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TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the Editors
2
Just Another Pretty Box on the Shelf: Treatment of Gold Boxes at LACMA Victoria Gordon
3
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop Bonded to American Progressive Movement Robert Baseman
12
Gauguin and Seurat: A Formal Analysis of Arii Matamoe David Kuhio Ahia II
24
L’Etoile is Life: Degas’ Impressionism and Paris, 1878 AnnaLiese Burich
31
The Color and its Reality Yookyung Anna Sohn
37
LEN LYE Motion Sketch Ashley Moy
43
The!Prolific!Irony!of!William!Pope.L’s!Silly!Trinket! Katelyn!Frager!
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Letter from the Editors: Please enjoy the Spring 2015 volume of the USC Art History Student Association’s undergraduate journal, Impression! Although Impression was initially intended to be a yearly publication, we are hoping that this volume of the journal will help establish Impression as a biannual journal. We hope that by publishing the journal twice a year, we will help encourage students from diverse backgrounds with an interest in the arts to share their works with friends, family, and the USC and arts communities. In this volume of the journal we have featured five essays ranging from 18th to 19th century art, in addition to two contemporary art exhibition reviews. The field of art history and visual studies extends far beyond painting and sculpture; it encapsulates decorative arts, design, performance, and more. With this issue, we hope to showcase exactly how vast the fields of art history and visual studies are. We’d like to thank all the brilliant contributors who helped make this publication possible. To the five contributing seniors – we wish you best of luck on your future endeavors and we hope to continue reading your wonderful work! To the two contributing sophomores – we are so honored to feature your work. We hope this is just the first step for your developing educational careers. This journal also would not have been fulfilled without the help of our undergraduate academic advisor Professor Sonya Lee and the support of the Art History Student Association. Continuing the tradition set forth by the previous journal, we have featured Roski student Alexander Gelber’s work as the cover art for this issue of Impression. We hope that Impression not just showcases student writing, but also helps bridge the Art History department to the talented students of Roski School of Art & Design. We would like to sincerely thank you and we hope you enjoy Spring 2015 (Vol. III) of Impression! Kindly, AHSA Editorial Team Ani Mnatsakanyan, Art History ‘15 Lindsey Cooke, Art History ‘16 If you have any questions or comments about the journal, or would like to be considered for the upcoming volume, please do not hesitate to email us at ahsa.usc@gmail.com.
Cover Art: Alexander Gelber Scuba Trip, 2014 Oil on canvas Senior, USC Roski School of Art and Design; Design (Communication Design minor)
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Just Another Pretty Box on the Shelf: Treatment of Gold Boxes at LACMA Victoria Gordon Senior, Art History A critical examination of the delicate balance museums face in exhibit planning, this paper explores the line museums must walk in developing displays that are both culturally sensitive and visually appealing. Using LACMA's recent exhibit of gold boxes from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, the author identifies key issues in cultural awareness in museum planning. For Europeans in the eighteenth
various boxes, especially the multicolored
century, snuff was extraordinarily popular,
jeweled snuffbox, tell stories about cultural
entrapping
differences
both
peasant
and
prince.
despite
a
shared
passion.
Frederick the Great, the Prussian ruler
However, the curator’s choice of display
known for brilliance in war, was amongst
technique
these addicts, and his love of art made him a
differences by combining boxes for the
significant
patron
of
snuffbox
inherently
negates
these
artists
throughout his Empire. One of the most enigmatic
boxes
in
his
collection,
a
multicolored, bejeweled creation, ultimately fell into the collection of Sir Arthur Gilbert of England, and is currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art alongside thirty-nine other boxes Gilbert owned. While Gilbert’s collection represents Figure 1 Gold snuffbox with mother of pearl and jewels, c. 1765-1775, Berlin. Image from Victoria and Albert Museum.
a solid cross-section of European box traditions of the eighteenth century, the curators currently handling the collection have chosen to deemphasize the historical
greatest aesthetic, rather than historical,
importance of these traditions in deference
value.
to a very different set of concerns. In the
Frederick the Great, the Prussian
eighteenth century, the European elite grew
Emperor from 1740 to 1786, inherited a love
to depend upon richly decorated snuffboxes
of gold boxes from his mother, and gold box
as much as the substance itself. The
collecting became his only real hobby. i
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection’s
Estimates suggest that he owned 1,500
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boxes in his lifetimeii—some of which he
suggest that the box belonged to the Grand
designediii, very few of which he gave as
Ducal House of Mechlenberg in 1914, it was
iv
gifts to others. Because Frederick’s boxes
back in the Anhalt-Dessau family by 1929.
were of such high value, only a few survived
On May 11, 1982, the box was sold at
to the 20th century. Paul Seidel, a researcher,
Christie’s Geneva and attributed to a
attempted
and
“German Royal Family.” ix SJ Phillips, a
determined that 17 boxes existed. By the
British antique dealer, who sold it “almost
1920s, Martin Klar, another researcher,
immediately” to the Gilberts. x The box is
identified four more. The list has been
unique, but the Gilbert Collection often
updated twice since Klar’s research, and
groups it with the two other heavily jeweled
there are currently believed to be 26 extant
Frederick the Great boxes owned.xi
an
inventory
in
1901
boxes from Frederick’s original collection.v
Functionally, snuffboxes keep snuff
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife,
(a form of tobacco) dry and, therefore,
Rosalinde, compiled one of the world’s
intact. Beginning in the latter part of the 17th
finest collections of gold and silver. Of the
century, snuffboxes grew constantly more
over 200 gold boxes in their collection, three
elaborate, allowing wealthy consumers to
are Frederick the Great boxes.vi This paper
enjoy functional art. In the 18th century, the
focuses, in particular, on a multicolored
French began to experiment with gold box
gold, gold foil, and mother of pearl snuffbox
designs, leading to the creation of snuffbox-
inlaid with diamonds, citrine, amethyst,
making “companies.”xii The French treated
quartz, and rubies. The box was created
goldsmiths as a “privileged class,” and were
between 1765 and 1775 and made in Berlin.
already known for their box-making culture
Though the artist’s identity is unknown, the
and interest in pretty objects to be carried
box is generally attributed to Daniel
around, such as pomanders, when they
Baudesson; however, Truman posits that a
started designing and using snuffboxes. xiii
craftsman who worked under multiple
Snuffboxes were unique in France at that
goldsmiths created the box.
vii
Despite
time as they were allowed to contain up to
Frederick’s general disinterest in sharing his
seven gold ounces, an unusually large
boxes with others, this one was a gift,
amount given that the standard French law,
perhaps to Duke Leopold II from the
to that point, limited gold in any object to
Anhalt-Dessau line.
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viii
one ounce or less.xiv The French often used
While some sources
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Impression!Vol.!3!
gold as a canvas for small paintings or
endeavors
enameling, featuring works inspired by
snuffboxes). Compared to French boxes,
xv
Prussian snuffboxes were significantly more
While the concept of gold boxes moved
jeweled and the use of gold was generally
throughout Europe, this style was distinct to
reserved for light gilding.
France.
Frederick, whose love of boxes inspired his
those of noted painters such as Watteau.
(including
the
design
xvi
of
In fact,
Frederick the Great, who, it has
countrymen to have boxes to go with every
already been noted, loved gold boxes, was a
outfit xvii , ultimately banned the import of
major snuff user and, therefore, a major
French snuffboxes or snuff supplies so that
snuffbox producer. Frederick felt that
German
Prussia was “backward” culturally when
develop a uniquely “German” style. xviii
compared to France and, to advance his
Other European cultures devised their own
country, encouraged a variety of artistic
box-making
designers
could
traditions,
flourish
which
Figure 2 Gold boxes from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection as displayed at LACMA. Photo by Victoria Gordon.
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will
and
be
Just!Another!Pretty!Box!on!the!Shelf!
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discussed as relevant.
France, Italy, and England, with the middle
Frederick the Great’s pastel-colored, jewel-encrusted,
unsigned
currently
a
faces
Impression!Vol.!3!
row of three featuring non-jeweled but
masterpiece
significant
brightly-colored boxes and the bottom row
display
containing four pure gold boxes. To the
problem. The box is housed at the Los
outside observer, this may seem like a
Angeles County Museum of Art, where it is
logical organization; after all, the boxes look
on display as part of “Eighteenth-Century
similar. However, closer viewing and deeper
Gold Boxes from the Rosalinde and Arthur
knowledge
Gilbert Collection.” The forty boxes in the
indicates that this curatorial decision is
collection are arranged into four separate
shortsighted.
of
box-making
traditions
display cases; however, the exhibit tells less
For example, while the three German
of a story about the cultural differences
boxes may seem to represent a similar
between
eighteenth-
tradition, they hardly do: the non-Frederick
century box producers than about the desire
German box, made by Johann Christian
to create a pretty display. The display
Neuber in Dresden, features jewels and
includes thirteen German boxes from Berlin,
limited gold, as would be expected from a
Dresden, and Augsburg, all of which are
German box. Otherwise, it is extraordinarily
divided across the four cabinets of the
different
exhibit. Unfortunately, this has the (perhaps
avoiding sparkly jewels in deference to
unintended)
the
precious stones and including a small
significance of each culture's box-making
portrait of Charlotte Agläe, daughter of the
traditions. Instead, the boxes are divided by
Duc d’Orleans.xix It is worth noting that the
their aesthetics. As a result, the display is
Frederick the Great style may have been
gorgeous--but tells a story not of culture, but
slow to work its way to other parts of the
of taste.
Prussian Empire, and Frederick’s general
Europe’s
effect
various
of
nullifying
from
its
Berlin-built
sisters,
The pastel box sits on the top row of
centering in Berlin and, later, Potsdam, may
a three-row pyramidal design featuring nine
have kept Dresden from borrowing from the
total boxes. While it sits next to a green
German box tradition at first. However, this
cabochon
Frederick's
is information that would benefit the viewer
collection, the remaining seven boxes come
at LACMA. The English box, positioned
from Germany (but not Frederick the Great),
alongside three French boxes, is very
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box
also
from
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English in design, featuring lightly chased
and may be made of mosaic, as several of
gold and no outside color or significant
them are. It features almost no gold and no
xx
marking ; this could perhaps be explained
jewelwork, using mosaic as its primary
by the chaser, Burel, whose name indicates
design instead.xxii
“Huguenot…French or Flemish origin” and
The French boxes all represent the
quality “rare in England in [the eighteenth
French style: all four are solid gold; one, by
century].”xxi The Italian box, designed in a
Jean-Baptiste Devos, is considered “the
Florentine workshop, is not discussed in any
forefront of French taste,” an “excellent
of the books written about the Gilbert
contrast to the more tightly controlled
Collection. Very little information is given
versions of the same [Rococo] style in
on Italian boxes by any of these sources.
England and Germany” xxiii ; one, by Noël
However, the box is similar in style to
Léonard, has pink and white enamelingxxiv; a
several other Italian boxes in the collection,
third, by Jean Ducrollay and Pierre-Philippe
Figure 3 Photographs of boxes as assembled in display case (photos from Victoria and Albert website).
