Aubrey Beardsley, 'Ali Baba'

Aubrey Beardsley, 'Ali Baba', 1897. Museum no. E.1089-1996

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98)
'Ali Baba'
1897
Line block print
Museum no. E.1089-1996

This is one of Beardsley's most powerful and confident drawings. The size and obesity of Ali Baba's body is suggested in the most simple and minimal way. He almost seems to blend in with the background, his shape defined only by his robes and richly profuse jewellery.

The decorations on the tassel seem to be based on 17th-century embroidery designs known as 'blackwork'. Beardsley may have studied this rare form of ornament at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A).
  
It is typical of him to 'quote' historical forms in this way. He drew inspiration from many different sources, and yet his style was uniquely his own.

This design dates from near the end of Beardsley's short life. It is his only drawing for a proposed book of Arabian Night's Tales, The Forty Thieves. The book was left unfinished at his death from tuberculosis in 1898.

 

This print can be found in Print Room Box 1.

Aubrey Beardsley, 'J'ai baisé ta bouche Iokanaan'

Aubrey Beardsley, 'J'ai baisé ta bouche Iokanaan', 1893. Museum no. E.456-1899

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98)
'J'ai baisé ta bouche Iokanaan'
Design for The Climax from Oscar Wilde's 'Salome'
Great Britain
1893
Line block print
Museum no. E.456-1899

Aubrey Beardsley was just 21 years old when he produced the drawings for Oscar Wilde's play Salome. They were first published in The Studio magazine in 1893. These illustrations launched Beardsley from obscurity to international fame almost overnight. More importantly, they marked the beginning of a new era in the arts: these are commonly held to be the first works to develop an Art Nouveau style.

In the play, Salome, the stepdaughter of King Herod, falls in love with the prophet Iokanaan (John the Baptist). He cruelly rejects her, but she swears that one day she will kiss him. By performing the 'dance of the seven veils'  for Herod, she tempts him into granting her a request. She asks to be brought the severed head of Iokanaan. When her wish is fulfilled, Salome grabs the head and kisses it passionately. It is the aftermath of this grisly scene that we see here, along with the line 'I have kissed your mouth, Iokanaan'.

Beardsley has drawn Salome gazing with sadistic lust into the face of the butchered Iokanaan. She hangs suspended in a nightmarish abstract setting, surrounded by distorted flower forms and creeping 'whiplash' lines. The delicacy and grace of the drawing create a dramatic contrast with the horror of the scene.

This image was made by the line-block printing process, which can only reproduce areas of black and white. Beardsley kept the limitations of this method in mind when creating his work. Working with such limited means gave his work its striking simplicity, and meant that it lost none of its impact in reproduction. The low cost of line-block printing made his work widely available, and so Beardsley's reputation spread with astonishing speed.

 

This print can be found in Print Room Box 1.

Will H. Bradley, cover for 'The Inland Printer'

Will H. Bradley, cover for 'The Inland Printer', 1896. Museum no. E.3033-1921

Will H. Bradley (1868-1962)
Cover for 'The Inland Printer'
1896
Line block print
Museum no. E.3033-1921

The Artist

Will Bradley, the self-styled 'Dean of American Typographers', was one of the USA's foremost graphic designers. His work was exhibited in Paris along with that of Mucha, Lalique and other European artists. He shared many of their influences, and was the only American graphic artist to have developed a significant Art Nouveau style.

The Image

A complex, writhing floral pattern dominates this image. The use of this pattern as the main motif is unusual. Traditionally, decoration surrounds an image, existing in the margins. Here it becomes the centrepiece, while the more lifelike image is pushed to one side as a narrow panel.

Although this pattern is thoroughly Art Nouveau in style, it has an Oriental feel to it. It particularly recalls the long, flowing saz leaves of Persian textiles. The right hand panel has the look of Japanese printmaking. Its simplicity is a contrast to the detail of the main panel. The way Bradley has cropped the image closely makes the figure into an unrecognisable abstract shape. Only the head and feet reveal it to be a human being.

 

This print can be found in Print Room Box 1.

 

 

René Lalique, (left) Design for a pendant

René Lalique, (left) Design for a pendant, Museum no. E.835-1949. (right) Design for a comb, Museum no. E.838-1949

René Lalique (1860-1945)
Design for a pendant (left)
Pen, ink and gouache
Museum no. E.835-1949

Design for a comb (right)
Pen, ink and gouache
Museum no. E.838-1949

The Artist

René Lalique revolutionised the way jewellery was made. He trained as a goldsmith, but gave up traditional methods early in his career. By 1892 he had his own workshop in Paris, where he began to experiment with new and little-used materials and techniques.

