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Articles

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth - The Illustrated Version

24/1/2018

 
I wandered lonely as a
Picture
That floats on high o'er
Picture
and
Picture
When all at once a saw a
Picture
A host of
Picture
Beside the
Picture
beneath the
Picture
Fluttering and
Picture
in the
Picture
Continuous as
Picture
And twinkle on the milky way
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a
Picture
Ten thousand saw I at a
Picture
Tossing their heads in
Picture
The
Picture
beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling
Picture
in
Picture
A
Picture
could not but be gay
In such a jocund company
I
Picture
and
Picture
but little thought
What
Picture
the show to me had brought
For oft, when
Picture
In vacant or in
Picture
mood
They flash upon that inward
Picture
Which is the bliss of solitude
And then my
Picture
with
Picture
And
Picture
with the
Picture

Harvest by Neil Young - The Illustrated Version

19/10/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description ​
Did I see you
Picture
in a
Picture
Picture
with your
Picture
in so much
Picture
I was almost there
at the
Picture
with her
Picture
in the
Picture
Did she
Picture
to tell you that
it was only a change of
Picture
Picture
up
Picture
up
Picture
with the
Picture
Did I see you
Picture
though it was not
Picture
And was some
Picture
in a
Picture
when you could understand
Did she
Picture
to tell you that
it was only a change of
Picture
Picture
up
Picture
up
Picture
with the
Picture
Will I see you
Picture
Will I only
Picture
As the days
Picture
will we lose our
Picture
Or fuse it in the
Picture
Did she
Picture
to tell you that
it was only a change of
Picture
Picture
up
Picture
Picture
with the
Picture
Picture
up
Picture
up
Picture
with the
Picture

When Beards Were Beavers

11/10/2017

 
​In August 1922 the following cartoon by E H Shepard appeared in Punch magazine.
E H Shepard Punch Cartoon - Puzzle Picture - Beaver
Captioned ‘Our Holiday Puzzle Picture. What Are the Wild Waves Saying?’, it shows a bearded man in a rowing boat surrounded by people bathing in the sea. Unless you are an expert in either the history of British beards or eccentric and short-lived crazes (or both) you might struggle to solve the puzzle. In 1922, no answer to the question was given in the magazine because no answer was needed. The contemporary audience would have known the solution all too well – all the bathers (the ‘wild waves’ as Shepard called them) are shouting ‘Beaver!’ at the hapless bearded boatman. Even the toddler at the sea’s edge, barely old enough to wade without the support of his mother, joins in with the ‘Beaver!’ chorus.
​

For those sporting beards, 1922 looks to have been something of a trial.​

​​In 1959, some insight into the ‘Beaver!’ phenomenon was provided in The Spectator: 
​
Charles Grave Punch cartoon - Beaver!
‘When I was a boy there was a game called 'Beaver.' Except that it cost nothing to play and had rules which were simple to the point of inanity, it had little to recommend it; but for several months it enjoyed a nationwide vogue and provided music-hall comedians and humourists of the less subtle kind with an invaluable stand-by… It was a silly game. I don't know who invented it, or how it managed to catch on to the extent it did…’

As the cartoon below illustrates, Punch ascribed the invention of the game to students at Oxford University (the sub-caption reads ‘To Oxford is attributed the credit of inventing the game of “Beaver” in which you score points for spotting bearded men.’).
Lancelot Speed Punch cartoon - University Culture - Beaver
H M Bateman Punch cartoon - Who Said Beaver?




During the years of its publication, many odd and now-forgotten aspects of British life were reflected in the pages of Punch; ‘Beaver!’ did not escape the attention of those who wrote and drew for the magazine. Cartoonists including H M Bateman (left) and Leonard Brightwell (below) responded to the fad.

Brightwell Punch cartoon - That's a Beaver
​‘Beaver!’ also provided the impetus for a number of entries in the magazine’s Charivaria column.
Picture
​The rules may have been simple but as an article on The Atlantic website describes, ‘Beaver!’ was popular enough to provoke some enterprising soul to publish a book detailing the rules of the game (there is a copy in the British Library). ‘Beaver!’ was played by two people each attempting to be the first, upon sighting a bearded man (or woman – the elusive Queen Beaver), to call out ‘Beaver!’ The scoring system was based on that used in tennis as Lewis Baumer’s cartoon below illustrates. Mis-beavers – calling out ‘Beaver!’ only to discover that the poor beavered quarry was beardless – incurred a double-fault.
Lewis Baumer Punch cartoon - Scoring Beaver!
​​We can only speculate as to why the word ‘Beaver’ was chosen as the game’s trigger. Beards and beavers are, of course, both hairy and there is a satisfying alliterative connection between the two words. Furthermore, beaver is also the name of the lower portion of the face guard of a helmet (Oxford English Dictionary).
​
If we are to gauge the popularity of the game by its appearances in Punch, the ‘Beaver!’ fad seems to have lasted only a few months. Speed’s cartoon attributing the creation of the game to Oxford University was published in July 1922 (the craze would have been extant before this date, of course; how long before is not known). By the following January, Fougasse (below) had one bearded gentleman asking his similarly hirsute friend, ‘Now that the excitement seems to have finally died down, I wonder if you can tell me what was that joke about beavers?’
Fougasse Punch cartoon - The Beaver Joke

Clicking on the cartoons will take you to each piece’s full description.

Click here for biographical details of the Punch cartoonists.
 
