Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Where's my Le Chat Noir?


This week while reading the chapter exploring Art Nouveau I was reminded of the famous Théophile Alexandre Steinlen illustration for Le Chat Noir.  I had seen this work many times and was always drawn to it, but I never learned about Steinlen and his contemporaries or what Le Chat Noir was.  Our text makes a brief mention of this cabaret in Montmartre, France as a popular gathering place for artists and performers and that both Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec were frequent patrons.  This of course conjured up grand romantic images in my mind of the great artists of the time spending evenings drinking and chatting about their projects, sharing inspiration and good-natured ridicule of each other's work.  I'm sure the reality of it was far from this, but it was enough to pique my interest and sentimentality.  

From the mid to late 1800s, Montmartre was a spot where many artists, liberals and bohemian types gathered and lived.  In addition to Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec, Montmartre was home to the likes of Van Gogh, Brissaud, Matisse, Renoir, Degas, Picasso and others. This trend reached it's peak at the end of the century when the nightlife and bohemian culture was in full swing and nightclubs like Le Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge were in full swing.  I can only imagine that such an environment made possible collaborative friendships like that of Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec and how significant these friendships are.  I instinctively draw parallels to other famous friendships among creatives and intellectuals, such as that of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (and the rest of the Inklings), or that of Sigmund Freud with Carl Jung and Wilhelm Fliess.

Imagining life in 19th century Montmarte seems a stark contrast to social life in today's "internet age".  I find myself at a loss to find any equivalent social environment with such a wealth of creative and intellectual energy, and feeling more than a little lament at this fact.  It's arguable that Silicon Valley is to technological creativity today what Montmartre was to Art in the 19th century, but even here social life seems so dispersed.  Where's my Le Chat Noir?  Today technology seems to be making the world a smaller place, making information and communication increasingly more accessible, while simultaneously pushing us apart and increasing the social distance between people.  As information becomes more geographically dispersed and accessible, perhaps great minds no longer need to gather in places like Montmartre.  But what does this social change mean for artistic, intellectual or cultural movements?  How significant of a role did social environments like the cabaret nightlife of Montmartre play in the forming of movements like Art Nouveau?  Is there an equivalent social melting pot or think tank for modern creatives and intellectuals?  What if Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec were just Facebook friends instead of sharing their evenings in Le Chat Noir?  Does modern technology increase the potential for interaction and exchange between great minds, or is it a poor substitute for in-person social exchange?  Perhaps I'm just a hopeless romantic, nostalgic for a time long before mine, but I can't help but feel like we are missing out on some kind of "Le Chat effect" in our increasingly technology connected global community.

Links:
The Lure of Montmartre, 1880–1900
Le Chat Noir: Historic Montmartre Cabaret
Le Chat Noir - wikipedia entry
AU LAPIN AGILE: PICASSO'S FAVORITE CABARET
The "Inklings"
Freud, Jung and Psychoanalysis



Friday, October 19, 2012

American Illustration, the Golden Age on Exhibit

During this weeks study I was captured by what was described as "the golden age of American illustration", considered by different sources to span the decades from somewhere between 1880/1890 to 1920/1940.  I did some Internet research to try and find more examples of work by the likes of Thomas Nast, Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Pyle and others from that era such as Norman Rockwell and hopefully discover some museum exhibits I can visit.

The first resource I came across was the National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI).  This museum, founded in 1998, is housed in a historical location constructed during the Golden Age (in 1898).  This exhibit is a permanent installation and contains works by both Charles D. Gibson and Howard Pyle, along many other significant illustrators of the time including Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish.  Unfortunately for me, it's located in Newport, RI so it's not going to be an easy visit.  Below is a 10 minute YouTube video giving a sample of what this museum is about and some of the work they have on display.

 

J. C. LEYENDECKER
EASTER - GIRL WITH BONNET
Next I came across a link to the website for the American Illustrators Gallery NYC (AIG), founded in 1965 by Director Judy Goffman Cutler.  It turns out Cutler was also involved in the founding of the NMAI.  The AIG claims to be "the premier exhibitor, buyer and seller of American illustration art in the world".  There are very few samples available to view online, but this looks to be another great resource for any aspiring illustrators living on the east coast or visiting NYC, or for anyone looking to build a collection of original Illustration art!  I noticed this exhibit also contains the work of Pyle and Gibson, along with over 100 others, but like the NMAI lacks any mention of Thomas Nast.  My favorite piece from the samples I viewed was the Leyendecker piece to the right, the cartoon style of the painting and the angel wings sprouting from the girls back convey a childish innocence and the use of rough brush strokes is very pleasing to my eye.

Charles D. Gibson
Frustrated by the apparent lack of any great American illustrator exhibitions at museums within a reasonable driving distance of me (the greater SF bay area), and not finding any repositories for any Thomas Nast works, I turned my attention to online resources.  I landed on a page hosted by the Library of Congress called the Cabinet of American Illustration (CAI).  Now I'm getting somewhere!  
Thomas Nast
This is a vast collection, over 4,000 pieces, mostly between the years of 1880-1910, and all of these are available for viewing online or downloading.  You can also sort or search the collection by artist, by format or by subject.  This collection contains 75 pieces by Gibson, 65 by Nast and 10 by Pyle.  The limited selection of Pyle was rather weak, but I found many good specimens of Gibson and Nast.  I found the very sketched line drawing style primarily employed by both of them to be very appealing.  I do realize however this is also more of an element of the times rather than just a stylistic choice by the artist.  I also really enjoyed this opportunity to view a larger selection of Nast's many political cartoons, and considering our current political climate it was entertaining to take a peek into the political climate of just over 100 years ago.

Links:
National Museum of American Illustration - www.americanillustration.org
American Illustrators Gallery NYC - www.americanillustrators.com 
Cabinet of American Illustration  - www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cai/

Images and Videos:
National Museum of American Illustration, YouTube Video - Link
J. C. Leyendecker, Easter - Girl with bonnet - Link
Charles D. Gibson, The Fairer Sex II  - Link
Thomas Nast, Is there to be a power behind the throne? - Link

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Writing, Alphabets, Printing and Manuscripts

 Hangul syllabic blocks
This week we covered several chapters grouped as the "Prologue to Graphic Design", covering the invention and evolution of written and printed communication.  As I worked my way through this weeks material, one item in particular stood out and captured my attention.  The Korean alphabet, Hangul.

Hangul is somewhat unique among written languages in part because of it's system of grouping letters into blocks, each representing a syllable, and partly due to the structure of the individual letters, each an abstract representation of the position of the mouth and tongue when spoken.  I was fascinated by this extremely logical and intentional approach to developing a writing system so I did some further research on the internet and uncovered some interesting facts.

The Korean script is classified as a Featural Alphabet, meaning that the shapes of the letters are not arbitrary but representative of the spoken elements of the language.  In Hangul, the basic shapes of the consonants are representative of the position of the tongue and mouth when speaking them.

Other featural alphabets include several shorthand systems and the Canadian Aboriginal Sylabics, which are used for many dialects of native Canadian people including Algonquian, Inuit and Cree.  Like Hangul, the sylabics were intentionally created by James Evans, a British missionary, to represent the phonetic elements of the native spoken languages.  Evans created this script after native people showed significant struggle in adapting the Latin alphabet to their spoken languages.
1841 publication of Evans' script

Also included among the featural alphabets is Tengwar, the fictional script invented by J.R.R. Tolkien and used in Lord of the Rings.

Tengwar. Nerd love!!!
Some links I found useful and enjoyable:

History of Hangul

How to Learn Hangul

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics

Featural Alphabets

Tengwar!!!