a project for less than $1 (kind of)

Okay, so if you're starting from scratch, this will cost you more than a dollar. But if, like me, you happen to have paper, ink, brayer, and linoleum cutter, all you need is a little scrap of linoleum. Which is crazy inexpensive. Even if starting from scratch, you might be able to get everything for under $15. And then you'll have them always! Kind of. Anyhoo, I just cut into the linoleum like a line drawing (much like the line drawings sometimes found in costume history texts). And now I have this cute glove.

for the boss with everything

I wanted something for my supervisor, to say thank you for the wonderful year. She is one of those women with everything, so I thought I would try and make something.

So here I am with my supplies: linoleum and cutter, pen/pencil, paints, etc. I already had the brayer, and blank cards with envelopes from the fancy paper store. I made a little template from a photo of vases in the Ellison collection out on the mezzanine. You should visit the "new" American Wing, they will be instantly recognizable!

After a couple tries, I decided the notecard looked a little funny with the little vases on a totally white background, so I smooshed on more ink and pressed harder when printing. Okay, so they aren't great works of art. This was my first attempt at a linocut (though I think I like it!). And the colors are perhaps brighter than a classy person would prefer. But, the subject matter is personal, meaningful, and Nonnie will totally get it.

Memories of a Death March

This image comes from Daniel Cohen's The Female Marine and Related Works: Narratives of Cross-Dressing and Urban Vice in America's Early Republic. Observe the Wests' reaction to the venerable Plymouth Rock. This heartily reminded me of another reaction to the very same rock, documented during one of the infamous Winterthur class trips. Observe Amanda. She loves the ye olde (she's a curator of historic interiors at CW!). But we were tired... and well, it's a rock. It wasn't oozing with history as we had anticipated. Frankly, we were slightly more excited about this rock.

December Interior Update

So, my parents are out to thwart me! Just kidding, but they were looking at the December print I posted, and noticed a window shade in the right window. Spring roller shades, according to my father, were not patented until 1864. So, does this mean this print is later than that, and that the artist accidentally used a modern type of furnishing in an interior meant to portray the early 19th century? I don't know. I do think that some type of shades were being used before 1864, but they would not have had springs or been self-rolling. I found a few images of interiors with shades from the 1820-1850s.

The style and paper say ca. 1830 to me. I will say, however, that in my first post about this print, I only made a guess at the date of the interior, not the print itself. The print does not depict a scene contemporary to its making.

December Interior

Here we are on another stop of the senile scenic tour* of my meager art collection. Another find in my favorite rare book store, I found this lone etching (come on, print connoisseurship block!) of December without any of its companion months. Because any possible identifying information has been cut off, I don't know much about it, or the where it comes from. Under usual circumstances I might try to find this out (maybe I'll write about one such project next), but I am too busy with school right now!

What we have going on here is probably a late 18th century (or even early 19th c., since the dude might be old and outdated, as he is in the "December" of his life...) interior, that might be British. The textiles are great here, because those are objects that tend not to survive as well in real life: the bed hangings, carpet, window hangings, and slip covers on various pieces of furniture. The hand coloring is nice too, though I never know how to tell when that would have been added. I have to figure out how to study interiors of all kinds. Can someone tell me where that job is?

*Thank you, Lorraine Buchbinder, for this phrase.

I'm a hypocrite: I love Ackermann's

I bought this print in August from a rare book store in Kennett Square, PA. Even though I worried earlier that John Derian might be taking books apart for the sake of art, this is clearly taken from Ackermann's Repository of Arts, a 19th century British periodical (and I'm okay with that). This "French Bed Chamber" was published in the May 1815 issue, which would have been about half the size of this image (which is about 7x10"). The larger page would have folded out to provide this view. I enjoy all the "stuff" I study, but I might most love interior scenes, both images and all variations of the period room. Even though this is obviously an idealized image of what a "French" bedroom should look like, it's still a useful source (and fun!). From browsing through the bound volumes of Ackermann's in our library, it seems that there were one or two images like this in each issue. Sometimes they were fashion plates, sometimes prescriptive interiors, maybe country houses, and other random scenes. I found a really great one of an interior of a shop filled with gifts to be given to a Chinese emperor (can't remember more details off the top of my head). So, they are both documentary and prescriptive: use with caution. Rare book stores around here seem to have Ackermann's prints fairly often. I also got a smaller one of a sideboard, and a classmate found one with a klismos chair and center table, both hand-colored like this one. They also make good apartment decoration for the poor dec arts grad student. I'm working on getting this archivally framed.

Really though, the bottom line is that I want to live in this little world pictured here.