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Choffard, is an early neoclassical design in
Thus, LACMA’s exhibition choices fail to
traditional French Gold.xxv Another box by
adequately capture the ways in which gold
Ducrollay, however, is unique by French
boxes mattered within each European
standards in that it contains diamonds and
country; rather, it oversimplifies the history
rubies (a rarity for the French).xxvi This is
of the gold box into a universal, cross-
problematic for the rest of the display: by
cultural
not indicating to the viewer that this is a
individualized, national story.
narrative
rather
than
an
unique box for the French, one simply
For the pastel snuffbox, this is a
assumes that this is a standard French box.
problematic tale. Frederick’s boxes are the
While the other three in the case are, the
subjects of lore themselves, the stories of a
French box borrows from the German style,
brilliant warrior whose favorite thing was to
but there is no indication of that at the
build his collection of boxes. Unfortunately,
display; it is another pretty box, cultural
this information is lost in the shuffle of
origins unexplained.
boxes from all over Europe, boxes whose
Additionally,
LACMA’s
display
origins and significance inside their own
provides little information on any of this
cultures (whether furthering design norms or
material. Unlike the display one might find
breaking from tradition) vanish as the
with a painting, with a brief wall description
geographic and cultural lines between
accompanying the work, the boxes are in
nations blur. Were the museum to at least
cases with small, drawer-like pullouts to
provide historical context alongside these
indicate the object’s provenance, relative
pieces, there would be less of a jumble. In
date, and (in some cases) artist. Each of the
its current state, however, Frederick’s
four pullouts includes a brief description of
gorgeous and mysterious snuffbox is just
the gold box phenomenon in general (one
another pretty box on the shelf—which, in
case, for example, includes the text “[g]old
all likelihood, it was to Frederick; in that
boxes were among a range of luxury items
case, though, it was similar to his other
intended to captivate the curiosity of the
boxes, which helped adequately ground the
social elite through ever new and surprising
narrative.
forms and virtuoso mechanisms” xxvii ), but
LACMA’s
exhibit
appears
none provides any significant insights into
exceptionally misguided when compared
the differing cultures contained therein.
with
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another,
similar
collection.
The
Just!Another!Pretty!Box!on!the!Shelf!
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Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Frederick the Great, one of the
(Met) holds fifty-six galleries for European
world’s great gold box connoisseurs, owned
Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
xxviii
One such
thousands of snuffboxes, enough that he
gallery, number 530, contains ninety-three
could have snuff in every room of each of
objects from the eighteenth century, eighty-
his castles, carry one with every outfit, and
nine of which are French in origin. xxix
still have enough left as backups—perhaps
However, unlike LACMA’s gold box
for each of those rooms and outfits. His
exhibit, the Met’s display includes a variety
vision and style reign throughout his
of objects within the same cultural and
collection, and even though only a few of
temporal
fans,
these boxes remain today, it is easy to figure
utensils, and wax cases. While one could
out which ones belonged to the Emperor.
argue that LACMA was limited in its ability
Three of them are in the collection of
to design a comparable exhibit given the
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, which is
items provided to them by the Gilbert
currently on display at both the Victoria and
Collection, LACMA also had a very special
Albert Museum in London and LACMA.
advantage over the Met: all of the items
The LACMA collection, which features 40
provided for this exhibit were boxes, which
of the 200 gold boxes in the Gilbert
would have allowed LACMA to create an
Collection, includes two Frederick boxes,
interesting comparative display explaining
one of which is a pastel-colored gold and
the
jewel
boundaries,
cultural
including
differences
amongst
the
snuffbox.
This
enigmatic
box’s
different European box-making traditions.
designer is a mystery, but its style is pure
Additionally, the Met’s webpage on Gallery
Frederick and distinctly German. In its
530 includes a basic history of European
current display, though, the box’s origins
gold boxes, emphasizing the snuffbox. xxx
vanish as it becomes one of nine pretty
The information contained on this page is,
boxes arranged in a case, boxes from four
overall, more relevant and useful to the
different countries and at least five different
gallery’s purposes than any of the short
cultural traditions. While the case could tell
descriptions included in LACMA’s display,
the story of the gold boxes of eighteenth-
and would have provided a fascinating
century Europe, it neglects to do so, instead
template for LACMA’s curators.
showing off the boxes as nine pretty pieces with no significant history or cultural
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importance. Thus, on the whole, these boxes
Impression!Vol.!3! Habsburg-Lothringen, Géza von. Gold
lose their identities, going from boxes
Boxes: From the Collection of Rosalinde
representative (or, in some cases, less
and Arthur Gilbert. London: R. & A
representative) of their respective heritages
Gilbert, 1983.
to boxes representative of aesthetic pleasure.
“Search the Collection: Gallery 530.”
As a museum and an educational facility for
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed
the public, LACMA has a duty to design
November 30, 2014.
exhibits that are both visually pleasing and culturally
aware.
While
Snowman, A. Kenneth. Eighteenth Century
LACMA
Gold Boxes of Europe. London: Faber,
accomplished the first goal, it ignored the
1966.
second and, instead, leaves the viewer
“The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert
ignorant of the various gold box traditions of
Collection.” Victoria and Albert
Europe.
Museum. Accessed November 23, 2014. Truman, Charles. The Gilbert Collection of
Works Cited
Gold Boxes. Los Angeles: Los Angeles
"Antique Snuff Boxes." Collectors Weekly.
County Museum of Art, 1991. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i A. Kenneth Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe (London: Faber, 1966), 101. ii Ibid., 102. iii Ibid. iv Géza von Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold Boxes: From the Collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert (London: R&A Gilbert, 1983), 80. v Ibid.,78-79. vi Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991), 204. vii Ibid., 219. viii Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold Boxes: From the Collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, 80. ix Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 219. x Victoria Gordon, Personal email to SJ Phillips, November 23, 2014.
Accessed November 27, 2014. http://www.collectorsweekly.com/tobacci ana/snuff-boxes. "European Sculpture and Decorative Arts." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 23, 2014. “Gallery 530.” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 23, 2014. “Gold Boxes in the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection.” Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed September 24, 2014. Gordon, Victoria. Personal Email to SJ Phillips. November 23, 2014. -- Photograph from Los Angeles County Museum of Art. November 10, 2014.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xi Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 204. xii “Antique Snuff Boxes,” Collectors Weekly, 2007-2014, http://www.collectorsweekly.com/tobaccian a/snuff-boxes. xiii Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, 36-37. xiv Ibid., 68. xv Ibid., 69. xvi Ibid., 99, 102. xvii Ibid., 103. xviii Ibid. xix Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold Boxes: From the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, 81. xx Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 273-274. xxi Ibid., 283. xxii Ibid., 408-409. xxiii Ibid., 37. xxiv Ibid., 48-49. xxv Ibid., 69. xxvi Ibid., 59. xxvii Victoria Gordon, photograph of LACMA display, obtained November 10, 2014. xxviii “European Sculpture and Decorative Arts,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20002014. xxix “Search the Collection: Gallery 530,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-2014. xxx “Gallery 530,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-2014.
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Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
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Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop Bonded to American Progressive Movement Robert Baseman Senior, History (Art History and Communication Law & Media Policy Minors) This research paper looks at the impact of the American Progressive Movement of the early twentieth century on American Arts and Crafts Furniture. Using the Roycroft furniture shop as a case study, I examine how the visual elements of Roycroft furniture mirror the ideals of the Progressive Movement. Ultimately, I argue that the failure of the Roycroft furniture shop and other American Arts and Crafts artists to adapt to societal changes after the Progressive Movement lead to the demise of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Introduction
Movement never gained traction in the
While the Arts and Crafts Movement
United States, many American Arts and
led by John Ruskin and William Morris
Crafts artists believed that their artwork
originated in England during the late
could initiate American societal change.
nineteenth century, the movement also
Arts and Crafts works can provide the
spread to the United States. Like the English
viewer an understanding of the artist who
artists across the Atlantic, the American Arts
constructed their piece, which is an ideal
and
stressed
impossible to achieve with a machine-made
spurned
object. Ultimately, these artists strove to
industrialism. These American decorators
create works to form an organic relationship
Crafts
designers
handcraftsmanship highlighted
the
and important
relationship
between form and function in their furniture and other decorative arts. xxxi Utilizing oak and other American woods, the American Arts and Crafts Movement also accentuated the significance of nature on design. Proponents of the Arts and Crafts Movement believed
that
decorative
objects
that
connected with nature trumped the shoddy craftsmanship of machine-made works and improved the spiritual health of the viewer. Although the social reform movement that was attached to the English Arts and Crafts
!
Figure 1, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Tabouret Table, East Aurora, New York, 1905.
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Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
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within the buyer’s home.
Impression!Vol.!3! experimented with designing different types
Elbert Hubbard emerged as one of
of soap promotions such as “wrapping a
the biggest proponents of the Arts and Crafts
single bar of soap with a handkerchief or
Movement in the United States. Hubbard
including chromolithographic pictures with
started out working in the soap business
an order.” xxxiii Despite his success at the
where he became a junior partner of John
Larkin Soap Company, Hubbard resigned in
Larkin’s soap company in 1875. xxxii As
1892 in order to study writing at Harvard
junior partner of the company, Hubbard
College.xxxiv After attending Harvard for one
focused on sales and advertising where he
semester, Hubbard visited England for writing inspiration. xxxv While in England in 1894, Hubbard took a tour
of
William
Morris’s
Kelmscott Press and fell under the spell of the Arts and Crafts mentality, “Hubbard must have recognized the parallel between Morris’s rejection of nineteenth century industrialism in England and his own departure from the Larkin business.”xxxvi After his visit to England, Hubbard and his writing partner Harry
Taber,
magazine,
The
published
a
Philistine:
A
Periodical of Protest, in 1895, which was widely circulated across the United States.xxxvii The popularity of the magazine led several Figure!2, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Foot-Rest, East Aurora, New York, 1909.
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printers
and
graphic
artists to flock to East Aurora, New
York
where
Hubbard
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Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
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founded the Roycroft Press. xxxviii Hubbard
furniture’s visual elements reveals the
also lectured across the United States, which
colonies’ initial interconnection (1900-1915)
motivated other artists to move to East
and ultimate detachment (1915-1938) from
Aurora where Hubbard formed an artist
the political and social events of the late
community, “If Hubbard began with modest
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in
aspirations in 1895, there is good evidence
the United States.
that by 1900 he had begun to formulate a
Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters (1900-
plan whereby he would carve out the
1910)-
fourteen-building complex identified as the
Movement
First
Wave
of
Progressive
Roycroft campus from several acres of
At first, the Roycrofters furniture
occupied house lots in East Aurora.” xxxix
shop gained tremendous success due to the
With these state of the art facilities and the
social and political changes during the first
marketing skills he learned at the Larkin
decade of the twentieth century. For
Company, Hubbard attracted even more
instance, the rise of the Roycrofters furniture
artists to East Aurora leading to the
arm coincided with the founding of the
formation of what Hubbard called, the
Progressive Movement in the United States
Roycroft
the
in 1900. The Progressive Movement, led by
Roycroft community expanded to include
urban, middle class Americans, championed
several
as,
the power of the government to institute
furniture, leather, pottery and several other
reform. Progressives witnessed the corrupt
unique
Community. manufacturing shops.
community
xli
Eventually
xl
shops the
Roycroft
business enterprises plaguing the United
several
different
States government and tried to expose this
While
sponsored
such
artistic operations, the furniture produced by
through
the community proved to be one of their
Progressives encouraged Americans to seek
most popular and long-lasting enterprises.
out education to better themselves. A
Initially
American
powerful ally of Progressives, Theodore
Progressive Movement, the Roycroft artist
Roosevelt helped define the movement
colony eventually faded in popularity due to
during the early twentieth century when he
the larger socio-political atmosphere in the
was elected president in 1904. Roosevelt
United States at the turn of the century. A
became the first president to enforce the
thorough examination of the Roycroft
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, which
!
bolstered
by
the
14!
books
and
articles.
