Influences no.5~Art Nouveau

Another of my influences is Art Nouveau. I really love the flowing nature of the forms, the elegant lines and curves, the way flowers and wings are incorporated into the designs and the whole mystical, almost mythical feel to the whole thing.

Tiffany

The Art Nouveau movement began in 1890 with artists and designers in Paris, Brussels and London. Each place had its own interpretation of the ideas and themes behind it, the Austrian name being the Secession, Germany referring to it as Jugendstil and there was also the Glasgow School. The design differed even further when designers in Italy, Spain, Russia and the USA became involved.

Tiffany

The movement lasted until the First World War but had a revival in the 1960s when the look became popular again with the event of the Counter Culture.

Alphonse Mucha

Some of the most prominent examples of the design are Tiffany Glass, book designs by Aubrey Beardsley and posters by Alphonse Mucha.

There are also the textile and furniture designs by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, and, among the others who followed the style was Arthur Rackham

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

The sinuous lines of Art Nouveau were based on forms in the natural world, one of the iconic symbols being the 'whiplash' line which curls back on itself and seems alive, wanting to 'whip' off the design. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum it is a metaphor; it
    'displays in graphic form the radical drive to break away from the constraints of tradition.' 

Tiffany

This was one of the main ideas behind the Art Nouveau movement: to do away with tradition, as up until then, art had been dominated by historical influences. The artists and designers were influenced by medieval art and also by Celtic art with its intertwining lines, but they wanted to make it modern. Instead of producing work with the traditional, old fashioned styles, they wanted to be original and innovative, taking their influences and making them new with modern looks.

Alphonse Mucha

As Art Nouveau was the movement which straddled the turn of the century, with the old and new combining as new technologies and industries came about, it combined those ideas of old and new, tradition and modernism, playing with the tension that combination created.

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh

Aubrey Beardsley

Until the advent of Art Nouveau, art had been seen as superior to craft but the designers wanted to challenge this and bring them to an equal level. Alongside this, one of their principles was that the product should be well crafted and not produced on an industrial level. They wanted beautiful, individual items. Craft was seen as superior to industrial production - something we are finding out again in the 21st Century with the rise of handmade products and their value against mass produced items which can easily be discarded to add to the environmental problems we face.

Alphonse Mucha

Art Nouveau spread quickly through Europe and was applied to a number of different disciplines including architecture, jewellery, furniture, textiles, posters, book covers, glass and ceramics.

Aubrey Beardsley

Another influence of Art Nouveau was the Pre-Raphaelites who shared their love and portrayal of nature. Flowers were one of the main features of the designs, along with tendrils, leaves, wings, feathers and seedpods. However, geometric shapes were used alongside them providing a contrast, particularly in the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Women were a prominent feature of Art Nouveau as well, portrayed in a stylised way rather than natural, but they seem to be surrounded by, if not part of, nature, sometimes even the personification of the seasons. This prominence of the natural world seems to be a portrayal of our relationship with and place in nature, an exploration of where we fit in: part of it or have we separated ourselves? Either way, nature was brought indoors with the furniture and decorative objects which the designers and craftsmen made. Perhaps they were trying to influence people to see the beauty in nature again, to reconnect with it after the effects of the Industrial Revolution.

Privat Livemont

Symbolism was another thing the artist and designers incorporated into their work and another theme they shared with the Pre-Raphaelites. The Victorian era was obsessed by all things spiritual and mystical of course and symbols were combined with art to portray mythical or spiritual themes, which the artist wanted the viewer to understand. For example, poppies, lilies and roses were symbols of love and death. The art was meant to say something, not to just be an object of beauty to be looked at and nothing else. 

Victor Horta

When the Art Nouveau movement ended with the First World War, the Modernist ideas within it carried on but within other movements which took its place. Art Deco and the Bauhaus were two of the artistic styles which came in its wake and its influence is still felt today as many look to it for inspiration, so Art Nouveau is still has a strong identity.

