco: Arion Press, 2021). Copy 17 of 40. Deluxe edition. Graphic Arts Collection 2021- in process

 

“The edition is limited to 250 copies for sale with 26 lettered hors commerce copies reserved … Of these, 190 Limited edition copies are bound with cloth spines and paper sides, and 20 Variant plus 40 Deluxe edition copies are bound with leather spines and cork paper sides. All copies are signed by the artist and presented in clamshell boxes accompanied by a flipbook, “His Majesty Comrade Nose”, produced in an edition of 350 copies.

The Deluxe edition includes a photogravure “Surveying His Escape” with red pencil markings by the artist. 40 prints plus 5 Printer’s Proofs, 3 Artist’s Proofs, and 2 B.A.T. Proofs have been editioned by Lothar Osterburg in Red Hook, New York on 300 gsm Somerset with gampi chine collé and kozo insets.”–Colophon.


 

From the prospectus: Originally published in 1836 in Alexander Pushkin’s magazine Sovremennik (The Contemporary), The Nose tells the story of Major Kovalyov, a St. Petersburg official whose nose develops a life of its own. The absurdity of the tale, in which Kovalyov awakens to find his nose gone, then later comes to find it has surpassed him in social rank, lays bare the anxiety that plagued Russia after Peter the Great introduced The Table of Ranks: a document reorganizing feudal Russian nobility, by placing emphasis on the military, civil service and the imperial court in determining an aristocrat’s social standing.

 

 

For this edition, Arion Press chose to collaborate with artist William Kentridge, who directed and designed a visually dazzling 2010 Metropolitan Opera production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s adaptation of The Nose. This is his second project with the press, following The Lulu Plays, published in tandem with his 2015 production of the Alban Berg opera, Lulu, also for the Met. Kentridge’s method combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music, theater and collaborative practices to create works of art that are grounded in politics, science, literature, and history.

 

 

This edition includes a photogravure “Surveying His Escape” printed in warm black ink on 300 gsm Somerset with gampi chine collé and kozo insets, editioned by Lothar Osterburg in Red Hook, New York. See also: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2018/03/30/library-dreams-after-magrittes-time-transfixed/

Robert Penn (Wichapi Cik’ala)

Robert “Bobby” Penn (Wichapi Cik’ala, or Little Star, 1946-1999), Butterfly, 1994. Etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2008.00897

Robert “Bobby” Penn (Wichapi Cik’ala, or Little Star, 1946-1999), Singer, 1994. Etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2008.00899.

In an attempt to solve one unidentified work each week, these three etchings have been attributed to South Dakota painter Robert Penn, known to his friends as Bobby and who signed them B. Penn. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Penn taught art at his alma mater the University of South Dakota until 1986 when he quit to pursue his art full time.

Penn was a protégé of the late Oscar Howe, and at one time, he was a work-study assistant for the internationally known Sioux artist. However, Penn’s style was uniquely his own as he explored the art world with varied media and styles. The Akta Lakota Museum site includes a quote from the artist:

“Abstraction of symbols and themes can re-interpret and integrate the modern world as seen from an Indian viewpoint without strict adherence to traditional art forms and can transcend both worlds to become contemporary modern art as well as a cultural statement. I am constantly aware of the danger of being typecast as far as subject matter goes; there is far more to my vision than just recreating pictures of the past. Art has always been my central issue … it is also my biggest prayer,” Penn once said.

http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/PageServer?pagename=alm_homepage


Robert “Bobby” Penn (Wichapi Cik’ala, or Little Star, 1946-1999), Red road, 1994. Etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2008.00898.

Penn designed several murals, including one at Springfield College, Springfield, MA and one commissioned by the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Medical Center. It is not clear which master printer helped the artist created these etchings.

Jules Léotard by Jean Émile Durandeau

Jules Léotard (1830-1870), Mémoires de Léotard (Paris: Chez tous les libraires, 1860). Firestone recap 4298.579. Fold-out by Durandeau printed on green paper.

Jean Émile Durandeau (1827-1880) is best remembered for his lithographic sheet music designs and caricatures of popular members of French society. While he was a contemporary of Étienne Carjat (1828-1906) and Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), his work has not been equally recorded. Durandeau was the chief illustrator of the satirical newspaper Le Drôlatique and wrote the popular Civilians and Soldiers (1878).

One of the beloved figures he drew was Jules Léotard (1838-1870), circus performer and trapeze artist extraordinaire. A member of both the Cirque Napoléon and the Cirque d’Hiver, Léotard made a flying somersault between two swinging bars in 1859, perfecting the flying trapeze. Songs were written and stories told about the man and his acrobatics, many illustrated by Durandeau.

With his published memoirs, Léotard included an enormous lithographic fold-out by Durandeau, picturing Léotard flying over Paris, with his fans holding heart shaped kites and practicing their own trapeze acrobatics.