The Peacock and Beauty in Art
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STRUT The Peacock and Beauty in Art STRUT STRUT The Peacock and Beauty in Art PRIDE The Peacock, homage to exact Parades in arrogance of Pride He clicks his fan-sticks to attract And courts all glances, Argus-eyed Serene the Swan glides coldly proud Convinced of Whiteness here perfected Not knowing that a Rival Cloud In Snowy Splendor, lies reflected Beatrice Gilman Verses in the Gardens, 1938 Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina CONTENTS 13 FOREWORD Michael Botwinick Director 16 ARTISTS AND LENDERS 18 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 21 INTRODUCTION Bartholomew F. Bland and Laura Vookles 31 PEACOCKS, PEOPLE, AND THE SEXUAL MASQUERADE Bartholomew F. Bland Director of Curatorial Affairs, Hudson River Museum 53 THE PERFECT PLUME Laura Vookles Chief Curator of Collections, Hudson River Museum This catalog is published in conjunction with the exhibition Strut: The Peacock and Beauty in Art, organized by the Hudson River Museum, October 11, 2014 to January 18, 2015. 69 THE PEACOCK IN LITERATURE Penelope Fritzer The exhibition and the accompanying catalog have been made possible by a generous grant Professor of English Education, Florida Atlantic University, at Davie Campus from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc. Additional support provided by Lillian Nassau LLC. The catalog is co-published by the Hudson River Museum and Fordham University Press. 83 THE JAPANESQUE PEACOCK: A CROSS-CULTURAL SIGN Ellen E. Roberts Copyright © 2014 Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Curator of American Art, Norton Museum of Art Hudson River Museum 511 Warburton Avenue Yonkers, NY 10701 97 BEAUTY AND FUNCTION: THE PEACOCK IN ART DECO www.hrm.org Kirsten M. Jensen Senior Curator of Exhibitions, James A. Michener Art Museum No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Hudson River Museum. 111 IN LIVING COLOR: THE PEACOCK AS ICON IN POPULAR CULTURE Melissa J. Martens Yaverbaum Executive Director of the Council of American Jewish Museums ISBN 978-0-943651-45-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014947279 124 CATALOG OF THE EXHIBITION 125 TODAy’S PEACOCK Director of Publications: Linda Locke Contemporary Artists Catalog Design: Alexander Stevovich www.transomnebulism.com Editors: Bartholomew F. Bland and Laura Vookles 145 THE HISTORICAL PEACOCK Printer: Graphic Management Partners, Port Chester, New York Paintings and Sculpture Fonts: Century Gothic, Myriad Pro Works on Paper Front Cover, detail: James Prosek. PEACOCK AND COBRA, 2013. Courtesy of the artist and Schwartz-Wajahat, New York. Decorative Arts Back Cover, details: Top from left: Wladyslaw Theodor Benda. WOMAN WITH PEACOCK HEADDRESS, 1922. Collection of the Hudson River Museum; Judith Lieber. PEACOCK-SHAPED MULTICOLOR RHINESTONE MINAUDIÈRE, 2004. The Leiber Collection, Fashion and Toys East Hampton, New York; Jesse Arms Botke. ALBINO PEACOCK AND TWO COCKATOO, c. 1930. Collection of Deborah E. Maloy. Bottom: William Giles. SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI, c. 1924. Private Collection 194 CONTRIBUTORS Opposite page: Roullet et Decamps. “Paon Marchant,” c. 1890-1900. Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey Page 2 and 3. Jesse Arms Botke. BLACK PEACOCK, c. 1930. Courtesy of Associated Artists, Southport, Connecticut; ALBINO PEACOCK AND TWO COCKATOO, c. 1930. Page 17. William Seltzer Rice. PRIDE STEPS FORTH, c. 1930. Collection of 196 FURTHER READING the Two Red Roses Foundation, Palm Harbor, Florida 198 INDEX Fabrics and altered fabric details in this book, courtesy of the Design Library. New York and London 10 11 FOREWORD THERE IS A PEACOCK THAT RESIDES in front of the parlor fireplace in Glenview and it provided the germ of the curatorial idea that brings us Strut: The Peacock and Beauty in Art. The Trevor family, who built and lived in Glenview, the 1876 house that is now part of the Hudson River Museum complex, put this decorative bird in pride-of-place—the center of the room —where it holds court as a fire screen, its open train shortened, to fit the scale of the space, and thickened, to show maximum plumage. The Trevors were not alone among Gilded Age families to decorate their home with a dramatic piece of avian taxidermy. At another significant house on the banks of the Hudson River, Olana, the famed Hudson River School painter Frederic Church kept peacocks roaming the grounds for decorative effect and Details Left, GLENVIEW PARLOR PERIOD ROOM at the Hudson River Museum Top and Bottom, Frank J. Zitz. PEACOCK “Fire Screen,” reproduction, 1999 of the original “Fire Screen,” c. 1877-1886 13 placed a large stuffed specimen in his great hall. The peacock was the go-to visual world. Japonism was a powerful force image of the 19th-century’s Aesthetic Movement. from early to the late 19h century. Ellen Roberts connects East and West and explores how the Is there a more transgressive form than that of the peacock? On the evidence transfer of the aesthetic from one culture to of this exhibition and the scholarship