You can find more on Art Nouveau by clicking these links: The Art Story 
                                                                                V&A 
                                                                                The Tate

There's also much more on Art Nouveau in this interesting article on Artsy


 

Fairy Jewels and Flowers

I thought I'd show you some of my photographs that I've taken recently and a bit more of my work in progress.

This first photo is a buttercup in my garden. I just thought it would be a lovely image for inspiration, but it turned out with a blue background rather than green. I assume that the intensity of the yellow colour of the flower affected the background somehow. I promise you this has not been altered at all. It looks amazing though. I love the shades of blue and the more purple parts at the right, the complimentaries of yellow.

 

This is one of my aquilegias. It's only the second time it's flowered. Again, I love the colours and no doubt it will influence some future work.

 

A primrose. (Just because I like them!)

 

I happened to see this one day after it had been raining. It's a spider's web with tiny water droplets among leaves and the sun is shining on it to produce a beautiful rainbow. You can just about see it in the centre.

Here's some gossamer with fairy jewels. Or another spider's web with raindrops. Take your pick! :o)

 

I love seeing things like this. Little bits of beauty and unexpectedness (is that a word? :D ) in everyday life. Little pleasures are there if you look for them.

They also provide great inspiration for patterns or colours or entire pieces of art. 

Here is more work I've done for my 'Wild Nature' wall hanging. Some machine embroidered leaves:

These will be cut out and attached to the main piece, which I have added to with some more hand embroidery, sewing leaves, dandelions, daisies and forget me nots.

 

I'll leave you with a lovely quote that I came across this week, another unexpected thing which turned up. I have never read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which I hate to admit, but I think I will be reading it soon because of this:

'I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." '  Lewis Carroll.

Influences no. 4 ~ Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy

Following on from my love of nature which I've already written about in terms of it influencing my textile and art work, I also love the art of Andy Goldsworthy. I suppose that's obvious really, as I love nature and art, so this combines the two.

Andy Goldsworthy

I first heard of Andy Goldsworthy when I did the Foundation Art course and absolutely loved what he does. His art had an influence on my final degree work, although mine was in textiles, of course, rather than real, natural materials.

I love this one where the reflection of the sticks in the water make it look like a circle.

Andy Goldsworthy

I love the way he just uses what's there in the environment, anything lying around: sticks, stones, leaves......

Andy Goldsworthy

He doesn't add anything and he doesn't take anything from its natural environment. When the work is complete, he leaves it to the mercy of the elements, allowing it to disintegrate and decay and become part of the land again. But, having said that, his art looks like it is part of the land anyway, like a natural extension of the materials already existing there. They look completely at home in the space, adding to it and not detracting from it. Rather than being all about the art, his work makes you look at the land and realise its beauty.

Andy Goldsworthy

The work Andy Goldsworthy has made from ice is, I think, spectacular as he only used water which then froze to stick the parts together. Left to melt, they disappear even more completely than the art he creates from stones and sticks, the water soaking into the ground and the art, being so ephemeral, lasting only until the temperature rises, reminds us how quickly things can change.

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy

I'm inspired by the way he uses colour and form and I aim to do a similar type of thing in my work, but using fabric and sewing or paint.

I'll leave you with two pictures of this wonderful gradient of colour.....

Andy Goldsworthy

...and this mystical looking bridge between trees in a wintery wood. 

Andy Goldsworthy

More WIP and playing with the PRB

This is more of a visual post today, as I'm going to show you more of the work in progress I'm doing and some pictures that I've created while playing with the Pre~Raphaelite's art works. 

This is the Leaves/Nature project I'm sewing. I've added hand embroidery, which needs to be finished, in more natural, curving swirls, contrasting with the straight lines underneath.

Here are some pictures I've created using some of the Pre~Raphaelite art works I wrote about in my last post. I've altered them using digital tools and just had some fun with them really.  :o)


Night by Edward Robert Hughes with added diamonds by me, echoing the stars in her hair.

Ophelia by John Everett Millais with a more sketch-like appearance and splashes of colour by me.