Before Lalique, jewellery had been mainly abstract. He made insect, plant and even human forms a feature of his work. The skill of his designs meant that his work did not need expensive precious stones in order to be valuable. This left him free to use less costly stones such as bloodstones and tourmalines, and to explore unusual materials such as horn, ivory and opal.

The Image

The two designs here appear never to have been made. The pendant has a centrepiece of enamel with an image of two women. It may have been designed with the plique à jour technique in mind. Plique à jour uses enamel without a metal backing, allowing light to pass through as with stained glass. Lalique single-handedly revived this technique after hundreds of years of neglect.

Around the outside of the pendant, intricate metalwork suggests sprigs of parsley. This was not an uncommon motif in Art Nouveau work, which briefly earned the nickname style branche-de-persil (sprig-of-parsley style). Set into this are green cabochon stones, stones which are polished and rounded rather than faceted.

The comb was possibly designed to be made from ivory or horn. The latter is an unusual material for jewellery but one that Lalique made frequent use of, especially in his many ornamental combs.

 

These designs can be found in Print Room Box 1.

Koloman Moser, book stamp for Fritz Waerndorfer

Koloman Moser, book stamp for Fritz Waerndorfer, 1903. Museum no. E.1209-1965

Koloman Moser (1868-1918)
Book stamp for Fritz Waerndorfer; showing The Judgement of Paris
Austria
1903, reproduction 1965
Process engraving
Museum no. E.1209-1965

The Artist

In 1903, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffman brought together a group of artists and designers to form the Wiener Werkstätte, or Vienna Workshops. Fritz Waerndorfer, a wealthy businessman and art-lover, funded them. In the same year, Moser designed this bookplate for Waerndorfer. A bookplate, or ex libris, is pasted into the front of a book as a mark of ownership. A bookplate by a famous artist can also be a status symbol.

The Image

The scene depicted here is the Judgement of Paris, a story from classical mythology. In the foreground stand three goddesses: Venus, Juno and Minerva. They are parading in front of Paris whose task it is to choose the most beautiful. The choice of subject matter can perhaps be seen as an artist's flattery of his patron, complimenting him on his good judgement and taste.

 

This engraving can be found in Print Room Box 1.

Koloman Moser, (left) 'Scylla'

Koloman Moser, (left) 'Scylla', textile design, 1901. Museum no. E.74-1978. (right) 'Frau Nolda', textile design, 1901. Museum no. E.73-1978

Koloman Moser (1868 - 1918)
'Scylla' (left)
Textile design
Austria
1901
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.74-1978. 

'Frau Nolda' (right)
Textile design
Austria
1901
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.73-1978

The Images

These printed patterns form part of a series called Die Quelle (The Source). The 'source', Moser's inspiration, was nature. The two patterns shown here are derived from plant forms, but they can hardly be called lifelike.
  
Moser has used the forms of nature as the basis for a precise, almost mathematical pattern. The designs predict the geometric fantasies of M.C. Escher in the 1940s in the way they use recognisable images to create a repetitive pattern.

'Scylla' and 'Frau Nolda' are designed for printing onto textiles for use as wall hangings. A network of lines printed beneath the design cleverly suggests the texture of the material. The richly inventive lettering panels show a similar attention to detail. This level of dedication is striking. It shows that Moser must have thought of these designs as a major piece of work.

For Moser, design of this sort was not just a way to earn money. It was a skilled art form that deserved as much respect as painting or architecture. Moser was one of the most versatile and prolific designers of his age. He made work of equally high quality in many different forms, designing everything from posters to postage stamps and from interiors to cutlery.

 

These designs can be found in Print Room Box 1.

 

Joseph Sattler, cover for the magazine 'Pan'

Joseph Sattler, cover for the magazine 'Pan', 1895. Museum no. E.3099-1938

Joseph Sattler (1867-1931)
Cover for the magazine 'Pan'
Germany
1895
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.3099-1938

The Image

The German art magazine Pan was a lavish celebration of Art Nouveau. It took its name from the Greek God of nature, who is depicted here in Sattler's cover for the first edition. His goat-like form leers from the background against a sinister red sky. The scene is dreamlike, and suffused with mythological imagery and symbolism.
  