Further,
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
Impression!Vol.!3!
limited the power of monopoly businesses,
finish, which highlights the different pieces
“The theme of Teddy Roosevelt’s discourse,
used in the final product. The tabouret’s
repeated over and over again that year, was
carved Roycroft brand, an “R” beneath an
the
wickedness
of
Big
Business.”
xlii
Roosevelt also reformed the Food and Drug Administration
and
helped
establish
America’s first national parks.
xliii
From
1900-1910, the philosophy of the Roycroft furniture shop fell along the same lines as the Progressive Movement and catapulted the company to success. While wildly successful at the onset, by
1910
the
Roycroft
community
bookbinding operation was eclipsed by the popularity of their furniture among middle class Americans. By analyzing this furniture produced
from
1900-1910,
one
can
understand why. For example, a Roycroft Tabouret Table (Fig. 1) from 1905 clearly represents the first wave of the Progressive Movement from
1900-1910. xliv
Figure!3, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Magazine Stand, East Aurora, New York, 1910.
Originally
constructed with oak, the Roycroft Tabouret
orb and cross, refers to a clan of fourteenth
is sturdy and simple, representative of the
century monks who originally used this
progressives call for the government to get
symbol upon completion of copying a book
back to basics. The artist prominently displayed the tenon joints holding the
by hand, and represents the spirituality of
handcrafted tabouret or small table together,
the
which echoes Theodore Roosevelt’s call to
interpreting the artistic expression of the
limit the power of factories. Other visual
Progressive
elements from the tabouret that exemplify
furniture shop captured the imagination and
the Progressive Movement include the clean
wallets of the American public.
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Progressive
Movement.
Movement,
the
xlv
By
Roycroft
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!! Another
example
Roycroft
Roycrofters to the American Progressive
furniture that represented the Progressive
Movement, “Its distinctive features are due
Movement of 1900-1910 was a Roycroft
to a pervading spirit, and not to a set of
Foot-Rest (Fig. 2) produced in 1909.xlvi The
rules.
Arts and Crafts Foot-Rest is of simple
paramount importance of the influence of
construction, including large studs securing
the work upon the worker.”xlix The spirit of
the leather to the frame and exemplifies the
social reform had a direct influence on the
Roycroft furniture shop’s commitment to
buyers who, given choices of hand-made
spotlighting
over machine-made, chose the former in the
the
of
Impression!Vol.!3!
elements
of
the
construction. In addition, buyers could
The
guiding
principle
is
the
Roycroft furniture shop.
customize the Foot-Rest in locally sourced woods like oak, mahogany, and Black Walnut, which aligned with the Progressive Movement’s focus on the environment.xlvii As in the small table mentioned earlier, the Foot-Rest is constructed of visibly different pieces of wood, emphasizing the hand-made elements. The advertisement for the FootRest accentuates the enduring quality and the Progressives’ goal of achieving longlasting reform, “Our carpenters have just finished, in true Roycroft Style, a few sturdy little foot-rests. These rests are well padded and covered with heavy grain leather, century’s service.”xlviii Like the tabouret, the
Figure!4, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Fall-Front Desk, East Aurora, New York, 1912.
Roycroft furniture shop priced the footrest
Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters (1910-
for progressive middle class consumers. A
1915)-
March 6, 1900 article from The Globe and
Movement
buttoned snugly to the frame- made for a
released
in
Canada
effectively
From
connected the furniture produced by the
!
Second
Wave
of
1910-1915,
Progressive under
the
leadership of President William Howard
16!
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
Impression!Vol.!3!
Taft, the furniture shop of the Roycrofters
the feminist movement also occurred under
refined their aesthetics to complement the
Taft’s reign. Meanwhile, Roycroft furniture
second wave of the Progressive Movement’s
shop championed the feminist cause by
socio-political climate. Like Roosevelt, Taft
encouraging women craftsmen to join the
also targeted powerful monopolies through
colony.
aggressive economic policies, “He did as he
Roosevelt’s
thought Theodore Roosevelt would have
expanded Roosevelt’s progressive policies,
wished, finally breaking up Standard Oil and
which helped the Roycroft furniture shop
initiating proceedings against US Steel. In
reach new heights in the half-decade from
fact he started twice as many anti-trust suits
1910-1915.
Despite
Taft
lacking
distinctive
Teddy
charisma,
he
The Roycroft Magazine Stand (Fig.
as Roosevelt himself.” l Throughout Taft’s industrialism
3) crafted in 1910 represents an aesthetic
emerged with the arrival of Henry Ford’s
interpretation of the expanding progressive
Model T. li Further; the Wright Brothers
policies under Taft’s presidency.liv Like the
emerged onto the scene as America’s
Roycroft furniture from the preceding
“pioneer aviators.”lii Roycroft furniture and
decade,
the community seized upon Americans’
provides
disillusionment with industrialism and desire
craftsmanship. Arguably, the simplicity of
for a return to simplicity. Taft listened to
the construction goes further than pieces
this subsection of non-industrialists and
from the previous decade with several
continued Roosevelt’s innovative national
protruding tenon joints holding the structure
parks program leading to the rise of the
together, “The Arts and Crafts designers
environmentalist movement in the United
stood for a return to joiner-made furniture,
States, “Taft continued to push through
and much of the technical progress made
Theodore
since the mid seventeenth century was
presidency,
a
renewed
Roosevelt’s
policies,
as
he
the
Roycroft Magazine Stand
another
example
of
simple
understood them, beating his anti-trust suit
deliberately discarded.”
record by eighty to twenty-five and taking
simple wooden panels added to the piece’s
over more land for public use in four years
plainness, which would have appealed to
than Theodore Roosevelt had in eight
middle class consumers disillusioned with
(including withdrawing oil lands from
industrial changes like Ford’s assembly line.
public sale for the fifth time).”liii The birth of
The lack of add-ons, like small cabinet doors
!
17!
lv
Further, sleek,
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
on the magazine stand, also symbolized an
In doing so, the artist reminded the buyer
appreciation for open space and a return to
that that this Fall-Front Desk did not come
nature. The Roycroft furniture shop seemed
from a factory. In the same aesthetic vein,
to encourage their consumers to smell this
the handles for the desk drawer have openly
oak magazine stand and envision the East
visible bolts. The solidity of this Fall-Front
Aurora craftsman who sawed and built this
Desk is evident in a thick wooden,
wooden structure by hand. Reminiscent of
horizontal board secured to the top and
the hand-made workmanship, the oak
extending beyond the base structure. The
magazine stand featured heavy outlining of
long legs of the desk, which swell up on the
the wood so the viewer could see the
bottom also provide sturdiness while also
elements of construction, which originated
giving a clean, open look in contrast to the
from the English Arts and Crafts Movement,
low-quality industrial clutter. In addition to
“During the period that encompassed the
appealing to non-industrialist Americans,
High Victorian style, machine made objects
the Roycroft furniture shop also appealed to
were often reproductions of handcrafted
the rising feminist movement that gained
work and were therefore untruthful to the
even more prominence under Taft’s reign
materials and the technology employed.”lvi
with
Similar to the previous decade, the Roycroft
amendment steadily approaching, “This
furniture shop expanded on their simplicity
Roycroft desk, which was made in both oak
and hand-made quality in order to appeal to
and mahogany was shown in the 1912
a cynical American middle-class fearful of
catalog and identified as a ‘Ladies Writing-
the major industrial changes in the country.
Desk.’” lviii Again, the Roycroft furniture
the
passage
of
the
nineteenth
Another Roycroft piece of furniture
shop appealed to their large population of
emblematic of the 1910-1915 Taft reign was
female consumers and the socio-economic
this Fall-Front Desk (Fig. 4) constructed in
climate through the visual elements of their
1912.lvii The Roycroft furniture shop clearly
furniture from 1910 to 1915.lix
emphasized structure with this Fall-Front Desk.
craftsman
(Fig. 5) constructed out of oak and produced
accentuated the copper hinges, which were
in 1912 also represents the half-decade from
produced in East Aurora, constructing them
1910-1915.
to protrude vertically across the entire desk.
furniture shop, the tenon and keying joints
!
For
instance,
the
Lastly, this Roycroft Library Table
18!
lx
Typical of
the Roycroft
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
Impression!Vol.!3!
holding the baseboard protrude out from the
operation including their book-binding,
bottom of the table reemphasizing the
copper,
importance of structure and craftsmanship.
approximately 500 craftsmen, trumping
Contrasting with the other table produced in
other American artist communities at their
earlier periods, the artist chose not to include
peak.lxiv
and
other
shops
reached
drawers, preferring to keep a simple, yet refined design. The Roycroft furniture shop prided
itself
on
craftsmanship
and
authenticity, which had been masked by the increase in industrial output by the United States, “Despite the articulated structure of this library table, it is probably fair to say that the richly figured quartersawn oak is its strongest point.”
lxi
The long legs that
appeared in the Fall-Front Desk reappear in this Library Table again providing plenty of space for the consumer. The craftsman who designed the Library Table also displayed the Roycroft orb and cross symbol at the front of the table effectively utilizing branding within a new industrial America, “Roycroft furniture was always proudly marked in a prominent place. It was not
Figure!5, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Library Table, East Aurora, New York, 1912.
signed, as Stickley furniture was ‘in an
Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters (1915-
unobtrusive place’, but right on the front for
1938)- End of the Progressive Movement
all to see.”
and Sale of the Company
lxii
By 1914, the Roycroft
furniture shop became one of the most successful
American
Crafts
progressive policies like his predecessors,
colonies, employing as many as eighty to
the Roycroft furniture shop failed to
one
their
capitalize on the socio-political atmosphere
The entire Roycroft
during his presidency, ultimately leading to
hundred
furniture shop.
!
Arts
employees lxiii
and
Despite Woodrow Wilson adopting
within
19!