The Lady of Challot by John William Waterhouse, cropped and with a splash of water by me.

Mariana by John Everett Millais with added raindrops by me, as if looking through a rain splattered window maybe?

 

                                                  :o)

Influences no. 3 ~ the Pre~Raphaelites

Another of the influences on my work is the art of the Pre~Raphaelite Brotherhood. I just love their paintings.I love the colours, the symbology, linking back to what I was saying about the symbology of flowers in my post http://rustyandboots.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maybeltane-and-herald-of-spring.html

The themes they used included medieval culture, Arthurian legend and the works of poets such as Keats, Shelley, Dante and Thackery and the plays of Shakespeare, as in the painting below, Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, 1849, John Everett Millais. I also have an interest in medieval things, Arthurian legend and anything mythical, so their work is perfect for me. 

Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, 1849, John Everett Millais

The Pre~Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was founded in 1848. Its three original members were Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. They had an intense dislike of the art that was fashionable at the time, the way it was taught at the Royal Academy. It had to be dark in tone and portray an image of the ideal and the PRB thought the subject matter was too grand and trivial. They wanted to revolt against that and go back to the kind of art that was done before the Renaissance, bringing in brighter colours, painting what was in front of them rather than an imagined ideal image, observing nature, painting it accurately and portraying simple subjects with seriousness and sincerity.

Autumn Leaves, 1856, John Everett Millais

This was their philosophy, as recorded by William Michael Rossetti:

1. To have genuine ideas to express;
2. To study nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;
3. To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art,  to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote;
4. And most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.

 The PRB was a secret society to begin with, wanting to create works of art which could change minds and inspire people. Their art was all about a truthfulness to nature; they painted outside to accurately reflect the trees, flowers and landscape as they were and tackled the social problems of the time, something other artists were ignoring.

Attention to detail was an important thing for them, as John Ruskin wrote:

"go to nature in all singleness of heart, rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing."

 

Ophelia, 1851-52, John Everett Millais

One of the most popular Pre~Raphaelite works is Ophelia by John Everett Millais (above) although other versions of Ophelia have been painted by Arthur Hughes in 1852 and John William Waterhouse in 1894. This of course, is from Hamlet by Shakespeare, portraying Ophelia drowning after Hamlet has killed her father. Again, everything in the painting is symbolic; the flowers all either mentioned in the play or chosen for their meaning, for example, the weeping willow = forsaken love; the nettles = pain; the daisies = innocence; the roses = youth, love and beauty; the poppy = sleep, death, remembrance and the forgetmenots are obvious. 

The bank and flowers around it were painted by a river in Ewell. Ophelia was painted from a model, Lizzie Siddal, in a bath. From what I remember when I was studying art in collage, the water in the bath was warm to begin with, but chilled after a while, so Lizzie Siddal was laying there freezing and caught a cold. She married Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1860 but unfortunately died in 1862 due to an overdose of laudanum. 

 

Midsummer Eve, c.1908, Edward Robert Hughes

The art of the PRB was not an immediate success. It went against everything the Royal Academy taught and people hated it. However, the leading art critic John Ruskin was persuaded to intervene and wrote two letters to The Times giving his support to the Pre~Raphaelites. After that (surprise, surprise) the art world and the public accepted the Pre~Raphaelite art and it went from strength to strength, becoming a huge part of Victorian culture (which just shows that those in 'authority' aren't always right, if someone doesn't like your art, someone else will and sometimes what's 'fashionable' can hinge on the opinion of just one person).

 

The Knight of the Sun, 1860, Arthur Hughes

The PRB gained a huge following with many artists taking on their ideas and ethics and they changed art forever, but due to the members beginning to go in different directions, the Brotherhood broke up. There was a second phase of Pre~Raphaelitism with their followers though, the original members meeting new artists and influencing them, joining with them to go down a new route using similar principles. 

 

Flaming June, c.1895, Frederic, Lord Leighton

The Pre~Raphaelites influenced much of the art that came after them and although their work went out of fashion after the First World War due to the beautiful images being so opposite to the realities of war and the hardships people faced at that time, it had a revival in the 1960s. I'm so glad it did.