Links to Sources 
The Atlantic (2010), Beaver!
The Spectator (1959), Beards and the British, by Stria

Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys - The Illustrated Version

6/10/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
Well, now then
Picture
I've seen your
Picture
And it's like
Picture
And it
Picture
And out come all these words
Oh, there's a
Picture
A side I much prefer
It's one that
Picture
and
Picture
Remember
Picture
in the
Picture
yeah
To
Picture
And it was
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
Oh, but it's right hard
to remember that
On a day like today
when you're all
Picture
And you've got the
Picture
Well, know then
Picture
Oh, I'm
Picture
aren't I?
I
Picture
as much
'Cause you turned over there
Picture
that
Picture
The one that I can't
Picture
Well, can't we
Picture
and
Picture
Remember
Picture
in the
Picture
yeah
To
Picture
And it was
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
Oh, but it's right hard
to remember that
On a day like today
when you're all
Picture
And you've got the
Picture
And yeah I'm sorry I was late
But I missed the
Picture
And then the
Picture
And I can't be
Picture
to carry on
Picture
that reoccurs
Oh, when you say I don't care
But of course I do, yeah
I clearly do
So
Picture
and
Picture
Remember
Picture
in the
Picture
yeah
To
Picture
And it was
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
Still it's right hard
to remember that
On a day like today
when you're all
Picture
And you've got the
Picture

The Etching Revival in Britain

28/9/2017

 
Etching as an artistic medium can be dated back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. The earliest dated etching is Girl Bathing Her Feet by Urs Graf of 1513. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538) were early masters of the new technique which flourished on the continent as the century progressed.
During the following century, Rembrandt (1606-1669) embraced the relative freedom of expression that the technique offered to produce over 300 original etchings. Thereafter, however, ‘for the century and a half that followed the death of Rembrandt the art of original etching was little practiced and less understood’ (Hind, p.312).
Picture
During the early nineteenth century etching held a minor position in the arts in Britain. Considered something of a ‘lost’ technique, it was little utilised until the formation of the Old Etching Club in London in 1838. Members of the Club, and the Junior Etching Club that developed from the original group, were principally concerned with producing etchings to illustrate works of literature in an effort to subsidise their primary pursuit of painting. For much of the nineteenth century etching was considered a minor element of the artistic canon; indeed, the Royal Academy gave greater prominence to engraved reproductions of paintings than it did to original prints.
This dismissive attitude was to change due primarily to the work of Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910) and his brother in law James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). These two men, through a combination of example and promotion, provided the platform for a renewed interest in etching.
In the mid-1850s, Whistler spent three years in France where he had been introduced to the work of Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914) and Charles Jacque (1813-1894), the leading French etchers of the time. In 1858 Whistler moved to London where, influenced by the work he had seen in Paris, he began a series of etchings of scenes along the River Thames.
Picture
​By the late 1870s, the Old Etching Club had largely ceased to function as anything other than a social group. Haden, a surgeon and talented etcher, proposed the formation of a new society dedicated to promoting etching as an important medium in its own right. The first meeting of the Society of Painter-Etchers was held in 1880 with Haden its President. He gave the group its original motto: Ne Desilies Imitator – ‘Do not stoop to be a copyist.’ In this phrase lay Haden’s central aim – that printmakers should produce original works and, by extension, the art of etching should come to be viewed as a valid and important artistic medium.
Eight years after its formation the Society was granted a Royal Charter and six years later, in 1894, Haden was knighted for his service to the arts. The influence Haden exerted over the Society was immense. He promoted the idea that an artist could convey as much with empty space as he or she could through the use of a multitude of unnecessary (as Haden saw it) bitten lines. He also believed that each artist should, where possible, draw onto pre-prepared plates, directly from nature. To ensure that all aspects of the process could be overseen by the artist, Haden further suggested that etchers should master the techniques of the press to enable them to print and proof their own work.
Picture
​Demand for original etchings grew steadily through the later years of the nineteenth century. This growing interest was encouraged by the efforts of Phillip Gilbert Hamerton (1834-1894), ‘the chief publicist for the British [etching] revival’ (Lang and Lang, p.42). Hamerton, himself a keen etcher, believed that the biggest obstacle to the acceptance of etching as a valid art form was a largely ignorant public. He endeavoured to rectify this through the publication of Etching and Etchers (1868) in which he lauded the efforts of Whistler and Haden (‘Here is a book written to increase the public interest in an art we [Haden and Hamerton] both love’, was the rallying first line of the book’s dedication to Haden). Furthermore, Hamerton argued against the prevailing view that the technique was a purely illustrative medium. Published at a guinea and a half and much to Hamerton’s surprise, the book rapidly sold out.
The success of Etching and Etchers confirmed Hamerton’s belief that an educated public could lead to an informed and enthusiastic market. Hamerton’s subsequent publications (The Portfolio, The Etcher and English Etchings published between 1879 and 1891) continued to supply an ever more interested public with information about works by the growing spectrum of artists working in the medium.
Throughout the first decade of the twentieth century as the number of practitioners increased so the demand for original etchings also grew. In 1911 The Print Collector’s Quarterly was launched ‘as a response and a stimulant to the growing demand’ (Lang and Lang, p.51).       
Picture
The market for original etchings increased rapidly, reaching its zenith in the decade immediately after the First World War. Print auctions at Sotheby’s increased from six to twenty four sales a year during the second half of the 1920s and the prices for individual works similarly escalated. Muirhead Bone’s Ayr Prison, originally published in 1905 for £2.2.6, sold for £365 in 1929; David Young Cameron’s Five Sisters, York Minster set the record price for a print by a living artist in 1928 when a collector paid £660 for a copy.
Soon after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 the market for original prints collapsed. The pioneering work of Whistler and Haden coupled with Hamerton’s promotional zeal produced a period of unmatched popularity and recognition for a previously overlooked and neglected technique. Due to the diminishing market, the production of original etchings slowed and has never returned to the levels of the 1920s.
The craze for original etchings may now be a century old but the medium endures as does the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers. Today it is called the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and it continues to hold exhibitions showcasing artists working in this most expressive and striking medium.
 
This essay is a modified and abridged version of the author’s introduction to the catalogue for the exhibition Whistler, Haden and the Rise of the Painter-Etcher, held at the Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle in 2001.
 
We discuss the etching technique in more detail in our short article about the work of Karl Salsbury Wood here.
 
More information about the work and history of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers can be found on their website.
 