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
Impression!Vol.!3!
the downfall of the artistic colony. As Paul
United States involvement in World War
Johnson stated in his History of the
I.lxix
American People, “so their candidate,
The lack of surviving Roycroft
Woodrow Wilson, was now president and a
furniture after Taft’s presidency symbolizes
new time had come.” lxv Referring to his
the disconnection between the Roycroft
policies as New Freedom, Wilson largely
furniture
focused on foreign affairs during his tenure
atmosphere under Wilson. A Bookcase (Fig.
due to the outbreak of World War I towards
6) from a 1922 catalogue serves as one of
the
pushed
the few examples of furniture produced by
Progressivism to the side, “Indeed, it was
the Roycrofters after 1915.lxx Although the
the impact of the war, even more than
Bookcase differs slightly to the furniture
Wilson’s
and
produced by the Roycrofters from 1900-
administrative program, which helped to
1915, the Roycroft furniture shop could no
build up the great historic watershed in the
longer
way America is governed.” lxvi Further, the
environment to boost their sales. However,
Russian Revolution also caused Americans
the Roycroft furniture shop made some
to focus their attention abroad away from
slight changes with their designs in order to
Progressivism. lxvii Even Wilson’s personal
appeal to new American tastes. The mortise
life conflicted with the simple, rational
and tenon joints are gone, which served as
Progressivism of the earlier decade, “Wilson
an identifying feature for Roycroft furniture.
itemized his wardrobe, listing 103 articles,
Further, the inclusion of drawers and small
including many pairs of spats, pearl-colored
cabinet doors marked a slight transition from
trousers, and a blue vest.”lxviii With Wilson’s
the lightness and openness characterized by
presidency, the nostalgia of simplicity seized
previous pieces. The heavy, sturdy shape
by
Movement
remains, but the simplicity of the piece is at
disappeared leading to the downfall of the
odds with Wilson’s extravagant wardrobe of
Roycroft furniture shop. Perhaps it is
colored trousers and vest, which influenced
symbolic
other Americans enamored with Wilson’s
end
the
of
1914,
pre-war
Arts
that
Roycrofters,
and
the
Elbert
which
legislative
Crafts
founder Hubbard,
of
the
popularity
drowned
shop
rely
to
and
on
shun
the
the
sociopolitical
sociopolitical
simple
craftsmen
aboard the R.M.S Lusitania in 1915, which
furniture. The long tapering legs have also
the Germans attacked, precipitating the
disappeared signifying a change within the
!
20!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3! While several Arts and Crafts shops struggled across the country during the late teens and early 1920s, the Roycroft furniture shop
was
hit
especially
hard.
The
introduction of Wilson as president and a renewed focus abroad took Americans’ attention away from simple Arts and Crafts products to more international tastes, “The 1916 Roycroft catalog was devoted to all of the shop’s products, including pecan patties and Roycroft ties, and just one small section illustrated furniture.”lxxi It is shocking how quickly the Roycroft furniture shop fell after 1914. After Elbert Hubbard’s death, his son,
Figure!6, Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, Bookcase, East Aurora, New York, 1922.
Bert Hubbard, led the Roycroft community until the Great Depression forced him to sell
Roycroft furniture shop by 1922. In the end,
the company in 1938.lxxii Unfortunately, the
the international focus of World War I
Roycrofter’s demise came much sooner than
exposed Americans to other art designs such
1938 with the sociopolitical changes in the
as the curvy forms of Art Nouveau. A
United States contributing to the furniture
combination of a Red Scare and World War
shop and the community’s downfall. The
I had Americans looking internationally and
rise in Art Deco furniture beginning in 1925
not to East Aurora, New York where the
also did not help the Roycroft cause as this
furniture shop continued to struggle after the
furniture featured “controlled curves, crisp
death of its founder Elbert Hubbard abroad
angles, delicate form, and innovative steel,”
the Lusitania. Ultimately, the Roycrofters
which all contrasted with Arts and Crafts
could not adapt to American’s changing
design.lxxiii Despite the Art Deco Movement
tastes without sacrificing their Arts and
ultimately outstripping the Arts and Crafts
Crafts identity.
Movement, Americans today continue to
Conclusion
memorialize
Roycroft
furniture.
For
instance, the Margeret L. Wendt Foundation
!
21!
!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!! purchased and rebuilt the Roycroft Inn in
Furniture Manufactuers." Antiques & Collecting 105, no. 9 (2000): 38-44. Accessed December 6, 2014. http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.usc.e du/docview/197160906?pqorigsite=summon. Rodel, Kevin P., and Jonathan Binzen. Arts & Crafts Furniture: From Classic to Contemporary. Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 2003. "Roycroft Furniture." The Fra, January 1, 1922. "Roycroft Tabouret Table." Chicago Furniture. Accessed December 6, 2014. http://www.tomsprice.com/accents/furnit ure/accent-tables/roycroft-tabourettable/049. Searl, Majorie, and Marie Via. Head, Heart, and Hand: Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 1994. Stimpson, Miriam F. Modern Furniture Classics. New York: Watson-Guptil Publications, 1997. "THE ROYCROFTERS." The Globe, March 6, 1900. "The Roycroft Community." Arts and Crafts Society. Accessed December 6, 2014. http://www.artscrafts.com/archive/hdavis.shtml. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxi Milo M. Naeve, Identifying American Furniture (Canada: A Division of Sage Publications, 1998), 57. xxxii Majorie Searl, Marie Via, Head, Heart and Hand: Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1994), 3. xxxiii Ibid., 4. xxxiv Ibid., 6. xxxv Ibid. xxxvi Ibid., 7. xxxvii Ibid. xxxviii Ibid. xxxix Ibid., 8. xl Ibid., 11.
1994.lxxiv Many Americans also continue to tour the Roycroft campus in East Aurora where several original buildings from the community
still
stand.
lxxv
While
the
Roycroft furniture shop rode the Progressive Movement along with Roosevelt and Taft for their success, the introduction of Wilson as president of the United States and World War I forced the shop to make a choice: maintain their antiquated Arts and Crafts style or adapt to a new international flavor. Ultimately, the Roycroft furniture shop chose the former ending their American furniture domination by the early 1920s. Works Cited Cathers, David M. Furniture of the American Arts and Crafts Movement: Stickley and Roycroft Mission Oak. Ontario: New American Library, 1981. Fiell, Charlotte, and Peter Fiell. Modern Furniture Classics. Washington D.C.: American Institute of Architects Press, 2006. "From the Furniture Shop." The Fra, January 1, 1912. Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. New York, NY: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997. Lucie-Smith, Edward. Furniture: A Concise History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. Naeve, Milo M. Identifying American Furniture. Canada: Division of Sage Publications, 1981. Richey, Tina A. "Major Arts & Crafts
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
22!
Legacy of Roycroft Furniture Shop!!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xli Ibid., 13. xlii Paul Johnson, A History of the American People (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997), 618. xliii Ibid., 619. xliv “Roycroft Tabouret Table,” Chicago Furniture, accessed December 6, 2014, http://www.tomsprice.com/accents/furniture/ accent-tables/roycroft-tabouret-table/049. xlv Tina A. Richey, “Major Arts & Crafts Furniture Manufacturers,” Antiques & Collecting Magazine 105, no. 9 (Nov 2000): 38-44. xlvi Furniture Shop of the Roycrofters, From the Furniture Shop, The Fra, 1912, http://www.hricik.com/Roycroft/Fras/10190 9/Furniture1.jpg. xlvii Ibid. xlviii Ibid. xlix "THE ROYCROFTERS." The Globe (1844-1936), Mar 06, 1900. http://search.proquest.com/docview/135181 9235?accountid=14749. l Johnson, A History of the American People, 622. li Ibid., 623. lii Ibid. liii Ibid., 622. liv Miriam Stimpson, Modern Furniture Classics (New York: Watson-Guptil Publications, 1997), 29. lv Edward Lucie-Smith, Furniture: A Concise History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 154. lvi Charlotte Fiell and Peter Fiell, Modern Furniture Classics (Washington, D.C.: The American Institute of Architects Press, 2006), 8. lvii David M. Cathers, Furniture of the American Arts and Crafts Movement: Stickley and Roycroft Mission Oak (Ontario: The New American Library, 1981), 182. lviii Ibid., 192. lix Ibid. lx Ibid., 212.
!
Impression!Vol.!3! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lxi Ibid., 226. lxii Ibid., 95. lxiii Ibid., 98. lxiv Ibid. lxv Johnson, A History of the American People, 624. lxvi Ibid., 639. lxvii Ibid. lxviii Ibid., 641 lxix Jonathan Binzen and Kevin P. Rodel, Arts & Crafts Furniture (Newtown: The Taunton Press, 2003), 168. lxx Furniture Shop of The Roycrofters, Roycroft Furniture, The Fra, 1922, http://www.roycroftbooks.org/nd13_catalog _blacher.htm. lxxi Cathers, Furniture of the American Arts and Crafts Movement: Stickley and Roycroft Mission Oak, 98. lxxii Binzen and Rodel, Arts & Crafts Furniture, 168. lxxiii Naeve, Identifying American Furniture, 61. lxxiv “The Roycroft Community,” The Arts and Crafts Society, accessed December 6, 2014, http://www.artscrafts.com/archive/hdavis.shtml. lxxv Ibid.
23!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
Gauguin and Seurat: A Formal Analysis of Arii Matamoe David Kuhio Ahia II Sophomore, Art History and Writing for Screen and Television Paul Gauguin, during his Tahitian phase, increasingly deviated from Western traditions and other French avant-gardists, such as Georges Seurat. This paper proposes that Arii Matamoe, one of his Tahtiain works, materialy and compositionally parodies Seurat’s famous A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte in order to critique the Seurat’s pointillism and to discredit Western figural traditions. Introduction
provides some excellent formal analysis, it
In modern scholarship, to discuss
grounds
Gauguin’s
work
in
how
he
Paul Gauguin, is to discuss a myth. Scholars
perceived the Tahitian landscape rather than
like Solomon-Godeau, Orton and Pollack
his references to greater Western traditions;
emphasize how his works mythologize and
particularly, in this case, the works of neo-
misrepresent a foreign landscape but fail to
impressionist Georges Seurat.
examine his complex dialogue with the
Given that Seurat exhibited his
French avant-garde. lxxvi This blind spot in
landmark Sunday Afternoon at La Grande
the scholarship applies particularly to Arii
Jatte in 1886, while Gauguin was still in
Matamoe, a painting produced in 1892
France, and the profusion of pointillism in
during Gauguin’s Tahitian phase. The one
the subsequent years, one can assume that
piece of scholarship dedicated to Arii
Gauguin had direct contact with this work
Matamoe was written by Getty Curator Scott
and with its countless imitators. Pointilism,
Allen on the occasion of the work’s cleaning
as John Rewald points out in his defining
by the Getty Institute, and Allen’s thesis
text on Post-Impressionism, was Seurat’s
largely
“self-
attempt to “reach beyond impressionism and
mythologizing” components, emphasizing
apply to his art the results of scientific
how Gauguin would identify with the
research in the field of physics,” a statement
“martyred” “savage” head in the center of
that Gauguin, the romantic opposed to
the frame.lxxvii
Western scientific thought, would cringe
deals
with
the
work’s
on
at. lxxviii This paper will propose that Arii
mythology forces scholars to reaffirm the
Matamoe is the visual sublimation of that
myth of Gauguin, even when they aim to
cringing. Arii Matamoe’s compositional and
critique his practices. While Allen’s article
material strategies quote and parody La
However,
!
such
emphasis
24!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
Figure!1,!Arii Matamoe, Paul Gauguin, 1892. Grande Jatte in order to symbolically undo
talismans of primitive and urban vice
Western idioms of science and color, an
respectively.
agenda that pervades Gauguin’s oeuvre.
severed head lacks the same confrontational
Parodying Pointillism
stare as Olympia, unlike Gauguin’s more
Arii Matamoe’s composition is filled
However,
clear reference to Manet, Spirit of the Dead
with symbolist intrigue, such that Allen
Watching.
