Converging Cultures

Japanese and African culture- the influence it had in the Victorian Age.

Americans were no real threat to British trading supremacy in the East and Britain was happy for the Americans to do all the groundwork negotiations in Japan.

British Treaty of Edo in 1858 

The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 was one of the series of great exhibitions in which nations displayed their industrial and artistic achievements. 

Japanese shapes certainly often display quaintness rather than grace.

At the Philadelphia Exhibit the Japanese exhibits were viewed as odd and curious in shape and decoration. "Topsy Turvy nature" 

Japanese art as being purely decorative was stressed

The display of Japanese art in the 1862 exhibition made a great impact on William Burges who believed that in contemporary Japan could be found the ideal society of the Middle Ages he was trying to recreate in Victorian Britain. 

This was key to the Arts and Crafts Movement which stressed the importance of simplicity, sincerity and a close study of nature all qualities commented on by critics discussing Japanese art. 

During the Victorian period, travellers to what is now Zimbabwe used art, especially painting, to depict some of what they saw there. This art of the colonial period took landscape as its main theme and many of the European artists were present as part of expeditions that aimed to inform the public in Europe about life in Africa. For example, Thomas Baines joined the  Zambezi expedition led by David Livingstone in 1858 and in 1861 he was one of the first to make oil paintings of Victoria Falls. John Guille Mailles spent six months of 1893 sketching and hunting in Zimbabwe.

What first comes to mind when reflecting on the 19th Century?
Industrial Revolution
Hoop Skirts
Constricted Clothing
Moving to Cities
Romantics
Artist Communes
Camera

Bridge to the 20th Century
New type-industrialism makes it easy to do so
The Poster
Photography- interplay of textures and lines
Overlap of 19th century painting styles
Goethe "The Sorrows of Young Werther"
Matthew Brady- Civil War photographerPublish Post


Extra Credit
Hatch Show Print- take pics on phone
Sense and Sensibility- short synopsis

Comparison and Contrast Project

- Comparison of books before and after the advent of printing in Europe

Before the Printing Press

Celtic Design – “Celtic design is abstract and extremely complex; geometric linear patterns weave, twist, and fill a space with thick visual textures, and bright, pure colors are used in close juxtaposition.” (Meggs 44)

The Book of Durrow

The Book of Durrow, Irish Scribes, A.D. 680, British Isles

Written and designed around A.D. 680- “the earliest and fully designed and ornamented Celtic book”, these manuscripts were believed to come from the British Isles and made by Irish scribes. Because the printing press was not yet invented, countless hours were spent upon single pages. Meaning that every design whether it it was a twist, weaves, texture, and color were all done by hand. For these same reasons, the Book of Durrow and any Celtic book is very diverse from the monastic scriptorium.

 One difficulty the designers ran into was the integration of the large initial with the rest of the text. They couldn’t easily highlight their fonts and quickly change from 12 pt. to 32 pt. font, like we can. It took a long time to figure out the layout let alone the design. Thankfully, the monks came up with a graphic principle called diminuendo – “decreasing scale of graphic information”(Meggs 46), which created a harmonious design. 

Book of Kells 

Book of Kells, scriptorium, A.D. 800, Island Monastery Iona, Ireland

Created around A.D. 800 at the island monastery Iona. “Book of Kells is composed of shimmering color and intricate, convoluted form blossoming over a whole page.” (Meggs 46) It is notably the culmination of Celtic illuminaton with generous margins and huge initial letters. This book has more full-page illustrations than any other Celtic manuscript. Just like the Book of Durrow, there was a prominent usage of diminuendo and turba scriptorium.

This book surpasses any other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. Insular art is also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, a style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britian. The term derives from “insula” or meaning, “island”. This period of time, Britian and Ireland shared a common style different from the rest of Europe. The book is comprised of 340 folios and the manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells which was its home for centuries.