In the foreground a flower grows, its stamens coiling into the lettering of the title. The petals are square and curled at the edges to suggest scrolls of paper, and each bears an image of Pan's face. There is nothing natural about this flower. It is not nature, but words and images that bloom from the well-tended earth. In using this imagery, Sattler may be hinting at the role of the magazine in cultivating new art and literature.

The art magazines were central to Art Nouveau's dominance across Europe. This was particularly the case in Germany, where both Pan and Die Jugend contributed to the spread of the new style. The latter lent its name to the German name for Art Nouveau, Jugendstil.

 

This lithograph can be found in Print Room Box 1.

 

Adolphe Crespin, 'Paul Hankar

Adolphe Crespin, 'Paul Hankar, Architecte', 1894. Museum no. E.288-1921

Adolphe Crespin (1859-1944)
'Paul Hankar, Architecte'
1894
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.288-1921

The Artist

Adolphe Crespin and Paul Hankar are both seen as pioneers of Belgian Art Nouveau. Hankar's own house on Rue de Facqz in Brussels, which he built in 1893, was (along with Victor Horta's Hôtel Tassel) the first piece of Art Nouveau architecture. As well as painting murals for many of Hankar's buildings, Crespin designed some of the earliest Art Nouveau posters.

The Image

This print was made especially for Hankar, Crespin's friend and colleague. It shows Hankar at work in his studio.

Crespin has used images of architects' tools as decoration: set squares, a ruler and a plumb line form borders and patterns across the image. The search for new forms of ornament was a preoccupation of Art Nouveau artists. Here is one of its most interesting and novel outcomes.

A hexagonal, 'honeycomb' structure occupies the background of the print. Images of bees complete the pattern. This perhaps suggests the tireless industry of Hankar's studio: a 'hive of activity'.

 

This lithograph can be found in Print Room Box 2.

Archibald Knox, (left) Design for a hand mirror

Archibald Knox, (left) Design for a hand mirror, about 1902. Museum no. E.327-1969. (middle) Design for a hair brush, about 1902. Museum no. E.328-1969. (right) Design for a hair brush, about 1902. Museum no. E.329-1969

Archibald Knox (1864-1933)
Design for a hand mirror (left)
About 1902
Pencil and watercolour
Museum no. E.327-1969

Design for a hair brush (middle)
About 1902
Pencil and watercolour
Museum no. E.328-1969

Design for a hair brush (right)
About 1902
Pencil and watercolour
Museum no. E.329-1969

The Images

These designs were among many produced by Knox for the firm of Liberty & Co. Although the mirror and brushes appear never to have been produced, they were probably intended to be made from silver as part of Liberty's 'Cymric' silverware range. The coloured areas indicate parts of the object to be enamelled, and each piece is set with a green stone at the top of the handle. The small drawing on the right shows a design for the underside of each handle.

Liberty never revealed the names of their designers. However, Knox's work is so distinctive that his hand can be seen in a large amount of their merchandise. Between 1899 and 1912 he was their most prolific and gifted designer. These designs show him at the height of his powers.

The interlaced patterns on these pieces are based on Celtic decoration, with its elaborate knotwork. Born on the Isle of Man, Knox had grown up with the Celtic heritage. His great skill was in transferring these principles of decoration to modern forms of design.

In these three designs, Knox took the interpretation of Celtic forms to its limit. The influence of the ancient forms is still very clear. However, Knox has unbound the rigid, tight weave of Celtic designs and allowed them to take on joyously fluid and extravagant forms, while losing none of their precision and intricacy.

These designs were among many produced by Knox for the firm of Liberty & Co. Although the mirror and brushes appear never to have been produced, they were probably intended to be made from silver as part of Liberty's 'Cymric' silverware range. The coloured areas indicate parts of the object to be enamelled, and each piece is set with a green stone at the top of the handle. The small drawing on the right shows a design for the underside of each handle.

 

These designs can be found in Print Room Box 2.

Alphonse Mucha, 'Société Populaire de Beaux Arts'

Alphonse Mucha, 'Société Populaire de Beaux Arts', about 1897. Museum no. E.989-1966

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939)
'Société Populaire de Beaux Arts'
About 1897
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.989-1966

The Image

The text of this poster reads: 'Art brought to the People through projections'. It advertised a series of talks on art in which slides were shown as illustrations. Their aim was to make the general public aware of the arts. The novel technique of projecting images would have made great works of art accessible to those who could not afford to travel or buy expensive reproductions.
 
The same could be said of Mucha's posters. His work took advertising to the level of art. Yet this was art that was out in the street, visible by everyone regardless of wealth or education. Art brought to the People through advertising.