Also,
concedes
Matamoe
feels
that
it
has
Arii Matamoe’s
“contradictory
unlike static,
Olympia, with
the
Arii rigid
interpretations... warding it against any neat
triangular shape of the head and the statuary
resolution.”lxxix The closest thing that comes
in the right corner evoking a stilled mood,
near a neat interpretation is his statement
again wholly unlike Olympia, whose cat and
that Arii Matamoe “echoes in compositional
black maid provide a lively contrast to the
lxxx
lounging prostitute. Even the Tahitian at
He makes this claim due to Gauguin’s
work with his hammer in the far right corner
choice to place the severed head on a white
feels lifeless and without movement. Allen’s
pillow in the center of the frame, with both
theory that this painting quotes Olympia
the head and Olympia serving as symbolic
falls apart upon closer scrutiny, with the
arrangement” Edouard Manet’s Olympia.
!
25!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
Figure!2,!A Sunday Afternoon at La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1886 similarities feeling tenuous: Olympia is
this referent makes more sense to explain
about life and sex, while Arii Matamoe
the lifelessness of Arii Matamoe. Given that
compositionally
Gauguin returned to Paris in November of
attempts
to
maximize
lifelessness.
1886, when it was still abuzz with the
This sense of lifelessness can be better
Vincent van Gogh, a fan of Seurat’s,
Matamoe a formal parody of Sunday
Gauguin’s capturing of similar sentiments of
Afternoon at La Grande Jatte, rather than a
lifelessness make sense. lxxxii After all, as
concerted reference to Olympia. At the time,
Rewald points out, Gauguin had had a
Seurat’s masterwork was considered a
“violent
diatribe
of
leaving Paris” and took “pleasure in
leisure.lxxxi For Parisian viewers of Seurat’s
demolishing van Gogh’s respect for Seurat’s
pointillist masterpiece, leisure felt like
theories.”lxxxiii Gauguin would have read the
death, and for Gauguin, on a perpetual
reviews that critiqued his enemy Seurat,
vacation in Tahiti—the epitome of leisure—
which
against
if
the
we
Grande Jatte and met
consider Arii
!
explained
showing of La
lifelessness
26!
quarrel
equated
with
La
Seurat…
Grande
before
Jatte
to
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
“landscapes of painted suicide” and Arii
they become a symbolic critique of class
Matamoe is his attempt to capture similar
structure, with the working class depicted in
stillness.
lxxxiv
Bathers
at
Asnieres
staring
at
the
But Arii Matamoe does more than
bourgeoisie in La Grande Jatte. One can see
just evoke the static mood of Seurat’s
Gauguin’s Arii Matamoe accomplishing
masterwork; its compositional strategies and
similar goals, but instead of pitting the
rendering of space further solidify it as a
working class against the bourgeoisie,
complex parody of La Grande Jatte. In the
Gauguin’s painting presents the colonized
top right corner of the painting there are
Tahitians
three bamboo rods extending to the top of
Gauguin, by having his head face the right
the frame, visually evoking the woods that
side of the frame, references Bathers at
clutter the top right corner of La Grande
Asnieres to further solidify that Arii
Jatte. The oddly triangular shape of the
Matamoe is his critique of La Grande Jatte.
severed head, which does not match the
Burlap and Anti-Pointillism
staring
at
their
colonizers.
rounded heads used in Gauguin’s renderings
More than mood and composition,
of Tahitians, resembles the angular shape of
the material components of Arii Matamoe
the heads in La Grande Jatte. Both works
serve as the most pointed critique and
play with illusionism in their rendering of
parody of La Grande Jatte. The burlap used
landscape; the grass on the banks of La
in Arii Matamoe is only briefly touched
Grande Jatte and the floorboards of the hut
upon in Allen’s analysis of the painting, but
in Arii Matamoe are slightly tilted upwards
this striking choice serves as the key to
in order to evoke a panicked mood.
understanding this painting.
In fact, if one were to place
This rough canvas plays with the eye
Gauguin’s work next to Seurat’s, the
of the viewer and like La Grande Jatte’s
severed Tahitian head would stare straight
pointillism prompts different readings based
into the pleasure-seekers on vacation at La
on proximity to the painting. The burlap’s
Grande Jatte. La Grande Jatte, by this time,
unevenness creates tiny holes in the
was already seen as a companion piece to
composition, so that when examined up
the Bathers at Asnieres, an earlier work by
close it looks as if brown dots riddle the
Seurat. When Bathers at Asnieres and La
canvas. From a distance, the material
Grande Jatte are placed next to each other,
becomes invisible under the swaths of paint.
!
27!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
It looks like a standard Gauguin. But as one
Western
approaches the frame, the painting becomes
superficially quotes Seurat’s pointillism;
more and more illegible, until when
anti-pointilism takes only the flaws of
examined up close the burlap visually
pointillism, that up-close analysis obfuscates
overtakes the paint.
meaning, and turns it into a critique of
This is reminiscent of pointillism’s
modes
of
representation.
It
Western logic itself, arguing that Western
greatest flaw. While La Grande Jatte
attempts
to
probe
into
the
primitive
remains legible from a distance, a close
conscious will obfuscate more than it will
examination of the canvas reveals the tiny
reveal.
dots of paint that compose the scene. Arii
Anti-pointillism, if such a term can
Matamoe serves as a pointillism in reverse:
be accepted, creates a post-impressionist
instead of people made of tiny dots on a
artwork that parodies wholly Seurat’s
smooth canvas it presents people made of
attempt at a logical theory of color. Instead
swaths of paint disrupted by the canvas
of precise, scientific dabs of paint, Gauguin
itself. Both pointillism and anti-pointillism
creates large swaths of color disrupted by
provide forms that are most legible from
the primitive presence, undoing pointillism’s
afar, but that, upon closer examination,
science and replacing it with mythology.
become
The End of Uncivilization
anonymous.
The
staccato
brushwork of La Grande Jatte helped to
If we are to assume Arii Matamoe
capture the soul-crushing anonymity of city
both parodies Seurat’s composition and
life, while the burlap of Arii Matamoe
turns pointillism on its head, one must
makes its characters equally anonymous in
wonder
order to evoke the mysteries inherent in
aesthetic mission. Gauguin had a personal
primitive cultures. But unlike pointillism,
vendetta against Seurat, but the fact that he
this anti-pointillism claims none of the
used burlap and anti-pointillism for his
scientific objectivity that marked Seurat’s
masterpiece, Where Do We Come From?
work. Gauguin’s cloth, made of native
What Are We? Where Are We Going?,
material,
Western
shows that Gauguin invested philosophical
conventions painted upon it, and serves as a
value into this technique outside of merely
metaphorical
parodying La Grande Jatte. As such, Arii
reasoning,
!
rebels
against
undoing literally
the of
showing
scientific holes
in
why
Gauguin
promoted
this
Matamoe provides a hint at Gauguin’s
28!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
personal conception of the primitive and his
Paris’s icon, shows Gauguin’s concerted
stylistic development.
separation from his whiteness, and with
While overreliance on the Noa Noa
European art’s emphasis on descriptive
or other works by Gauguin turns his art into
painting.
something filtered solely through the artist,
After all, while pointillism is now
in this case Allen provides intriguing
generally seen as a precursor to modern
insight. Allen links this painting to the death
abstract art, at the time of its debut it was
of King Pomare V, the final monarch of
lauded as a way to scientifically capture the
Tahiti. For Gauguin, King Pomare V’s death
very nature of being. Gauguin, however, did
was
Tahitian
not want this. A scientific depiction of Tahiti
civilization and marked his need to “gain
would be one of European costumes and
confidence of the Maori’s and come to know
Christian rituals, neither of which appealed
them,” to become a “savage.”lxxxv
to Gauguin’s erotic fantasies concerning
the
metaphoric
end
of
The importance of Arii Matamoe is
Tahiti and its women.lxxxvi The burlap not
the visual representation of his need to be
only showcases a primitive form of fabrics,
“savage,” and the reason for this vicious
but it undoes the scientific objectivity of
parody of Paris’s favorite avant-gardist. This
Western modes of thought in order to undo
episode of the Noa Noa immediately
colonization, at least for Gauguin. Only by
precedes the famous axeman passage in
rebelling against scientific realism could
which Gauguin metaphorically cuts his ties
Gauguin access his imagined pre-colonial
from his white self. Additionally, throughout
primitive past. Only by destroying rational
this passage Gauguin describes his half-
depiction could Gauguin strive for a myth.
white half-Tahitian lover Titi, and when he
The symbol of a severed head can be seen as
ultimately goes to the funeral he leaves her
a satiric joke; Gauguin hated rationalism,
behind because she is too white for Gauguin.
and now he has killed the organ of rational
That Gauguin was more white than Titi
thought, destroying reason itself.
never surfaces in the Noa Noa, but for Gauguin whiteness is a way of being, not an
Works Cited
ethnic heritage, and that way of being is a
Allen, Scott C. ""A Pretty Piece of
civilized,
prim
and
proper
Parisian
Painting": Gauguin's "Arii Matamoe""
sensibility. Arii Matamoe, by parodying
!
Getty Research Journal No. 4 (2012): 75-
29!
Gaugin!and!Seurat!!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 78) and “Seurat and His Friends” (pp.79146) best examine Seurat and Gauguin’s relationship. lxxix Scott C. Alan, “‘A Pretty Piece of Painting’: Gauguin’s ‘Arii Matamoe,’” Getty Research Journal, 2012, 86. lxxx Scott C. Alan, “‘A Pretty Piece of Painting’: Gauguin’s ‘Arii Matamoe,’” Getty Research Journal, 2012, 77. lxxxi Linda Nochlin, “Seurat’s La Grande Jatte: An Anti-Utopian Allegory,” The Politics of Vision: Essays on NineteenthCentury Art and Society, 1989, pp. 170-193. This essay delineates much of the antileisure sentiment featured in La Grande Jatte and Seurat’s oeuvre. lxxxii John Rewald, Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. 1978, 41. lxxxiii Ibid. lxxxiv Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope, pp. 813-814. The translation used for this paper is as quoted in Nochlin’s “Seurat’s La Grande Jatte: An Anti-Utopian Allegory,” of which she admits she has slightly altered. lxxxv Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa, trans O.F. Theis, 1925, 21. lxxxvi Peter Brook, “Gauguin’s Tahitian Body,” The Expanding Discourse.1992, pp. 331-343. Brook’s essay examines the historic conceptions of Tahiti as a sexual utopia and how Gauguin drew off of these myths.
90. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Brook, Peter. “Gauguin’s Tahitian Body,” The Expanding Discourse.1992, pp. 331343.! Gauguin, Paul. Noa Noa. Trans. O.F. Theis. Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1925. Print.! Nochlin, Linda. "Seurat's La Grande Jatte: An Anti-Utopian Allegory." The Politics of Vision: Essays on Nineteenth-Century Art and Society. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. 170-93. Print. Orton, Fred and Pollock, Griselda “Les Donnees Bretonnantes: La Prairie De Representation,” Art History, Sept. 1980, pp. 314-344. Rewald, John. Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1978. Print. Soloman-Godeau, Abigail. “Going Native,” The Expanding Discourse. 1992, pp. 313329. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lxxvi!Fred Orton and Griselda Pollock, “Les Donnees Bretonnantes: La Prairie De Representation,” Art History, Sept. 1980, pp. 314-344. Abigail Soloman-Godeau, “Going Native,” The Expanding Discourse. 1992, pp. 313-329. lxxvii Scott C. Alan, “‘A Pretty Piece of Painting’: Gauguin’s ‘Arii Matamoe,’” Getty Research Journal, 2012, pp 75-90. lxxviii!John Rewald, Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. 1978, 79. While the whole book provides good context for Gauguin and Seurat, his first two chapters titled “Van Gogh in Paris” (pp. 11!