 

The Lady of Chalot, 1888, John William Waterhouse

Night, c.1880-85, Edward Robert Hughes

One of my absolute favourite paintings is Mariana, painted by John Everett Millais in 1851 (below). I love the deep colours, the red of her stool and in the window, the deep midnight blue of her dress, then the candle hanging up on the right, a point of light surrounded by shadow, the browning leaves scattered around.

 

Mariana, 1851, John Everett Millais

It was inspired by the poem Mariana by Tennyson, which in turn was inspired by the character Mariana in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Her dowry was lost in a shipwreck and she was rejected by her fiance Angelo. She still loves him and longs to be with him but the withered leaves suggest time is moving on and she is getting older. She is separated from the world outside and alone in her house. It is beautiful in its sense of melancholy and wistfulness.

When I discovered the Pre~Raphaelites, the colour, imagery and subjects were like a revelation, as all I'd seen before were the Renaissance type art works and, to be honest, they seemed a little dull and high-brow at the time. The Pre~Raphaelites depicted things I had an interest in and created works that I could look at for ages. I like their rebellious nature ~ making the art they wanted to create, not what those in 'authority' said they should be doing. They created their own path and that, for me, is a hugely inspiring thing.


You can see more about the Pre~Raphaelites at: The Tate , victorianweb.org , preraphaelitesisterhood.com
 

Work in Progress.

Hello. Did you miss me? :0) I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks because I've had back pain, which means I've had to do exercises and I've taken up yoga, yet another thing to add to my "to do" list. It was such a lovely day yesterday I decided to try doing yoga in the garden in the fresh air. It was a new experience and quite nice to do it while listening to the birds tweeting around me. I didn't know birds could join twitter though. :D

As I haven't been able to do much work, I haven't completed a piece or a painting yet, but I have got a work in progress at the moment, so here it is, my "Leaves" project. I've made it so far with strips of green fabric in two different shades.

I've stitched them together with decorative stitching.

I've printed a leaf pattern on to organza and I'm going to stitch that on top with hand embroidery.

I think I've been inspired to work on this project because all the plants are in bloom and the weather has been so fine. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to create art about nature, but then there's plenty of inspiration to be found at any time of year: the rich colour of autumn leaves, the patterns of bare twigs and frost in winter.......

The birds who visit my garden seem to be doing well. The magpies have had three chicks which have all fledged and yesterday I saw a mother sparrow feeding her newly fledged chick. The young one was fluttering his wings and chirping as she turned to him with the food. I think there were more chicks hiding in the tree. It was a wonderful thing to see, I've never seen that before, only on TV programmes. It's amazing what you can find in your own garden.

Experiments in rusting.

I've been wanting to have a go at transferring rust to fabric for a while, since I found out it could be done, so now I've finally given it a go and here are the results. 

I mixed three parts vinegar with one part water and soaked my fabric in it. I had some plain fabric, some patterned, some lace and some ribbon. I think you're meant to use white vinegar, but I didn't have any so I used ordinary vinegar instead. It seemed to work very well though. If you're trying this, you might want to do it outside ~ the vinegar can create quite a strong smell.  :o)

After a few minutes, I put the fabric on an old rusted piece of metal making sure it was all in contact with the rust.

I put the whole lot in a plastic bag, leaving it open for the air to help in the process, then left it for a day.

After the day in the bag, I washed my fabric, dried and ironed it and it turned out like this:

It works on cottons and synthetics, so you can rust whatever you want; fabric, ribbons, metal buttons or other metal objects to use in the project. It's quite fun to do as well. Now I just have to decide what to make with my rusted fabric.

Anything rusty can be used to achieve this effect. I think it gives a lovely colour and the patterns it creates on the fabric are completely random, so you don't quite know how it will turn out, which is really exciting.

If you would like to find out more about rusting, you can find it by clicking here: createmixedmedia.com/make/rusting-fabric-and-trims