William Morris. Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Winnipeg
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EXHIBITION REVIEWS panded account of this complex network cal idiom. While heroism, civic devotion of patronage, influences, and individual and morality were often viewed as the artistic contribution, even if it proves legacy of the ancients, the historian Richard slightly confusing if used as a straightfor- L. Bushman, in the introduction to the ward record of the exhibition. book, warns against giving too much sig- At the Baltimore Museum of Art, where nificance to the influence of Greek demo- the show originated, a range of installation cratic and Roman republican political techniques, from 'period room' ensembles models on the classical revival. However, to unencumbered modern displays of re- as this exhibition makes abundantly clear, lated objects, made this all-pervasive cul- the undoubted grandeur of nineteenth- tural movement vivid and accessible to century classical taste could override am- the public, while the attention to detail biguous feelings about ancient civilisation and inclusion of little known or radically itself. refurbished objects provided much to in- NADIA TSCHERNY terest even the most sophisticated devotees then moves Museum of Fine Arts, of American Empire style. After viewing 'It to the Houston, from 1st May to 24thJuly 1994. an imaginative vignette reconstructed 2ClassicalTaste in America1800-1840. A. and in imitation Sar- By Wendy around, of, Henry Cooper. 308 pp. incl. 115 col. pls. + 100 b. & w. gent's c.1823 painting entitled The tea ills. (The Baltimore Museum of Art & Abbeville party, one encountered, in total contrast, Press, New York, 1993), $34.95 PB, $55 HB. ISBN a starkly beautiful arrangement of chairs, 1-55859-385-3. all based on the ancient Greek klismos. Sharing the splayed legs and simple lines of their classical prototype and European Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City precedents, they nevertheless reveal differ- and Winnipeg ing regional taste and varying techniques of William Morris construction and embellishment. Included in this series are two painted tablet-top What is certainly the largest exhibition side chairs from Philadelphia and Balti- in many years to focus on the work of the more (Fig.51) and an unexpected proto- most famous of all artists associated with Thonet example in sinuous bentwood by the Arts and Crafts movement, William the Boston chairmaker Samuel Gragg. Morris, was recently on view at the Art Following a series of spectacular adap- Gallery of Ontario (closed 6th Septem- and tations of antique furniture forms (couches, ber), will now travel to three other 52. Partridge,designed byJ.H. Dearle.Morris & Co. stools, and a bedstead) by designers such Canadian venues.1 The last phrase of its c. 1890.Unfinished embroidery worked in silkson a as Charles-Honor6 Lannuier, Benjamin title, The Earthly Paradise, Arts and Crafts by groundof 'Oak'silk damask. 295 by 156cm. (Private Latrobe, and John and Hugh Finaly, the William Morris and his Circlefrom Canadian collection; exh. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto). motifs that made up the Neo-classical vo- Collections,is particularly significant: the re- cabulary of ornament (broadly interpreted duction of potential sources of loans necess- daughter, May Morris (F:2; Fig.52). Of here to include the Egyptian revival) are arily doomed the show to be less than the similar significance among the wallpapers exhaustively explored. Their origins in best of all possible exhibitions, but special are two complete, unused rolls, of the Vine classical myth are noted in the catalogue, circumstances in several ways mitigated (E:11) pattern of 1874 and the Sunflower but their iconographical relevance is over- the limitation of its scope. Firstly, as a (E:15) of 1879, both executed in gilt and shadowed by the ingenuity and grace with visual artist William Morris is universally which artisans exploited these forms for acknowledged to have been a great creator functional purposes, as in the pier table of decorative patterns for textiles, wall- with dolphin supports attributed to An- paper, and book decorations. Most of his thony Gabriel Quervelle (Fig.50). work in these media was intended for mul- While the majority of works on display tiple production in examples of approxi- were produced by America's most cele- mately equal aesthetic merit, and hence, as brated artists and craftsmen for its most The Earthly Paradise clearly demonstrates, 1litefamilies, the exhibition also explores they are widely available, especially in a the infiltration of classical taste into an country with strong cultural ties to Britain expanding American middle class: 'fancy where the work of Morris has been long ad- furniture' used paint to mimic expensive mired. Secondly, the emphasis on Canadian gilded mounts, and numerous utilitarian collections has enabled the organisers, led and mass-produced objects sported classi- by Katherine A. Lochnan, to search dili- cal imagery (items on show include