Impression!Vol.!3!
30!
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
L’Etoile is Life: Degas’ Impressionism and Paris, 1878 AnnaLiese Burich Sophomore, Narrative Studies (Art History and Cinematic Arts Minor) Degas’ L’Etoile is more than a painting of a ballerina: it is a representation of the Paris of the late 1800s. She represents the patriarchal, renovated city as well as the new style of painting that captured the feeling of the new era. In
Edgar
Degas’
L’Etoile
(1878), a ballerina is mid-arabesque, onstage, looking contentedly at her audience. But the painting is more than just a ballerina performing—it is rife with stylistic and cultural symbolism that makes it the quintessential representation of its time and place, Paris during the late 1800s. It shows all sides of Paris: the cultural society, opulent status, and the glorious yet dangerous spectacle; the voyeurism and subjugation of women; the modernization of Paris, and the modernization of art. Quite simply, L’Etoile is modernity: it is Paris and Impressionism. L’Etoile shows Paris in the late 1800s as an intricate, status-based society centered on the spectacle of the city and the people. The point-ofview of the painting reveals society’s Figure 1, Edgar Degas, L’Etoile, 1876, pastel on paper. point-of- view. Art historian Robert L.
by the partial enclosure; they were on
Herbert explains the significance of the idea
display when seated towards the front...they
of the raised balcony loge in modern Paris:
were a sideshow to the main attraction for
“Those who rented loges set themselves off
the audience below”. lxxxvii The idea of the
!
31!
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
modern Paris as an attraction—a spectacle—
the man to the ballerina’s left. He is in the
appears in its signs and signals, both
background; the set-piece obscures his face,
figuratively and literally. It was a city built
but his body is clearly angled toward the
to be seen; during this time, there was a rise
ballerina. He is the trope of the “predatory
in the popularity of entertainment venues,
middle-aged male who looms so large in the
lights,
opera of Degas’s day...who treated the ballet
Everywhere a Parisian turned, there was
dancers as kind of game preserve” xci . He
something to see: a flyer, a glass and iron
stands behind her, with his ever-present
structure, a show, or electric lights. But,
watchful eye that indicates his possession of
more importantly, the people within and
her. This man’s predatory attitude expands
around these new spectacles were also
beyond the theater and into all of modern
meant to be seen—the people were also part
Paris. Judith Walkowitz describes the
of the spectacle. And they were aware of it.
presence of voyeurism in the modern city: it
The loges represent the panoptic effect:
was a “bourgeois male pleasure.” In his
Paris
over
society, the privileged male ruled, and he
. In L’Etoile, the ethos of
knew it; he was a flaneur, which meant that
watching is taken even further: the high
he viewed the world as a fantastical place
angle at which the viewer sees the ballerina
full of strangers and secrets, a place was his
means that the viewer is close to the
to observe and own—if he so chose xcii . This
Emperor’s box, in the front of the theater xc.
explains his gaze: he watches so blatantly
The viewer has won a lucky position of
because he knows he has the power—he is
status along with the Emperor; he is above,
bourgeois, and he is a man, so he has an
looking down at the performer, so high that
inherent right to the city and all of its
he cannot see even the other members of the
inhabitants. Traditionally, a mere gaze does
audience. This means that everyone in the
not automatically indicate possession, but in
theater is looking at the emperor—and the
the context of this society, it does. The
viewer—including the ballerina. In L’Etoile,
flaneur’s—the predatory male’s—gaze is
the viewer is included in the spectacle—he
invisible, yet all-too tangible.
is the focus of it.
The ballerina knows that he possesses her—
was lxxxix
“a
and
society
buildings
lxxxviii
.
itself”
images,
watching
But the spectacle has its dark side, to
and she accepts it. In modern Paris, women
the painting and to society, as represented by
created and altered the traditional role of the
!
32!
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
female in public versus private spheres.
be seen. This explains the ballerina’s smile:
During this time, there the department store
she revels in the fact that she is in public
was created, which was advertised as a place
being seen. But because she is in public, she
for women to socialize, browse, and spend
is not respected: she is a sexual object.
the day looking at commodities. They did,
Herbert asserts that her, and the rest of
daringly leaving their home to observe the
Degas’ ballerinas, sexuality is captured
goods—as well as observe the other
through their legsxcv. Only one of her legs is
womenxciii . Women in this period interacted
showing, and the blatant lack of the other
in the outside world, shocking the traditional
one calls extra attention her sexualizing
society. A predisposed distrust of public
feature.
women developed. Prostitution became a
background do not even have faces—they
popular topic of conversation and debate;
are literally only tutus and legs. So the
the question of the day was “Is she or isn’t
consequence of being in public was being
xciv
she?”
. Thus, this ballerina, so very much
The
other
ballerinas
in
the
objectified. But they did not mind. Or if they
outside the home, was assumed to be a
did, they did not stop.
prostitute. Ballet was not high art in the late
Formally, L’Etoile represents the age
1800s, so the ballerina was not of a high
as
well.
Degas
class. It was assumed that sexual exchange
Impressionist:
would occur between the ballerinas and the
popularity, the Impressionist group diverged
men in the wings.
from painting’s traditional realism. Their
as
is
quintessentially
photography
rose
in
L’Etoile’s ballerina is fully aware
goal was to capture the moment in a way
that there is a man watching her from
photography could not, so they used radical
behind; she is aware that the audience is
brushstrokes to radicalize art: their strokes
watching her—but she accepts it, because at
“varie[d] according to the image being
least she is participating in modern society.
created:
In a world increasingly centered around
aggregates...wide,
commodities, she is merely offering her
horizontals...streaky
own. She has a place in the public sphere,
bunched diagonals and swirls...the viewer
which means that she has a role in the
unconsciously lets the thicker strokes confer
exhibitionary society; she is part of the
a factitious ‘reality’ on their images” xcvi .
spectacle where she should—and wants to—
These “manipulations of paint...renounced
!
33!
blended
mixtures...choppy dragged verticals...finely
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
the traditional underpinnings of modeling in
the tension between the two main figures.
light and dark” xcvii . Their vibrant and
The hazy white ballerina is diagonal from
deliberate color choices had meaning as
her stark black visitor behind her. The rest
much as the strokes did; they used new
of the space is negative; it is inconsequential
acrylic paints, with colors made from
to the image yet consequential to the mood.
chemicals that had never before been seen to
In his brushstrokes, Degas captures
create emotions that had never before been
the feeling of the modern era. Most of the
felt.
painting is negative space, comprised of And L’Etoile is no exception to these
either the thick strokes of the set-piece or the
Impressionist norms. The stage’s set is
indeterminate grayness of the stage. This
composed of thick orange-brown and blue
mirrors the wide, empty feeling of the new
diagonals; the dancers backstage are white
Paris. During Degas’ life, Napoleon III
dots and tan lines; the man is the most
commissioned George-Eugene Haussmann
defined figure in the background, merely
to reconstruct Paris; as a result, Paris lost its
filled-in black with defined legs and arms.
charming crowdedness and gained wide
The stage defies perspective, using various
boulevards. So Paris, like Degas’ stage,
only shades of grey-brown to define the
became wide and empty, with vast stretches
foreground
star
of indeterminate grayness known as streets.
ballerina herself is luminous: whites mixed
During Haussmannization, there was also a
with yellows that imply an angelic spotlight;
rise in the development of planted trees and
her flowers are a shocking red, incongruent
gardens throughout the city. Degas’ set-
with the rest of the earth-like colors; her
piece in L’Etoile mirrors those trees: the
black choker floats diagonally from her
strokes are wide and form bush-like figures
head—ominously towards her man in
that extend from floor to ceiling in the
black—indicating that she is in motion. The
background. The brown color of the set’s
painting is a conglomeration of color and
bushes indicates autumn, and the leaves are
stroke;
or
dying—perhaps a satirical statement by
photographic about the images. The strokes
Degas on the success of the new Paris. The
are hazy and large, angry and ethereal.
presence of nature allows the voyeur to
Instead of capturing the image, Degas
contemplate and hide from society, which is
captures the feeling of the stage, showing
a trope of Impressionist depictions of
!
and
there
background.
is
nothing
The
realistic
34!
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
leisure, though it is threatening in this
everything he sees; the stage and foliage
particular casexcviii . The haziness of the stage
represent Haussmann’s Paris with wide
emphasizes the tension between the people,
boulevards and false nature; and the strokes
which mirrors the tensions of the new Paris:
represent the tension in the new society,
the environment changed, and so did social
with the focus on other people more than on
relations. Before, women were not objects,
the
and society was not voyeuristic. While the
seemingly
infrastructure of the city itself was new, it
glamorous ballerina, Degas has created a
ironically faded into the background of the
microcosm onstage: he has created Paris,
people’s conscious as they focused on the
1878.
environment.
In
innocuous
his
painting,
depiction
of
a a
new people of the new city. Paris became Works Cited Bennett, Tony. “The Exhibitionary Complex.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski. New York: Routledge, 2008. 117- 129. Print. Clark, T.J. “The View From Notre-Dame.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski. New York: Routledge, 2008. 178-193. Print. Clayson, S. Hollis. “Painting the Traffic in Women.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski. New York: Routledge, 2008. 299-312. Print. Herbert, Robert L. Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988. Print. Rappaport, Erika. “A New Era of Shopping.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski. New York: Routledge, 2008. 151- 164. Print. Walkowitz, Judith. “Urban Spectatorship.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski. New York:
about the people: about crowds, about seeing, about being seen. This emphasis of people within the city is a focus of many Impressionist works, from Manet’s La Musique aux Tuilieries to Caillebotte’s Le Pont de l’Europe. But Degas is unique: he brings nature and the city indoors—and onto a stage, no less. Paris in the late 1800s was exhibitionary, as Bennett asserts. People were on display, and they knew it. Degas creates in his painting an allegory: Paris is a theater; the people within it are actors. The viewer’s high place in the loge represents the importance of status and spectatorship in the new society; the ballerina represents the women of Paris, purposefully and daringly in the public sphere; the middle-aged man represents the leader of elite society, the bourgeois voyeur, confident
!
in
his
tacit
possession
of
35!
L’Etoile)is!Life!!
!
Routledge, 2008. 205-210. Print. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lxxxvii Herbert, Robert L. Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society (New Haven and London, 1988), p. 96. lxxxviii Clark, T.J. ““The View From NotreDame.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 190. lxxxix Tony Bennett. The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 124. xc Herbert, Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, 104. xci Ibid, 104. xcii!Walkowitz, Judith. “Urban Spectatorship.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 206. xciii Rappaport, Erika. “A New Era of Shopping.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 160. xciv Clayson, S. Hollis. “Painting the Traffic in Women.” The Nineteenth Century Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeanne M. Przyblyski (New York: Routledge, 2008), p. 301. xcv Herbert, Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, 104. xcvi Ibid, 245. xcvii Ibid, 245. xcviii Ibid, 256.
!
36!
Impression!Vol.!3!