Sources and further reading

Farr, D (1978), English Art 1870-1940, Oxford University Press
Furst, H (1931), Original Etching and Engraving, An Appreciation, T. Nelson and Sons
Garton, R (1992), British Printmakers 1855-1955, Garton and Co
Gray, B (1937), The English Print, Adam and Charles Black
Heard, A (2001), Whistler, Haden and the Rise of the Painter-Etcher, University of Newcastle
Hind, A M (1923), A History of Engraving and Etching from the 15th Century to the Year 1814, Constable and Company
Lang, G E and Lang K (1990), Etched in Memory, The University of North Carolina Press
Laver, J (1929), A History of British and American Etching, Ernest Benn Ltd
Rowland, S (1940), The Decline of Etching in Apollo, July 1940

Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex - The Illustrated Version

4/8/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
You
Picture
from crumbling
Picture
watching
Picture
turn to
Picture
Filming helicopters
Picture
in the
Picture
from way above
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
You've been
Picture
here forever
and you just can't say
Picture
Kisses on the
Picture
of the
Picture
Picture
You've been
Picture
them in hollowed out
Picture
left in the
Picture
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
You've been
Picture
here forever
and you just can't say
Picture
Your
Picture
My
Picture
Picture
Your
Picture
My
Picture
Picture
Go and sneak us through the
Picture
Picture
is rising up on your
Picture
Oh please
Come out and
Picture
I know you want me
Come out and
Picture
Sharing all you secrets
with each other since you were
Picture
Picture
with the
Picture
that she gave you
clutched in your fist
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
Got the
Picture
in you
Picture
Picture
You've been
Picture
here forever
and you just can't say
Picture
You've been
Picture
here forever
and you just can't say
Picture
When you're all alone
I will
Picture
When you're
Picture
I will be there too

Punch Cartoonists - The Story of Two Birds

1/8/2017

 
During the First World War, Kenneth Bird was hospitalised following an injury to his spine sustained at Gallipoli in 1915. Prior to the war, Bird had been an instructor with the Artists’ Rifles and had worked at the Rosyth naval base. ‘Horribly wounded… [he] realised he would have to find something to do which would not overtax him physically.’ (Anderson, p.156). Having earlier attended evening classes in art at Regent Street Polytechnic, that ‘something’ was cartoons and illustrations which Bird submitted to numerous publications. His first cartoon for Punch, below, was published in 1916.
Picture
When War’s Brutalising Influence was published there was another artist submitting to Punch who signed his work ‘W. Bird’. For this reason, Kenneth Bird adopted the name ‘Fougasse’, a small improvised land mine of the type he would have encountered during the war, for his cartoons, illustrations and designs.
The other cartoonist wasn’t actually a Bird at all. ‘W. Bird’ was Jack Butler Yeats, author, Olympic medallist and Ireland’s most influential artist of the twentieth century.
As can be seen in the images above, Yeats’ submissions to Punch are characterised by a free-flowing, loosely handled style. This approach, so expressively forceful, vibrant and modern when employed by Yeats in colour on canvas, looked, to a contemporary audience, hasty, sketchy and somewhat amateurish in black and white. As Price (p.209) related, ‘Townsend and Seaman [Punch’s Art Editor and Editor at the time] continued to print… Bird, though many readers must have brought pressure on them, attacking Bird’s drawings as not representing reality.’ In fact, Bird’s drawings did represent reality – they just didn’t represent it in the manner to which Punch readers had become accustomed, as the two cartoons below (Yeats left; G D Armour, a contemporary ​Punch​ cartoonist, right) illustrate.
Leaving aside the merits or demerits of the humour, Yeats’ cartoons are published sketches whereas Fougasse’s are coherent and fully formed designs. They possess an intrinsic strength of line coupled with the parsimony of a dedicated minimalist to show just enough to carry the joke or make the point.
Whether it was two fellows negatively silhouetted against a hatched hedge or two others before an Underground station, Fougasse clearly understood that, when working in monochrome, sparseness can be strength. They were modern, too, and would have seemed so to contemporary eyes.
Picture
​There is a timeless element to Fougasse’s more successful cartoons. If you’d have found Jilted, above, funny in 1926 there is no reason not to find it funny today. It doesn’t require an understanding of time and place for the laugh; all the viewer needs is an emotional connection to the subject. Such a work is relevant today in part because it deals with a universally understood situation and also because of the strength of the cartoon’s design. This design ethic runs through Fougasse’s work – he instinctively knew where to place a line and, crucially, when to leave a line out. He also understood the impact bold contrast could produce.
​In 1937, Fougasse was made Art Editor of Punch and continued to publish his own drawings. Over time, his technique simplified further, becoming even more stripped back and to the point. His mature style was employed to great effect during the Second World War in the ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ propaganda posters he designed for the Ministry of Information. In 1949, Fougasse was made Punch Editor, the only cartoonist in the history of the magazine to hold the position.
Yeats, too, continued to submit ‘W. Bird’ cartoons to Punch until 1941. Away from his published drawings, his individual, expressionist paintings ‘helped articulate a modern Ireland of the twentieth century’ (Brennan, 2007). Additionally, he published novels, wrote plays and designed sets for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.  In 1924, following the establishment of the Irish Free State, Yeats won the country’s first medal at the modern Olympic Games. The discipline was Painting and Yeats was awarded the silver medal for a work titled The Liffey Swim. Painting was one of the Arts categories which featured at Olympic competitions from 1912 to 1948.

Our full selection of Punch cartoons can be seen here.
Our biographies of Bird, Yeats and other Punch cartoonists can be seen here.
 
