Blog 3:

The Aesthetic Movement 

This was an era in which the previous movement had a lot of skills and innovative ideas that needed to emerge but at the same time the Aesthetic movement, which started in the 1870s, wanted to include the: ‘Art for Art’s sake’ and based their life on this approach.

Japanese WoodBlock

 Art Nouveau and the Modern Movement where the two main styles which influenced the Aesthetic movement to evolve. Firstly because it made use of motifs which were taken from nature and floral designs, secondly was the adoption of the Oriental style which was mainly Japanese forms and taken from woodcuts.

Aubrey Beardsley -
The Peacock skirt

Aubrey Beardsley had gloried the approach of: ‘Art for art sake’ in his work. Influenced by the Japanese woodcuts, he produced several designs which consisted of floral and natural patterns such as peacock designs and the sunflower motif. Although he was not a designer himself, he was a great influence to other designers such as E. W. Godwin and Christopher Dresser who they reformed the design approach to pure lines.

Christopher Dresser was an innovative designer and produced several products which consisted not only furniture design, but also wallpaper designs. Dresser was also influenced by two other designers, an architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Owen Jones who was an environmentalist. Christopher Dresser made use of different materials such as glass, metal, ceramics and textile objects. He found his true inspirations from plants which he concluded that they were geometrically balanced in proportion and size.

Comparisons between Godwin Armchair 1867 and Christopher Dresser Chair 1883

A very smooth and glossy armchair which was made in the late 1860s made it to the popular scenes at that time when Eduard W. Godwin designed this chair. Made out of upholstered seat and a circular caned seat just underneath the upholstery makes it more comfortable while sitting. Ebony wood was chosen as the prime wood material to build this chair and at the end it was stained in a dark colour. Unlike Godwin’s design, Dresser made a sleekly looking chair without the upholstery. Much cooler as a feeling and initially it was made for a drawing room. The type of wood chosen was quite unusual since normal desk chairs are done in cheap wood like pine or deal but this chair was made of mahogany and painted black.

Godwin Armchairs - 1867

Christopher Dresser Chair - 1863

Godwin made the armchair while the movement was still influenced from purely decorative art and so he wanted to incorporate the sense of comfort and at the same time still have aesthetically good chair design. On the other hand Dresser made his chair made for purpose, mainly to sit on it and work, rather that have a fancy looking chair.

Although these two chairs where not done at the same time, they were still influenced by the same movements and still had some things in common, which are the vertical and horizontal lines crossing each other in a manner that are very similar to each other.

Reference:

Parker, D. (2016). Associated Artists LLC | Southport CT. [online] Associatedartists.net. Available at: http://www.associatedartists.net/furniture/seating/godwin_armchairs_a_pair [Accessed 6 May 2016].

Designophy.com. (2016). Christopher Dresser Chair (Designophy - Designpedia, www.designophy.com). [online] Available at: http://www.designophy.com/designpedia/design-product-1000000316-christopher-dresser-chair.htm [Accessed 6 May 2016].

Collections.glasgowmuseums.com. (2016). Glasgow Museums - Collections Navigator. [online] Available at: http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=210404 [Accessed 6 May 2016].

The Art Story. (2016). Aubrey Beardsley Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-beardsley-aubrey.htm [Accessed 6 May 2016].

Skyscrapercity.com. (2016). Detroit's historical gems - Page 2 - SkyscraperCity. [online] Available at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1520520&page=2 [Accessed 6 May 2016].

The Lantern. (2014). Whistler in 1834 and 2014: Part II. [online] Available at: http://web.colby.edu/museumblog/2014/08/28/whistler-in-1834-and-2014-part-ii/ [Accessed 6 May 2016].

Alessi.com. (2016). Christopher Dresser products for Alessi. [online] Available at: http://www.alessi.com/en/products/designers/christopher-dresser [Accessed 6 May 2016].