The!Color!and!its!Reality!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
The Color and its Reality Yookyung Anna Sohn Senior, Fine Arts (Art History Minor) In the late 19th century, renovation of Paris led to the rise of a culture, which centered its practices on the art of "looking." As part of this new culture, the artificial flower industry and Fauvist painters largely utilized the exploration of color in order to pursue their individual interests. As a result, the boundary between the natural and artificial was tampered with, and reality and imagination were blurred together. Focusing on the use of colors by Henri Matisse and flower manufacturers, this essay examines their influence on the development of visual culture in modern Paris. In the late 19th century, Paris became a city overtaken by spectacle in the form of magnificent buildings, grand avenues and fancy bourgeois. Perhaps
then,
it
is
not
surprising that “vision”, here defined as the experience of looking and being looked at, became
one
of
the
most
important aspects of bourgeois life.
To
satiate
endless
demands for a newer visual experience,
public
institutions—art
museums,
morgues, wax museums and cinema—evolved
to
supply
visual
entertainment
that
played
with
and
reality
representations of reality. In Figure 1, Henri Matisse, La femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat), 1905, oil on canvas.
!
37!
doing so, the public’s sense of reality
and
fiction
were
The!Color!and!its!Reality!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
constantly challenged. Similarly, gardens in
Impressionist predecessors was their new
Paris became a site where one’s perception
interpretation
of the natural and artificial was questioned
Professor Eun-Kyung Lee, Fauvist’s colors
through the developments in the variety of
rely on dashing and violent primitive colors
colors in flowers. Experimentations with
and are further emphasized by direct
colors led to a surge of artificial flowers that
contrast between the colors.c The Fauvist’s
were characterized by containing colors
endeavor to find value in color itself was
non-existent in nature. The purity of nature
influenced by Paul Gauguin. Gauguin and
was also challenged by Fauvists, who
other French artists of his time had been
attempted to draw color from nature but
interested in how color could go beyond
distorted anything remaining. The epitome
nature and reach “an intensity not present in
of Fauvist ideals can be represented by
the ordinary view;” they intended to find the
Woman with a Hat (1905), a Fauvist
“new” color in a different place than Paris.ci
painting by French artist Henri Matisse. The
Discovering that colors could function as a
painting is not only known for its stark
language in Brittany, Gauguin used colors to
primitive look but also for its use of
deceive the reality of Tahiti and create
“primary colors that heightens the emotion
paintings in which colors expressed the
and sense of form.”xcix While Matisse and
feelings
artificial flower manufacturers differed in
corresponded to his fantasy of Tahiti.
choices of color in their productions, the
Subsequently, Gauguin’s tactics became the
distortion of natural color by both producers
breaking moment for Fauvists, who realized
blurred the boundaries between natural and
that the liberation of colors from layers of
artificial, real and imaginary.
representation
To understand the commonality
of
of
color.
According
primitive
was
fantasy
crucial
to
to
that
reach
autonomy of color.
between two seemingly distant practices of
Unlike the Fauvist’s infatuation with
paintings and flower manufacture, in this
liberating
case the blurred reality, it’s important to
expression, artificial flower manufacturers
understand why color became so important
became aware of the importance of color in
for both Matisse and artificial flower
the process of satisfying not only their
manufacturers.
the
desires for better profits but also the
Fauvists from their Impressionist and Post-
consumer’s need to experience something
!
What
distinguished
38!
color
for
the
individual’s
The!Color!and!its!Reality!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
new, which in turn impacted the sales.
flowers were “part and parcel of women’s
Amidst the world of spectacles, flowers
attire” that became manifestations of one’s
outgrew their original function as part of
taste. civ This meant that despite the large
nature and became colorful commodities
demand for artificial flowers, its popularity
that were active participant in the visual
largely depended on the taste of consumers,
culture of modern Paris. For instance, in
and to provide enough variety it became
contrast to previous gardens with naturally
inevitable for the manufacturers but to
laid
exploit color.
out
flowers,
the
influence
of
mosaiculture—using plants and colorful
Why use primary colors in Woman
foliage to create certain forms—led to grand
with a Hat and imaginary colors in artificial
scale gardens that used flowers and plants to
flowers? To achieve color’s autonomy and
construct
certain
cii
what
liberate oneself to the painting, Fauvists first
magnified the visual attractiveness of the
banished the naturalistic style from their
gardens
the
painting, leaving no room for spatial depth
hybridization of flowers. With growing
or illusion. Instead, by only allowing colors
interest in flowers, experts not only began to
and contours to revel on the surface, they
import flowers from other parts of the world
achieved a new form through distorted
but also began breeding one species with
figures, violent colors, and simplified style.
another to create new ones.ciii As a result,
This “new form” enabled colors to detach
the flower gardens turned into a constructed
themselves from representations and stand
spectacle with designed form and bursting
alone, allowing them to express themselves
colors,
and
solely as the colors they are.cv In order to
artificiality. Moreover, the flower as a
practice the color’s autonomy, Fauvists
commodity had a larger significance as a
chose to freely use intense primary colors
fashion item. As flowers emerged as strong
and connect the high degree of purity in
were
forms.
the
But
colors
flaunting
from
flamboyancy
th
visual attractions in the late 19 century, the
primary colors to the freedom of emotion.
utilization
to
By rejecting imitative colors and adopting
colorful
pure, primary colors, Fauvism brought
commercial commodities consumers’
of
flowers
areas,
expanded
where
would demands.
the
stimulate Facilitating
the
innovative
in
that
liberated
sensibility and a way to understand a subject
displaying oneself as a spectacle, artificial
!
expression
through
39!
instinctive
compulsion
by
The!Color!and!its!Reality!!
!
separating human’s emotion from outer cvi
world.
Likewise,
was an ambiguous figure caught between the
flower
realm of the real and the imaginary.
manufacturers also began using pure colors.
Although he lived through a traumatic era of
Because it was crucial for the flower
war, Matisse always managed to detach
manufacturers
truthful
himself from reality and stay within his
reproduction of nature, the use of colors
studio, “a world within the world.”cviii In his
from nature and the realistic quality
world, he produced paintings that had no
achieved by the imitation of nature became
affiliation with reality, only the “comfort,
important factors in the production of
refuge, and balanced satisfaction” remained
artificial flowers.cvii However, the popularity
and the use of bright primitive color palette
of artificial flowers forced manufacturers to
affirmed that the paintings stayed that
create novel designs—an unprecedented
way. cix In Woman with a Hat, Matisse
look that would satisfy the consumers’
painted a woman wearing a large hat,
desires for something unique. To make
holding a fan and showing no signs of
unique artificial flowers, manufacturers
interest in the world around her. However,
broke away from realism and began to
her nonchalance is contradicted by the
experiment with every element of the
blooming of natural colors that dominate the
subject—size, arrangement, and color. In the
entire canvas. Although Matisse takes colors
end, color was the answer. By implementing
from nature—the real world—the way he
artificial colors, which had no equivalent in
applies blocks of colors to constitute the
nature, they gained eccentric flowers that
woman almost evokes a fictitious sense.
would satisfy the needs of customers
Also, the blocks of color merge the figure to
looking
thus
the background, further complicating the
mass
sense of what is real and what is imaginary.
for
expanding
to
artificial
Impression!Vol.!3!
make
something their
a
exquisite,
production
for
consumption.
Thus, within his painting, Matisse constructs
In spite of the discrepancies in
a world only of color—a world that is real to
decisions of colors they chose to achieve
him.
their own purpose, Matisse and the artificial flower
both
the
artificial
flower
influenced
manufacturers, the exploration of color
challenging the division between real and
“entailed a blurring of the boundaries
imaginary. To begin with, Matisse himself
between the natural and the artificial, the
!
manufacturers
For
40!
The!Color!and!its!Reality!! real and imaginary.”
!
cx
Impression!Vol.!3!
While flowers
customers. But in a larger context, colors
originally resided in nature, they were, as a
from both objects challenged the visual
result of human interception, forced into the
conception of the people by merging the real
realm of the artificial. Even prior to artificial
and the imagery.
flowers
Works Cited
acting
as
commodities,
the
hybridization of flowers led to the birth of
Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New. Rev.
flowers that cannot be categorized as a
ed. New York: Knopf, 1991.
“flower of nature.” Because man-made
Kalba, Laura Anne. "Blue Roses and Yellow
decisions interfered in the process of
Violets: Flowers and the Cultivation of
creating
Color in Nineteenth-Century France."
new
color,
the
existence
of
hybridized flowers is beyond real—albeit
Representations: 83-114.
they will wither like natural flowers at some
Lee, Eun-Kyung. "The Influence of Color
point. In the case of artificial flowers as
Autonomy in Matisse Painting on
fashion garments, the blurred reality is
Modern Fashion Design." Journal of the
constantly seen through the use of artificial
Korean Society of Costume 51, no. 5
colors that refuse to be identified as real.
(2001): 147-56.
Thus, the visual perception of consumers
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xcix
Robert Hughes. "The Landscape of Pleasure." In The Shock of the New, 139. Rev. ed. New York: Knopf, 1991. c Eun-Kyung Lee. "The Influence of Color Autonomy in Matisse Painting on Modern Fashion Design." Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 51, no. 5 (2001): 148. ci Hughes, Robert. "The Landscape of Pleasure." In The Shock of the New, 139. Rev. ed. New York: Knopf, 1991. cii Laura Anne Kalba. "Blue Roses and Yellow Violets: Flowers and the Cultivation of Color in Nineteenth-Century France." Representations: 98. ciii Laura Anne Kalba. "Blue Roses and Yellow Violets: Flowers and the Cultivation of Color in Nineteenth-Century France." Representations: 91. civ Ibid., 101. cv Eun-Kyung Lee. "The Influence of Color Autonomy in Matisse Painting on Modern Fashion Design." Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 51, no. 5 (2001): 148.
was inevitably questioned as they indulged in flowers that denied to be identified as neither real nor imaginary. Modern society’s fascination with looking and being seen transformed reality into a spectacle, which in turn brought in the imaginary to become part of reality. Accordingly, Woman with a Hat by Matisse and artificial flowers are both manifestations of the uncanny reality, in which nature is constantly
bombarded
with
artificial
interventions. For both, color worked as the primary factor in serving each of their own intention: liberating oneself and pleasing the
!
41!
The!Color!and!its!Reality!!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cvi
Eun-Kyung Lee. "The Influence of Color Autonomy in Matisse Painting on Modern Fashion Design." Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 51, no. 5 (2001): 149. cvii Laura Anne Kalba. "Blue Roses and Yellow Violets: Flowers and the Cultivation of Color in Nineteenth-Century France." Representations: 101. cviii Robert Hughes. "The Landscape of Pleasure." In The Shock of the New, 134. Rev. ed. New York: Knopf, 1991. cix Ibid., 134. cx Laura Anne Kalba. "Blue Roses and Yellow Violets: Flowers and the Cultivation of Color in Nineteenth-Century France." Representations: 110.
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Len!Lye:!Motion!Sketch!!
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LEN LYE Motion Sketch THE DRAWING CENTER, New York | April 17-June 8, 2014 Ashley Moy Senior, Art History (Natural Sciences minor) The Drawing Center effectively demonstrates the power of Len Lye’s drawings in relation to the aesthetic potential of movement.