Sources and further reading
Anderson A (1982), The Man Who Was H M Bateman, Webb and Bower
Brennan S (2007), A speech delivered at the National Gallery of Ireland
Bryant M and Heneage S (1994), Dictionary of British Cartoonists and Caricaturists 1730-1980, Scolar Press
Price R G G ((1957), A History of Punch, Collins

Howzat by Sherbet - The Illustrated Version

25/7/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
You
Picture
I was
Picture
The only one
who got your
Picture
Picture
And for a while
I believed the
Picture
that you
Picture
But I've been
Picture
Picture
at the things you do
Picture
the way you wanted me to
How, how
Picture
You
Picture
I
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now that I found where you're at
It's
Picture
Well
Picture
It's
Picture
You only came for a
Picture
Even though you're really not my
Picture
I didn't think that you'd
Picture
me
Picture
like you do
How, how
Picture
You
Picture
I
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now that I found where you're at
It's
Picture
Well, I've been
Picture
I'll tell you what I see
Picture
at the things you do
No, you can't fool me
Picture
the way you wanted me to
How, how
Picture
You
Picture
I
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now that I found where you're at
It's
Picture
Picture
You
Picture
I
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now that I found where you're at
It's
Picture
Well
Picture
Picture

And Dream of Sheep by Kate Bush - The Illustrated Version

20/7/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description

Little
Picture
Picture
Little
Picture
will guide them to me
My
Picture
is all
Picture
My
Picture
is all
Picture
If they find me
Picture
Picture
They'll not take me for a
Picture
Let me be
Picture
let me
Picture
and dream of
Picture
Oh, I'll
Picture
to any sound of
Picture
Every
Picture
a seeking
Picture
I can't keep my
Picture
open
Wish I had my
Picture
I'd tune into some friendly voices
Talking 'bout stupid things
I can't be left to my imagination
Let me be
Picture
let me
Picture
and dream of
Picture
Oh, their breath is
Picture
And they smell like
Picture
And they say they take me
Picture
Like
Picture
heavy with seed
They take me deeper and deeper

Are 'Friends' Electric? by Tubeway Army - The Illustrated Version

22/6/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
It's
Picture
outside
And the
Picture
peeling off my
Picture
There's a
Picture
In a
Picture
Picture
Picture
Now the
Picture
And I'm wondering what I'm doing in a
Picture
like this
There's a knock on the
Picture
And just for a
Picture
I thought I remembered you
So now I'm
Picture
Now I can
Picture
for myself
About little deals and issues
And things that I just don't understand
Like a
Picture
lie that
Picture
Or a
Picture
at times
I don't think it meant anything to you
So I
Picture
It's the friend that I'd left in the hallway
Please
Picture
A
Picture
Picture
on a
Picture
near the
Picture
You know I hate to
Picture
But are friends
Picture
Are they?
Only
Picture
Picture
Picture
And now I've no one to
Picture
So I find out your reason
For the
Picture
and
Picture
And it
Picture
and I'm lonely
And I should never have tried
And I missed you
Picture
So it's
Picture
to leave
You see it meant everything to me

Wings of Speed by Paul Weller - The Illustrated Version

16/6/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
Picture
on
of
Picture
That will bring you
Picture
to me
I'll never be free
The
Picture
I see
As I
Picture
for your
Picture
Though my
Picture
are
Picture
My
Picture
are
Picture
by fate
With clay at the
Picture
As I
Picture
and
Picture
What
Picture
I see
In
Picture
she
Picture
on a
Picture
With Jesus at the
Picture
The
Picture
that beg
Her
Picture
along the way
As she comes to me
Now as the
Picture
One
Picture
left to
Picture
the way
Picture
Picture
to the morning
She comes to me
Picture
To
Picture
up my darkest day
And the world fades away with her
Picture
Picture
on
of
Picture
That will bring you
Picture
to me
I'll never be free
The
Picture
I see
As I
Picture
for your
Picture

Hobart Paving by Saint Etienne - The Illustrated Version

8/6/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
I heard she drove the silvery
Picture
Along the empty
Picture
last
Picture
Picture
With
Picture
like
Picture
No I haven't see the
Picture
for some
Picture
Picture
her
Picture
from the red brick
Picture
Just like a
Picture
as she moves
And back
Picture
at half past two
With a
Picture
folded outside the loo
Picture
falls like Elvis
Picture
Oh no, no sugar tonight
Out on the
Picture
Dim all the
Picture
and
Picture
coloured
Picture
again
And
Picture
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Hobart
Picture
don't you think that it's
Picture
On this
Picture
with the
Picture
in my
Picture
And
Picture
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Hobart
Picture
don't you think that it's
Picture
The
Picture
in my hand
The
Picture
Picture
down the
Picture
Picture
falls like Elvis
Picture
Oh no, no sugar
Out on the
Picture
Dim all the
Picture
and
Picture
coloured
Picture
And
Picture
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Hobart
Picture
don't you think that it's
Picture
On this
Picture
with the
Picture
in my
Picture
Oh no, no sugar tonight
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Oh no, no sugar tonight
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Oh no, no sugar tonight
Don't forget to
Picture
me
Don't forget to
Picture
me

The Passenger by Iggy Pop - The Illustrated Version

1/6/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
I am a
Picture
And I
Picture
and I
Picture
I
Picture
through the
Picture
Picture
I see the
Picture
come out of the
Picture
Yeah they're
Picture
in a hollow
Picture
You know it looks so good tonight
I am a
Picture
I stay under
Picture
I look through my
Picture
so
Picture
I see the
Picture
come out tonight
I see the
Picture
and hollow
Picture
Over the
Picture
a
Picture
And everything looks good tonight
Singing la, la, la, la...
Get into the
Picture
We'll be the
Picture
We'll
Picture
through the
Picture
tonight
We'll see the
Picture
ripped
Picture
We'll see the
Picture
and hollow
Picture
We'll see the
Picture
that shine so
Picture
The
Picture
was made for us tonight
Oh the
Picture
How, how he
Picture
Oh the
Picture
He
Picture
and he
Picture
He looks through his
Picture
What does he see?
He see the sided hollow
Picture
He sees the
Picture
come out tonight
He sees the
Picture
ripped
Picture
He sees the winding
Picture
And everything was made for you and me
All of it was made for you and me
'Cause it just belongs to you and me
So let's take a
Picture
and see what's
Picture
Singing la, la, la, la...
Oh the
Picture
He
Picture
and he
Picture
He sees things from under
Picture
He looks through his
Picture
Picture
He sees the things he knows are his
He sees the
Picture
and hollow
Picture
He sees the
Picture
Picture
at
Picture
He sees the
Picture
are out tonight
And all of it is yours and
Picture
And all of it is yours and
Picture
So let's
Picture
and
Picture
and
Picture
and
Picture
Singing la, la, la, la...