Contd. Info

“Aside from Celtic pattern-making tradition, book design and illumination had sunk to a low ebb in most of Europe.” (Meggs 49) Writing and design was left in the hands of poorly trained scribes, creating work that was impossible to read. Charlemagne (king of the franks) at the time decided a “turba scriptorium” was in need. A large group of scribes were brought together to prepare and copy by hand the important religious texts. This was their form of the printing press. Just imagine how much easier and quicker it would have been if it had been readily available. But since it was not, scribes and books were dispatched amongst Europe in order to spread the reforms. A new alphabet (The Caroline minuscule) was also created in order to restore legibility. Along with a new alphabet, a radical design innovation in Celtic manuscripts enabled readers to separate the string of letters into words more quickly. “The half-uncial script journeyed to Ireland with the early missionaries and was subtly redesigned into the scriptura scottica or insular script, to suit the local visual traditions.” (Meggs 46)

After the Printing Press

Psalter in Latin

Psalter in Latin, Fust and Schoeffer, August 14, 1957, Rome

Fust and Schoeffer published a psalter born on August 14, 1957.  According to Meggs this book was monumental because it had large red and blue initials printed from two-part metal blocks that were inked separately, reassembled, and then printed with one press impression. These red and blue initials  are the earliest example of color printing in Europe. This was a major innovation. “The psalter in Latin was also the first book to bear a printer’s trademark and imprint, printed date of publication, and colophon.” (Meggs 73) This piece would not have been fashioned if it weren’t for the invetion of printing and stamping. It was brought to completion as a worship of God.

Peregrinationes in Montem Syon (Travels in Mount Syon)

Peregrinationes in Montem Syon, Berardus de Breidenbach, Erhard Reuwich, 1486, Italy

This book was printed with Schoeefer’s types in 1486. Bernardus de Breidenbach was the author of this book that brought along Erhard Reuwich to illustrate their travels. “The published volume featured wood blocks cut from Reuwich’s drawings. He was a careful observer of nature who introduced cross hatch illustration in his volume. His drawings were very unlike the Celtic designers or illustrator who “careful observation of nature was not required of..” (Meggs 45) Reuwich’s illustrations included buildings, cities, and maps. 

Nuremberg Chronicle

Nuremberg Chronicle, Hartmann Schedel, 1493, Germany

It is a masterpiece of the incunabula-period graphic design, (not hand drawn or written). With 1,809 woodcut illustrations, this book if complex and carefully designed. “The exemplars for the Nuremberg Chronicle are the work of several “sketch artists” and numerous scribes, whose lettering in the exemplar has the same character count as they type.” (Meggs 83)

Contd. Info

Printing spread rapidly. “By 1480 twenty-three northern European towers, thirty-one Italian towns, seven French towns, six Spanish and Portuguese towns, and one English town had presses. By 1500 printing was practiced in over 140 towns. (Meggs 79) Once printing picked up in popularity, things became readily and easily available to the public. Pamphlets, broadsides, and tracts were produced and distributed for free or sale. Amongst the new talk of printing, some people were against it and forbid it in their towns. Pope Julius II ordered scribes to hand-letter a copy of a typographic book for his library. The shortage of books that occurred turned into an abundance of books because of printing reducing a book’s price. The innovation of typographic printing “played a pivotal role in the social, economic, and religious upheavals that occurred during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.” (Meggs 78) The Renaissance innovators brought text and painting into one piece of work. With the printing of Bibles, people began to formulate their own interpretations instead of relying on religious leaders as truth.  This occurrence led to the Reformation. Durer at age twenty seven became renown through out Europe for his Latin and German editions of The Apocalypse. An example of spreading work from the printing press, “Martin Luther (c. 1483-1546) posted his Ninety-five Theses for debate on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, on 31 October 1517, his friends passed copies to printers. By December his proclamation had spread throughout central Europe. “(Meggs 85) A loyal friend to Luther, Lucas Cranach the Elder operated a printing office, bookshop, and a paper mill.” (Meggs 97) He turned his considerable energy to the Reformation by portraying the Reformers and their cause in books and broadsides.” (Meggs 89) Typography and printing encouraged the Protestant movement of the Reformation era.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment & Science-
Age of Reason
Creation of Scientific Societies
Shift from geo-centric to heliocentric from Capricus
Displacement
Isaac Newton
Taxonomy
Calculus
Encyclopedias
Universities and Academies

Enlightenment-
When? mid 17th, start
Institutions
Arguing and Discussing in coffee houses, salons
Social and political issues
Print Culture
Competing Philosophies

Enlightenment Politics-
Liberty
Freedom of Thought
International Taste
Framework for US + FR revelations
War
Modern Novel!
Domestic Utopia
Men internal state/ men in society