a gently in obscure public and private col- bandbox, a cast-iron stove, a shelf-clock, lections and discover some extraordinary and items of pressed glass). Technological material that might well have been over- innovation, marketing acumen, and the looked had the geographic spread of the recognition on the part of American nets been wider. The textile section is manufacture that classicism connoted especially blessed by the inclusion of a quality, turned the production of such items previously unidentified printed wool of into big business. The rapid growth of traditional design sold by Morris & Co. in interior America and the increased pros- its earliest years (cat.no.F:4), a sample of perity of its eager consumers (such as the Morris's woven woollen wall coverings in stylish EphraimHubbard Foster and hisfamily the Peacock and Dragon pattern, large of Nashville, Tenessee; Fig.49) ensured its enough and well enough preserved to give success. a clear indication of the effect it would The last section of the exhibition, filling have had in one of his most sumptuous in the historical and social is about schemes of interior decoration context, (F:21), and 53. St Agnesand St Albanin Procession,by William American attitudes to public and domestic an embroidered panel, Partridge, designed Morris. c. 1864. Brush and brown and black wash virutue, commemorated in opulent pre- by Morris's associate and then successor, with graphite, black chalk scraping out over black sentation silver as well as modest artistic John Henry Dearle, with modifications of chalk underdrawing. 72.5 by 46.3 cm. (Private productions of educated women in a classi- the design probably made later by his collection; exh. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto). 717 This content downloaded from 81.130.200.251 on Fri, 19 Dec 2014 06:09:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions EXHIBITION REVIEWS Jones design for a stained glass window. Tokyo Morris's great friend and close associate, the 'Lots' of Rubens designer of ceramics William de Morgan, is represented by a group of pieces that During the past decade Japanese mu- accurately reflect the stylistic and technical seums have mounted a number of impress- range of his work, but of which only a few ive exhibitions devoted to aspects of Dutch examples can be classed among his best. and Flemish painting,1 and permanent Unfortunately, none of de Morgan's original collections in the Tokyo area include im- designs for ceramics is included. portant works by Rembrandt, Ruisdael, The organisation of the catalogue,2 by Van Dyck, Jordaens, and their contem- materials, does not follow the thematic poraries.2 Indeed, anyone who travels to installation of the exhibition itself. The the Orient solely in search of Netherlandish catalogue will certainly be employed in- art will find greater riches than they perhaps dependently of the exhibition, but although realise. most works are illustrated near the ap- In 1978 the National Museum of propriate catalogue entries, a few are not Western Art in Tokyo bought a large illustrated at all, and some of the best are canvas (169.5 by 198.5 cm.) said to be an illustrated elsewhere, though the entries autograph version of Rubens's slightly nowhere state this fact. In general the larger (203 by 229 cm.) Flight of Lot and entries are full of valuable information, hisfamily from Sodomin Sarasota. The Bass though there are some ambiguities in the Museum of Art in Miami Beach has a textile section, perhaps the result of editing. workshop replica of the Sarasota picture.3 Of the few minor errors of production, the Both the pictures from Florida, an im- most significant is the inversion of the illus- pression of Vorsterman's engraving after tration of a wallpaper design (no.E8). Rubens (Metropolitan Museum) and Van The excellent installation at Toronto Dyck's drawing for the print (Louvre) were was divided 54. St Michael the Edward into sections devoted to various exhibited along with technical material in Archangel, by Burne-Jones. themes in 1896. Gouache with gold, copper and silver print on arranged approximately chrono- an 'in-focus' exhibition at the NMWA card prepared with purple gouache. 32.2 by 25 cm. logical order, with an opening section (closed 29th August) in order to judge the (Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick; exh. identifying the chief protagonists and their Tokyo painting (Fig.55) and to focus on Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto). interrelationships. Next comes ecclesiastical the way in which Rubens's studio worked. material, particularly the stained glass Toshiharu Nakamura organised the ex- windows which were so important a factor hibition, wrote the fifteen-page catalogue,4 tooled and lacquer, suggesting gilded in the firm's early years, followed by the and with the skilful help of the conservator leather wall What are Spanish hangings. ceramics of William de Morgan, and a Kimio Kawaguchi installed an explem- from the exhibition unfortunately missing large space devoted to block printed tex- plary show.