The Eleanor Cross at GeddingtonĀ - A Survivor's Story

26/5/2017

 
In 1290, Eleanor, Edward I’s Queen died at Harby near Lincoln from a fever. The King, heartbroken and in mourning accompanied Eleanor’s body (minus her internal organs which were interred at Lincoln) on its slow procession to London for burial at Westminster Abbey.
In commemoration of his late Queen, Edward had twelve memorial crosses erected at the points where the body had rested each night on its journey south. The cortege’s progress had been slow, being ‘dictated by the royal houses and monasteries where the king could spend the night’ (Aslet, p.323). The resulting twelve crosses were the work of different designers and masons and were not uniform in style or size. It is safe to assume that the grandest of the twelve were at Cheapside and Charing Cross in London if only because the accounts from the time indicate that these were the most expensive constructions (Alexander and Binski, p.362). Some speculation is necessary when discussing the Eleanor Crosses because, of the twelve that were built in the 1290s, only three – at Waltham Cross, Hardingstone and Geddington (below) survive today. The monument now outside Charing Cross station, incidentally, is Victorian; it is not a replica of the thirteenth century cross, nor is it at the site of the original.
Picture
​In 1290, Geddington, home to royal hunting lodge, was the third halt, after Grantham and Stamford, on the journey to London. Today, this fine memorial looks just as it did when this engraving was published in 1805 (you can see the full item description here). Moreover, apart from some natural weathering, the cross looks the same as it did when it was built around 725 years ago.
Geddington’s longevity and relative intactness is all the more impressive when viewed against the privations visited upon some of its fellow crosses. The monuments at Charing Cross and Cheapside were both destroyed in a bout of Puritanical fervour (under an ordinance from the Parliamentary Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry) during the 1640s. In the early eighteenth century, the Eleanor Cross at St Albans, following years of neglect, was demolished. Later in the same century, the example at Waltham Cross was adorned with road signs.
That the Eleanor Crosses have suffered the all too common traits of carelessness and wilful destruction is irrefutable. That the cross at Geddington still stands, both as a memorial to a Queen and as a tangible link to another age, is therefore a reason to celebration. That this monument, ‘one of the most sophisticated pieces of architecture…from the Middle Ages’ (Aslet, ibid) remains in near original condition is truly a reason to rejoice.
References and Further Reading
Alexander, J and Binski, P, Eds. (1987), Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400, Royal Academy
Aslet, C (2005), Landmarks of Britain, Hodder and Stoughton

Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen - The Illustrated Version

22/5/2017

 
​Click on the images to see each picture's full description
The screen
Picture
slams
Picture
Picture
Picture
Like a vision she
Picture
across the
Picture
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Picture
that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me
Picture
again
I just can't
Picture
myself alone again
Don't
Picture
Picture
inside
Darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're
Picture
and you're
Picture
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little
Picture
there's
Picture
in the
Picture
You ain't a
Picture
but
Picture
you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me
You can
Picture
'neath your
Picture
And
Picture
your pain
Make
Picture
from your
Picture
Throw
Picture
in the
Picture
Waste your
Picture
Picture
in vain
For a
Picture
to rise from these
Picture
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer
Picture
Is beneath this dirty
Picture
With a chance to make it good somehow
Picture
what else can we do now?
Except roll down the
Picture
And let the
Picture
blow back your
Picture
Well the
Picture
busting open
These two
Picture
will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these
Picture
on some
Picture
Climb in
Picture
Heaven's waiting on down the
Picture
Oh, oh come take my
Picture
We're
Picture
out tonight to case the promised land
Oh, oh
Picture
Picture
oh
Picture
Picture
Oh
Picture
Picture
Picture
out there like a
Picture
in the
Picture
Picture
I know it's late we can make it if we
Picture
Oh
Picture
Picture
sit tight
Picture
Picture
Picture
Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my
Picture
out
Picture
If you're ready to take that long
Picture
From your front
Picture
to my front
Picture
The
Picture
open but the ride ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoke
Tonight we'll be free
All promises'll be broken
There were
Picture
in the
Picture
Of all the
Picture
you sent away
They haunt this dusty
Picture
road
In the
Picture
Picture
of burned out
Picture
They
Picture
your name at
Picture
in the
Picture
Your graduation
Picture
lies in rags at their
Picture
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines
Picture
on
But when you get to the
Picture
they're gone on the wind
So
Picture
climb in
It's a
Picture
full of losers
I'm
Picture
out of here to win

Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd - The Illustrated Version

11/5/2017

 
Into the distance a
Picture
Picture
to the point of no turning
Picture
A
Picture
of fancy on a
Picture
field
Picture
alone my senses reeled
A
Picture
attraction is holding me fast
How can I escape this irresistible
Picture
Can't keep my
Picture
from the
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
just an earth bound misfit, I
Picture
is forming on the tips of my
Picture
Unheeded warnings
I though I'd thought of everything
No
Picture
to find my way
Picture
Unladened, empty and turned to
Picture
A soul in tension that's
Picture
to
Picture
Condition grounded but determined to try
Can't keep my
Picture
from the
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
just an earth bound misfit, I 
Above the planet on a
Picture
and a
Picture
My grubby
Picture
a vapour trail in the empty air
Across the
Picture
I see my
Picture
Picture
Out of the corner of my
Picture
Picture
A
Picture
unthreatened by the morning
Picture
Could blow this soul
Right through the
Picture
of the
Picture
There's no sensation
to compare with this
Picture
animation, a state of bliss
Can't keep my mind from the
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
and
Picture
just an earth bound misfit, I