in the essays in this book, I think not. We the other developed. Kirsten Jensen focuses have embraced the peacock and used its shape, form, and color as rhythmic our attention on the imagery of the peacock accompaniment to the human female, an extension of her beauty. It is invariably in its three-dimensional state and explores the the peacock that is showcased and not the unglamorous peahen, and yet the relationship of the aesthetic to the object. male of this species comes to the feminine not as Zeus to Leda in his swan form, Melissa Yaverbaum brings us fully into the but as an attribute and celebration of femininity and sexuality. dialectic of the present showing the peacock, We put the peacock, again and again, at the center of decorative images first flourishing as a decorative motif, and today and scenes that are incredibly rich, silent, and static. Yet we know it to be an still increasing its power to signify. aggressive fowl with a screeching voice. It is the guardian of nations and the very This rewarding project would not have been stuff of imperial thrones, yet we know it to be just another colorfully plumed jungle possible without the efforts of a dedicated bird. Emblematic in so many different cultures, powerful in its associations, yet team—Takako Hara, Registrar, handled the we know it almost entirely visually. The peacock has none of the nobility of the complex details of loans, permissions, and eagle, the courage of the hawk, the nurturing nature of the nesting bird. Rarified scheduling with her characteristic effectiveness. and regal, how was it so easily transformed in the 20th century into emcee, Jason Weller, Senior Art Technician, has once broadcasting to millions upon millions of America’s homes that your nightly sit-com again brought together all of the elements of is now coming to you “in living color?” an installation perfectly. Linda Locke, Director The peacock has forced its way into its exalted position because it is an of Publications, has led us to produce a superb extraordinarily successful single-purpose machine constructed, in every sense, publication. We are very much in the debt of to be the center of attention. And so it is. When we have need of this attribute, Alexander Stevovich for his brilliant catalog whether for our thrones, our costumes, our rooms, our dress, our jewelry, or our design. Our Co-curators, Laura Vookles, Chief networks, even the simplest graphic borrowing of its image is deeply encoded with Curator of Collections, and Bartholomew Bland, a message—the message of the diva, the star. What is so remarkable is that the Director of Curatorial Affairs, have given us an peacock’s power as a signifier is entirely based on its visual form. The bird, itself, exhibition and catalog that rewards in many brings no characteristics of domination, power, triumph, wisdom, or sacrifice to ways. This has truly been an inspired effort the issue. It is the design of the plumage and the presentation of it that drive the on their part. And finally, this exhibition and symbol and its effect. catalog would not have been possible without the generous support of the Mr. and Mrs. The essays that follow explore the rich and complex semiotics of the subject. Each Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation. in its own way helps us understand the signs and signification of the peacock. We began this project with an understanding of the peacock from the perspective Michael Botwinick of the latter part of the 19th century. Laura Vookles takes us from that starting Director point to the essence of the peacock’s visual presence by way of the bird’s great and grand feathers. Bartholomew Bland introduces us to the peacock’s range of imagery and gives us a deeper appreciation of the way the peacock crosses conventional classifications of beauty, sensuality, and gender. Penelope Fritzer shows how the literary world’s rich engagement with the peacock parallels the Fig. 0 Unknown photographer. COURT HALL OF THE HOUSE AT OLANA 1880-90, (detail). Albumen print, 6 1/4 x 8 3/8 inches, OL.1993.7 14 15 ARTISTS LENDERS CONTEMPORARY Adelson Galleries Boston Addison Gallery of American Art, Laura Ball Peter Paone Phillips Academy Helen Flockhart James Prosek American Illustrators Gallery Dillon Lundeen Goldschlag Rikki Morley Saunders Arader Galleries Richard Haas Brian Keith Stephens Associated Artists Irena Kenny Barbara Takenaga Bronxville Public Library Joyce Kozloff Federico Uribe DC Moore Gallery Kymara Lonergan Darren Waterston The Design Library, New York and London Landon Nordeman Tricia Wright Diane Birdsall Gallery Erik Thomsen Gallery HISTORICAL Fred Leighton William and Abgail Gerdts Paintings and Sculpture Works on Paper Dillon Lundeen Goldschlag Richard Haas Ethel Franklin Betts Léon Bakst The Heckscher Museum of Art Jesse Arms Botke Watson Barratt Jason Jacques William Baxter Palmer Closson Aubrey Beardsley Rhoda Knight Kalt Robert Henri Wladyslaw Theodor Benda Irena Kenny Lachaise Foundation Herman Henstenburgh Edward Bierstadt The Leiber Collection Anna Hyatt Huntington Eleanor Vere Boyle Lillian Nassau LLC Charles R.