Figure 1, One drawing of Len Lye’s 14-piece series called Sketch for Motion Composition. It is a curious matter when an
for a few weeks last summer. It was no
exhibition demonstrates that a drawing can
surprise that The Drawing Center, an
document an aspiration for sensation and a
institution
desire to empathize with the world around it.
expansion of drawing’s form and purposes,
That, at least, was the goal countenanced by
chose to exhibit Lye. The large selection of
Len Lye’s exhibition, which was open just
works that were on view have never been
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43!
heavily
interested
in
the
Len!Lye:!Motion!Sketch!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3! example at The Drawing Center was a fourteen-piece series called Sketch for Motion Composition, dated 1938. Each piece consisted of doodles that were made up of thin and wispy lines that were almost “hair-like”. After examining it more closely, it was evident that he attempted to render curling waves
Figure!2,!Len Lye, Snow Birds Making Snow, 1936.
people’s clothing, and birds in
shown in the United States before.cxi
flight. The Drawing Center effectively
Consisting of drawings, paintings,
demonstrated how drawing was inherent in
photograms, and films, the exhibition
every aspect of Lye’s practice, and also
was equivalent to a small, spinning
included works in other media such as
world cxii —limited in scope to Lye’s
paintings, photograms, and films.
early to mid-career but no less constantly
revolving
around
of the ocean, creases and folds in
When one first entered the exhibition
the
room, they encountered Lye’s 1936 Snow
recurring theme of energy and the aesthetic potential of movement. Beginning in the 1920s while still living in his native New Zealand, Lye started to make the “motion sketches” for which this exhibition was named. cxiii As a draftsman of power, his drawings indicated an attempt to pleat the motion characteristics of his subjects into his own “sinews”. This may have allowed him to feel a sensation that came from a direct
relationship with his subjects. An Figure!3,!Len Lye, Free Radicals and Particles in Space, 1957
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44!
Len!Lye:!Motion!Sketch!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3! Using the photogram as his medium, Lye captured well-known artists, such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Joan Miró. The momentary
shadows
in
each
portrait
indicated that Lye was working in neardarkness until a flash of light captured his subjects.cxiv This flash of light “caught” his subjects in a specific moment of time relative to the moving elements. The most monumental works that reflected Lye’s theme of energy and movement were his 1957 scratch films called Free Radicals and Particles in Space.
Figure 4, Len Lye, Joan Miró, 1947, photogram.
These works looked back to the drawing techniques that he used in pieces like Sketch
Birds Making Snow, an oil on board abstract painting. The painting was strikingly matted with tones of light brown and shades of white onto which lines of red, yellow, and black were sketched on top. Red lines marked the movements and trajectory of the bird flying downwards into the snow. Black lines emphasized the movement of the bird’s feet, while yellow lines marked the snow’s movement against the back drop of a transparent white ground of snow. The way the snow and the birds were drawn were repeated
throughout
the
piece,
which
supported Lye’s attempt to create a hand memory of drawing derived from the
Figure 5 Len Lye, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1948, photogram
aesthetic potential of movement itself.
!
45!
Len!Lye:!Motion!Sketch!!
!
for Motion Composition. The unique and captivating figures in both films twisted, turned, and scattered in the same way that his
subjects
Composition
in
Sketch
expanded,
for
Motion
loosened,
and
undulated in the form of lines. Using tools such as nails and dental picks, the figures were drawn or “scratched” directly onto the film paper itself. cxv This “scratching” was just one representation of how drawing was truly inherent in Lye’s art technique to render energy and movement, a technique that will forever be remembered within the realm
of
the
arts.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cxi “Len Lye Motion Sketch,” The Drawing Center, accessed June 8, 2014, http://www.drawingcenter.org/en/drawingce nter/5/exhibitions/9/upcoming/589/len-lye/ cxii Len Lye himself has said that “he lives in a small, spinning world.” cxiii “Len Lye Motion Sketch,” The Drawing Center cxiv!1. Gregory Burke and Tyler Cann, Drawing Papers 115 Len Lye: Motion Sketch (Minnesota: BookMobile, 2014), 31. cxv Gallery label
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Impression!Vol.!3!
William!Pope.L’s!Silly!Trinket!!
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Impression!Vol.!3!
The$Prolific$Irony$of$William$Pope.L’s$Silly$Trinket$ Katelyn!Frager! Senior,!Art!History!! ! In)effort)to)share)the)stimulating)and)inspiring)experience)of)Pope.L’s)new)work,)this)is)a)rave) review)of)Pope.L’s)“Trinket”,)now)on)display)at)the)MoCA)Geffen)Center)through)June)28th,) 2015.) During
for
entire collection, it becomes a provocative
performance artist William Pope.L’s new
performance piece. The show engages the
exhibition
last
viewer with more than sight, but with touch,
Thursday night, an audience member asked,
sound, and inward reflection. The pieces’
“How does Migrant relate to Trinket? How
sensory involvement engages the viewer
did Pope L.’s previous ‘crawls’ lead to this
beyond a visual interest, but into deep
show?” This question echoes the response of
thought that provokes a physical reaction to
many audience members—as the show’s
the show as a whole. The show is not solely
title piece, Trinket, does not operate within
to be seen, but felt, as the sounds,
the
best-known
composition, and size of the Geffen force an
performance art and crawls. Migrant is the
impressionable, isolated contact between the
show’s star, the title piece—an enormous
viewer and Pope.L’s art.
at
context
a the
of
curatorial Geffen
talk Center
Pope.L’s
American flag. Trinket is its accompanying
The origin of Pope.L “experience”
piece, operating as both an installation and
art is rooted in the tradition of body and
performance piece. The striking simplicity
performance art of the 1970s, alongside
of work within the Geffen space ultimately
artists like Chris Burns and the Fluxus
makes the show prolific, beyond just
movement. In the 80s, Pope.L worked
visually interesting.
mainly in theatre and still continues to work
William
show
within these influences. The contradictory
should not be referred to as a typical
nature of Trinket to the rest of Pope.L’s
exhibition, but rather, an experience—a
oeuvre has distanced the show from the
theatrical piece much like the rest of his
popular public. Unlike Mike Kelley’s
life’s work. Trinket first appears as an
“Restrospective” exhibition at the Geffen in
installation piece, working with symbolism
2014 (a pop culture and modernist show,
and found objects, but in the context of the
with an astounding amount of work),
!
Pope.L’s
Geffen
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William!Pope.L’s!Silly!Trinket!!
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Impression!Vol.!3!
Pope.L’s show is conceptual, with a small
Curator Bennett Simpson describes
collection of pieces—an unforgettable show
Trinket as a piece that transcends any one
certainly, but one that has not drawn the
political moment in the United States, but
Blockbuster crowd.
rather one that can be applied to any
Like Kelley’s exhibition, Pope.L’s
moment of unrest, at any time. Now, the
work holds a powerful presence in the
piece may stir thoughts of Ferguson, and
enormous, echoing Geffen Center, which is
other cases of racial injustice across the
an
typically
country—but seven years ago, it may have
challenging space for smaller shows. The
triggered a reaction to the pride in electing
size of the Geffen perfectly houses the
the country’s first black President. Just a
show’s title piece, Trinket, an enormous
little more than a decade ago, the piece
American flag that is continuously blown by
would have served as a patriotic symbol
large, industry fans during museum hours.
honoring 9/11, or a critique on the war in
At first glance, both in photos and in person,
Iraq. As Simpson stated, “most works of art
the flag appears to be just like any outdoor
are
patriotic flag on a windy afternoon. But the
something,” yet this piece works to arouse
fans, wind, and flapping of the flag boom
reaction itself. The flag also boasts a 51st
throughout the 55,000 square foot facility.
star, attached to the side, protruding into one
The wind tunnel drowns out any noise—no
of its stripes. When Simpson asked Pope.L
speech, shuffling of feet, or iPhone camera
what the extra star was for, he responded,
shutters can be heard in its proximity—
“it’s for you, man.” The star can be
making the viewer truly feel alone with the
whatever the audience thinks it should be—
majestic Trinket. Pope.L’s flag is may just a
for Puerto Rico? Cuba? Perhaps it is a
largely projected trinket, or a representation
commentary on the growing nature of the
of what flag trinkets represent—but upon
United States, or represents the citizen’s
immersing oneself in its presence, Trinket
individual role amongst the 50 states. The
becomes much more than that. “It’s like
star could represent the Federal government,
watching an open flame,” said fellow
alongside the 50 State Governments. The
attendee on the way out, “something you’ve
star could be nothing at all.
old
police
garage
-
a
seen plenty of times before, yet still
to
show
a
reaction
to
Arguably the exhibition’s second
mesmerizing.”
!
created
most memorable piece, Migrant, lines the
48!
William!Pope.L’s!Silly!Trinket!!
!
Impression!Vol.!3!
end of the central gallery, almost ‘capping’
placed around the building’s many wall
the fraying ends of the flag. The placement
spaces; above a doorway, hidden in a high
of Migrant at Trinket’s end immediately
corner—the phrase is written in black
creates a connection between the two works,
mysteriously,
and the viewer’s interpretation of Migrant is
space’s
now directly correlates to their interpretation
Migrant’s slow, perhaps lazy moving figures
of Trinket. A bare boned, raised, fenced in,
draw allegory to Belacqua from Dante’s
wooden platform structure sets the odd stage
Canto IV - the epitome of laziness. The
for Migrant’s performing artists. In groups
works “hinge” together to evoke a series of
of three, spread throughout the structure,
themes for the show as a whole, rather than
each
a variety of themes from individual pieces;
person
is
blindfolded,
wearing
and
starkly,
characteristically
a
white
walls.
this
distraught white wig. The figures blindly
takeaway, an ‘experience’ greatly aligned
crawl along the structure; whether they are
with Pope.L’s theatrical form. Simpson’s
complicated,
the
unidentifiable grey garments, and a messy,
writhing in struggle or laziness is unclear.
creates
against
description
prolific
of
the
After a three-hour period, the figures are
collection as “hinges” to Trinket confirms
signaled with a blow horn to slowly abandon
the show as an experience, rather than an
their posts, and remove their exterior grey
exhibition. The variety of performances,
garment, blindfold, and wigs upon the
provocations, and welcoming of individual
bordering coat hangers.
interpretations make the vagueness of his
During
this
entire
period,
the
work
powerful
and
timeless
in
their
performers are completely unaware of the
simplicity. Trinket is surrounded by a
passing of time, their audience, and their
selected
location on the stage, as they are heavily
performance, photograph, and installation
blindfolded without guidance. Is this a
pieces—that all work cohesively off of the
commentary on the immigration process in
title piece’s initial and lasting impression.
the United States? It evokes the story of Rip
Each of these additional works is given its
Van Winkle, a revolutionary American tale,
meaning when displayed alongside Trinket,
when he returns to his town in marvel, after
like a necklace pendant supported by the
decades of change. Simpson also relates the
smaller, supporting chain links.
piece to the typography Qua Qua, that is
!
49!
variety
of
other
painted,
William!Pope.L’s!Silly!Trinket!!
!
The MoCA Geffen center is the ideal space for hosting this ‘experience’, which in any other gallery would not have the same acoustics, open access between pieces, and physical space for personal reflection. Unlike many Blockbuster exhibitions, no review, Instagram photo, or curatorial talk about the show can share its experience. Pope.L’s flag is no ordinary symbol of Patriotism—it is prolific, dangerous, and overwhelming. The flag can provoke pride, or hatred—it can mesmerize the audience, or slap them in the face. William Pope.L’s Trinket
is
an
experience
that
every
American needs to explore their own identity in and notion of the United States of America.
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Impression!Vol.!3!