Singeries -Ā Monkeys in Art from the Rococo to Banksy

9/5/2017

 
It is possible to view the history of art as a house with many levels. Fancifully, if we were to take a tour we might discover the prehistoric cave paintings at Altamira and Lascaux in the cellar before ascending to windowed rooms where we’ll find Egyptian art. Another staircase will take us to floors crammed with works from the Renaissance. As we climb further up the building we’ll pass through floors containing Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical art. The 19th century alone will contain numerous floors. By the time we reach the 20th century we’ll be many, many levels above the ground. Climbing on, we’ll reach the present day but we shouldn’t rest or pause too long. The tour won’t be over – this tour will never be over – for this is a house that will never be completed.
Like all buildings, this arthouse has nooks and crevices hidden away that are rarely illuminated by the sun. In one of these nooks we might encounter paintings and drawings along similar lines to this:
Picture
This charming work from our selection of drawings (appropriately titled Charmingly Finished; ​click here or on the drawing to see the full description) was sketched in 1823. The artist is unknown (it is initialled ‘W.T.C.’) but it provides a small insight into an overlooked subset of art history that first came to prominence in the 16th century.
Known as singeries (from the French for ‘monkey tricks’), works depicting apes dressed as humans and acting in a human manner were first produced by Flemish artists; the idea was then taken up by painters and designers in France.
Picture
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), The Monkey Sculptor, MusƩe des Beaux-Arts, OrlƩans, France
Within in our house and its histories, the monkey has held numerous attributes. ‘Medieval and Renaissance man saw in the ape an image of his baser self. Thus it came to symbolize Lust, one of the seven deadly sins, idolatry and vice in general. In Christian art, with an apple in its mouth, it stood for the Fall of Man’ (Hall, 2001, p.10).
A little further up the house, it was the artist who became most closely associated with the ape – both being known for their skill in imitation. This imitativeness was enshrined in the saying Ars simia Naturae – art is the ape of nature. In turn, this led to painters depicting ‘the artist as an ape, in the act of painting a portrait, generally of a female… This parody of man was extended to other human activities and apes were represented sitting at the meal table, playing cards or musical instruments, drinking, dancing and so on’ (Hall, 1989, p.22).
The high point of anthropomorphised monkeys in art was during the Rococo period of the 18th century. Already a playful diversion in the arthouse, Rococo style was further enlivened by the introduction of monkeys in, for example, the work of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), above.
Although the vogue of Singeries largely died out in the nineteenth century, the monkey is still used (albeit without the anthropomorphism), for both parody and satire, in art today.
Picture
Jeff Koons (b. 1955), Monkeys (Chair)
Here on the top floor of the house we'll find monkeys in the work of Jeff Koons and far off in the distance we might find, beside a group of builders hastily constructing yet another staircase, something like this on the wall:
Picture
Banksy (21st Century School), Laugh Now Monkey
And, as this is an imaginary house, we might find Banksy, spray can in hand, standing next to it.
References
Hall, James (2001), Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art
Hall, James (1989), Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art

Is That Love by Squeeze - The Illustrated Version

3/5/2017

 
You've left my
Picture
by the
Picture
Now is that
Picture
You've cleaned me out
you could say
Picture
Now is that
Picture
The
Picture
Picture
Picture
it gets
The more these
Picture
forget
That that is
Picture
You
Picture
you
Picture
Now is that, is that
A teasing
Picture
has
Picture
me out
Now is that, is that
The
Picture
Picture
Picture
it gets
The more my
Picture
frequent
Now that is
Picture
Beat me up with your
Picture
your walk out
Picture
Funny how you still find me
right here at
Picture
Picture
with a
Picture
and a
Picture
Now is that
Picture
that's making you
Picture
You've called my
Picture
I'm not so hot
Now is that
Picture
My assets
Picture
while yours have
Picture
Now is that, is that
It's the
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
That more or less survived
Now that is
Picture
Beat me up with your
Picture
your walk out
Picture
Funny how you still find me
right here at
Picture
Picture
with a
Picture
and a
Picture
Now is that
Picture
that's making you
Picture
You've made my
Picture
the
Picture
Now is that, is that
Picture
The
Picture
you
Picture
you
Picture
you cool down
The easier
Picture
is found
Now that is
Picture

A Drink at the Kings Arms, Cartmel

28/4/2017

 
Today, we are blessed (or not) with a variety of convenient ways to communicate with each other. We can text, tweet and message and if the matter is urgent we can always fall back on ancient technology and make a phone call. In short, we can make contact and are contactable in return wherever we are at any time, instantly.
It hasn’t always been this way. Back in the olden days (the 1960s or 1970s, say) if you wanted to communicate your whereabouts to the person you shared a house with, for example, the most expedient way would have been to leave them a note (look it up, kids).
Picture
Here is just such a note and at first glance it appears to be nothing more than a mundane piece of domestic detritus. The author, as we can see, is off to the post office and the K.A. for a drink. We don’t need to bother Bletchley Park to conclude that in this instance, K.A. stands for Kings Arms.
The note isn’t signed but I know who wrote it. I know because this is on the other side:
Picture
The author was an artist called Sydney Buckley and the note was left for his sister with whom he shared a house at Cartmel in Cumbria. News of Buckley’s whereabouts was written on the reverse of this fine woodblock print titled Cornish Pattern which was designed and printed by Buckley perhaps in the 1940s or 1950s. The scene, typical of Cornwall, is of the rambling rooftops of a town edging on to a beach. In flavour and form it has the feel of Port Isaac, perhaps.
It is showing some minor evidence of foxing and this may have existed when Buckley penned the note to his sister. Even so, it is a curious item to use to leave a note. Was there no other paper in the house? Buckley was a noted artist and printmaker (you can see two examples of his etched work on our website here and here) so it seems unlikely that the household was devoid of unused paper.
This piece came from a larger collection of prints I bought about ten years ago, all by Buckley. There were ten or so copies of Cornish Pattern and I kept two. One is in mint condition with signature and title and the other is the copy illustrated above.
Retained purely for its curiosity value, I was recently reminded of Buckley’s note when I acquired another small collection of artworks. These are all drawings and all by the same unknown hand (one of the many lost artists for whom the term ‘20th Century British School’ was invented).
Here is one of the drawings:
Picture
As we can see, it’s a competent, rapidly executed pencil sketch of a house. It is not fundamentally exciting as an image unless you happen to live in the depicted house, I suppose. Even so, the artist, for whatever reason, took the time and trouble to record the scene.
The artist also used the reverse of the sheet for this:
Picture
As the handwriting isn’t as clear as Buckley’s, here’s a transcript:
'Bill, do you think the tyres could do with a change round?
Driver’s door lock stiff.
Brakes?'
Another note on the reverse of another artwork. It is possible with this example that the note preceded the drawing – at this remove there is no way of knowing for sure. But if the drawing came first, again, one has to ask why?
Perhaps the artist dropped the car off at the garage and left the note on the car seat intending for Bill to read the message and then keep the note. This certainly didn’t happen – perhaps Bill didn’t turn the note over to see what was on the other side. Who knows?
So many questions raised from two simple relics, each no more than forty of fifty years old, from a time before the age of instant communication. What, I wonder, did Buckley have to drink at the Kings Arms? And the enigmatic ‘Brakes?’ in the second message. Check the brakes? Fix the brakes? Sabotage the brakes? We’ll never know.