This poster is printed with rich gold borders, as if emphasising its status as a work of art. The hair of the woman is also gold. She sits with a book in her lap, leaning on a projector. Her precise hand gestures suggest that she is imparting knowledge and inspiration. The figure in front of her listens in rapt attention. Perhaps he is a symbol of the 'common man', and she the Muse, the embodiment of art.

The heavy black lines around each figure are common in Mucha's work. Here they are especially noticeable, particularly around the figure of the man. These lines or borders allow each figure to show up clearly against a detailed background. This enabled Mucha to create rich, complex designs while ensuring that the poster was still readable at a quick glance in the street.

 

This poster can be found in Print Room Box 2.

Alphonse Mucha, 'Job'

Alphonse Mucha, 'Job', 1898. Museum no. E.260-1921

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939)
'Job'
1898
Colour lithograph
Museum no. E.260-1921

Mucha's posters are probably the best-known works of Art Nouveau. His combination of a beautiful female figure, rich decoration and extravagant lettering seems to define the style and the era. They radiate luxury and pleasure.

This poster advertises a brand of cigarette papers called Job. The brand name is written in a kind of mosaic, which is partially obscured by the figure. It is also repeated in a clever 'logo' which adorns the background. The mosaic theme re-emerges around the border as a kind of built-in frame. This would have made the poster stand out among other images.
  
The woman's hair coils into impossible whiplash lines and ornamental spirals. It takes on the appearance of decoration. The plume of smoke, too, zigzags across the image as a kind of pattern. This use of realistic elements as decoration crops up frequently in Art Nouveau. Mucha took this to its extreme, using 'formless' materials such as hair and smoke to unleash radical new decorative forms.

Although created over a century ago, this is a very modern piece of advertising. The product itself hardly features in the poster. Even the brand name is hardly readable. Instead Mucha gives us a simple image of pleasure in the figure of the woman. Only subtle hints connect this pleasure with a product to be purchased. This may be one of the first advertising images to appeal to the subconscious mind, in a way that is commonplace today.

 

This poster can be found in Print Room Box 2.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (left) Design for textile

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (left) Design for textile, about 1915. Museum no. E.842-1968. (middle) Design for textile, about 1915. Museum no. E.854-1968. (right) Design for textile, about 1915. Museum no. E.864a-1968

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
Design for textile (left)
About 1915
Watercolour on tracing paper
Museum no. E.842-1968

Design for textile (middle)
About 1915
Watercolour on tracing paper
Museum no. E.854-1968

Design for textile (right)
About 1915
Watercolour on tracing paper
Museum no. E.864a-1968

The Artist

Mackintosh's radical architecture had never really been accepted in Glasgow. He left his native city in 1914 to seek work elsewhere.

In 1915 he moved to London and, although unable to revive his architectural career, found work as a designer. Most of the designs he produced between 1915 and 1923, when he left for France, are for textiles.

The Images

The style of these pieces is very different from his architecture. Here he uses bold colours and organic forms, where before he had a taste for simple geometric design. This may suggest the direction that his architectural work would have taken had it continued.

These designs show how Mackintosh's observation of nature fed his work as a designer. After leaving Glasgow, he began to draw from life. His flower drawings (e.g. Green Hellebore) date from this time. Their influence on his new style of design comes through strongly in these pieces.

The design in the centre is probably for a handkerchief. It contains a stylised rose at its right-hand corner. Mackintosh had used this rose motif several times before in various projects. Here its resemblance to stained glass or ironwork seems like a slightly sad echo of his former career as an architect.

Mackintosh drew this Green Hellebore in Walberswick, a town on the Suffolk coast where he lived between 1914 and 1915. The drawing was made from life, but Mackintosh does not seem to have been aiming for a lifelike image. The plant is drawn in a flattened, linear style. While detailed and accurate, it is as much decorative as realistic.

Plant forms played an important role in Mackintosh's design. From the nationalistic thistle motifs on the Glasgow School of Art to the roses and tobacco flowers of his late textiles, the flower is a powerful symbol in his work. He made many flower studies around this time. They show how the forms of his design work had their roots in the careful study of nature.

This piece is signed with an unusual 'cartouche'. It bears the title of the drawing and the initials of Mackintosh (CRM) and his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (MMM). This suggests that they may both have worked on the drawing. Margaret was a well-respected artist in her own right. Her murals and decorations adorn several of Mackintosh's buildings.

 

These designs can be found in Print Room Box 2.