Nails in My Feet by Crowded House - The Illustrated Version

24/4/2017

 
My life is a
Thimbleby, Lincolnshire watercolour painting
You crawl through the
Jesus College Gate, Cambridge by M Oliver Rae, etching (detail)
Slip across the
A Scene from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, 1709, engraving (detail)
and into the reception room
You enter the place of endless persuasion
Like a knock on the
Peter Toseland watercolour, Shovells, Hastings (detail)
When there's
Earl of Essex from Shakespeare's Henry V, 1791 engraving (detail)
or more things to do
Who is that
Punch cartoon, telephone
You my companion
Run to the
Punch cartoon by Jack Butler Yeats, bathroom (detail)
on a burning
Beach Donkeys, watercolour, detail
And it brings me relief
Pass through the
Blinkensop Castle, Northumberland, 1783 ebgraving (detail)
To find my intentions
Punch cartoon by Morrow, Giotto
round in a strange
Punch cartoon by J B Yeats, Mesmerise (detail)
state
I
Lalau, Poeme Symbolique, print (detail)
There is no connection
A million points of
A Scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1740 engraving (detail)
And a conversation I can't
Punch cartoon by F H Townsend, Cook (detail)
Cast me off one day
To lose my inhibitions
Sit like a lap
Orlando Greenwood drawing, Dog Chewing a Shoe (detail)
on a matron's
Arthur Heslop drawing, The Discus Thrower (detail)
Wear the nails on your
Study of a Female Nude, pencil drawing (detail)
I woke up the
Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Stratford upon Avon etching by Sydney Buckley
Stumbled in
Reverend John Kidde, 1822 portrait engraving
The
A Scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet, c.1780 engraving (detail)
went on and everybody screamed
Jachimo from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, c. 1780 engraving
The savage review
It left me
Engraving, A Scene from Henry VI, Part 3, 1709 (detail)
Dr Butts from Shakespeare's Henry VIII, 1790 engraving (detail)
it warms my
Colonel Richard Lovelace, 1794 portrait engraving (detail)
to see that you can do it too
Total
Engraving, A Scene from Shakespeare's Henry V, 1785 (detail)
Your
A Scene from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, 1786 engraving (detail)
is so tender
Your
Watercolour wash, Female Nude Study, c.1950 (detail)
is like
Pont y Garth, North Wales, watercolour painting
on a
A Scene from Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, 1709 engraving (detail)
Watercolour painting, Sandsend Cliff, 1911 (detail)
And it brings me relief
And it brings me relief
And it brings me relief

Karl Salsbury Wood - windmills and etchings

14/4/2017

 
The reputation of Karl Salsbury Wood (1888-1958) largely rests upon a remarkable series of paintings he produced between the late 1920s and his death in 1958. For almost thirty years Wood cycled around Britain in an attempt to visually record every existing windmill in the country. Wood’s plan was to publish a book titled The Twilight of the Mills containing his illustrations and written notes.
In addition to being a talented (and clearly driven) painter, Wood was also a printmaker, as the small collection of etchings on our site illustrates (the full selection can be seen here).
The subjects of the etchings reflect Wood’s interest in architecture and architectural details. Structures – castles, churches, inns and the ubiquitous windmills – are predominantly the focal point; the edges of the buildings straining up against the edges of the etching plate. A tree or two might act as the frame for a country church but it was unusual for Wood to record the bigger picture – the landscape the buildings exist within.
A Windmill in a Landscape by Karl Salsbury Wood, etching
The prints provide a useful insight into the way in which etchings are created. The etching process, though time-consuming, is relatively straightforward. A metal plate is coated in a layer of acid resistant wax, a design is then drawn on to the wax through to the metal plate and the plate is then immersed in acid. This bites away at the metal elements exposed by the artist’s design; the longer the plate is immersed the deeper the lines will be etched and the darker they will print. The etched image is constructed in stages (known as states), the various elements of the picture being worked on systematically until the finished image is arrived at.
Kalr Salsbury Wood, Windmill with Pigs, etching
Windmill with Pigs (above) is clearly at a very early, rudimentary stage – just the outlines of the windmill and the pigs have been bitten. This print is numbered 1/1 which presumably means this is the first impression Wood took from the first state of the print.
Karl Salsbury Wood, A Windmill, etching
Here, Wood continues to develop a design in a third impression. As with Windmill with Pigs, major outlines were defined in the first impression, perhaps more detail was added to the windmill in the second and it is probable that the first elements of the sky were added in the third.
Windmill etching by Karl Salsbury Wood
States were completed, impressions were taken and the images continued to form and grow. Occasional mishaps clearly happened, too. The print above appears not to have been fully pressed as the left hand plate edge is entirely absent.
Eventually, after many decisions regarding the location of the lines to be etched and the depth to which they should be bitten, a finished work of art was produced.
A Windmill, 1934, Karle Salsbury Wood etching
Perhaps Wood made these etchings (based on the paintings and sketches he undertook on his journeys around the country) as a means of raising funds towards the publication of The Twilight of the Mills. Regrettably, as we discuss in the artist’s biographical notes here, the book was never published.

the windmills of your mind - the illustrated version

13/4/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
Round, like a
Punch cartoon by F H Townsend, Donkey (detail)
in a spiral,
like a
Punch cartoon by G D Armour, horse and trap (detail)
within a
Punch cartoon by Smith, car and bungalow (detail)
Never ending or beginning
on an ever-spinning
Punch cartoon by J B Yeats, fishermen (detail)
Like a snowball down a
Coniston Old Man, Lake District, watercolour
or a carnival
Suffragette Punch cartoon (detail)
Like a carousel that's turning,
running
Architecture, 1830, engraving (detail)
around the
Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland, c.1840, engraving (detail)
Like a
Punch cartoon by Townsend, Paint Like Reynolds. There's Money in It! (detail)
whose hands are sweeping
past the minutes of its
William Vincent DD, 1822, engraving
And the world is like an
Still Life of Apples, pencil drawing (detail)
Punch cartoon, Rountree, The Egoist (detail)
silently in space
Like the
A Plan of Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, c.1830, engraving (detail)
that you find
in the
Karl Salsbury Wood, Windmill with Pigs, etching
of your mind
Like a
St Martin's Priory, near Dover, Kent, c.1830 engraving (detail)
that you follow
to a
Picture
of its own
Down a hollow to a
Peveril Castle, Castleton, Derbyshire, c.1830 engraving (detail)
where the sun has never shone
Like a
Harlington Church Porch, Middlesex, 1812 engraving (detail)
that keeps revolving
in a half-forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a
Punch cartoon by Lewis Baumer, golf (detail)
someone tosses in a
Pont y Garth, North Wales, watercolour (detail)
Like a
Picture
whose hands are sweeping
past the minutes of its
Picture
And the world is like an
Picture
Picture
silently in space
Like the
Picture
that you find
in the
Karl Salsbury Wood, A Windmill, etching
of your mind
Engraving, A Scene from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, 1740 (detail)
that jingle in your pocket,
words that jangle in your head
Why did
Sunset on the North York Moors, watercolour (detail)
go so quickly?
Was it something that you said?
Engraving, A Scene from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2, 1786 (detail)
walk along a
The Scar from East Pier, Whitby, watercolour (detail)
and leave their footprints in the
Sandsend Cliff, Yorkshire, watercolour (detail)
Is the sound of distant
Punch cartoon by G L Stampa, drummer (detail)
just the fingers of your
Picture
Picture
in a hallway
or the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and
H M Brock Punch cartoon, School (detail)
but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over
you were suddenly aware
That the
Autumn River Landscape watercolour (detail)
were turning
to the colour of her
Fernand Simeon, Figures, print (detail)
A circle in a
Hydraulics, 1830 engraving (detail)
a
A Decorative Youth, 1908 Punch cartoon (detail)
within a
Punch cartoon by Reginald Gammon A Different Church  (detail)
Never ending or beginning
on an ever-spinning
Picture
As the images unwind
like the
Barnard Castle, County Durham, 1833 engraving (detail)
that you find
In the
Karl Salsbury Wood, Windmill, etching
of your mind.

subterranean homesick blues - the illustrated version

6/4/2017

 
Johnny's in the
Interior of the Castle Chapel, Newcastle, 1833, engraving (detail)
Mixing up the
Gunning King Punch cartoon, Cod Liver Oil (detail)
I'm on the
Macpherson Punch cartoon, boy and car (detail)
Thinking about the government
The man in the
Lawson Wood Punch cartoon, The Sleepy Sentry (detail)
Portrait of William Vincent DD, 1822 engraving (detail)
out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out
A S Boyd Punch cartoon, mother and boy (detail)
It's somethin' you did
Mr Praise-God Barebone, Leather Seller, c.1810 engraving
knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better
Samuel Howitt Wild Duck engraving (detail)
down the alleyway
Lookin' for a new friend
A man in a coon-skin
Lewis the Dauphin from Shakespeare's King John, c.1790 engraving (detail)
In a
Punch cartoon Gunning King, Pension (detail)
Punch cartoon Morrow, An Irritable Poet, 1920 (detail)
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten
Maggie comes
Rouen (Roan) in France, c.1780 engraving (detail)
Hunger Defeats Life after Francis Barlow (detail)
Edward Harding (1755-1840), Anne, engraving (detail)
full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
White Daffodils and Fern Fronds, Gouache, detail
in the bed but
The
Punch Cartoon, Arthur Norris, telephone (detail)
tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must
Julia Dorothy Barnby, Female Nude Drawing (detail)
in early May
Orders from the
Knight after Harding, Lewis the Dauphin engraving (detail)
Look out
Punch cartoon, Please, Mummy, May I Cry? (detail)
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your
Eric Briers, ballet dancers, watercolour (detail)
Don't tie no
A Ballet Dancer, watercolour (detail)
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire
Frank Reynolds Punch Cartoon, teetotaler (detail)
Keep a clean
Cardinal Wolsey from Shakespeare's Henry VIII, engraving (detail)
Wash the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the
Punch Cartoon, Harold Rountree, The Egoist (detail)
Get sick, get well
Hang around an inkwell
Ring
The Town of Ashburton, Devonshire, engraving (detail)
hard to tell
If anything's gonna sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get
A Scene from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, 1740 engraving (detail)
jump bail
Join the
Portrait of Lieutenant General Sir Rowland Hill, 1813 engraving
if you fail
Look out
Picture
You're gonna get hit
But losers, cheaters
Six-time users
Hang around the
Punch cartoon by F H Townsend, theatre (detail)
Girl by the whirlpool is
Lookin' for a new
A Scene from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, 1783 engraving (detail)
Don't follow leaders
Watch the pawking metaws
Ah, get born, keep warm
Punch cartoon by Harold Earnshaw, bot and grandpa (detail)
romance, learn to
Iago, Othello, engraving
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a suckcess
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of
Punch cartoon, H M Brock, school (detail)
And they put you on the day shift
Look out
Picture
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a
Punch cartoon by Lewis Baumer, MP and Sufragettes (detail)
Light yourself a
A Scene from Shakespeare's Richard III, 1709 engraving (detail)
Don't wear
Pencil Study of a Sculpture, c.1950, drawing, sandal detail
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a
Study of a Female Nude from Behind, 1941 pencil drawing (detail)
You better chew gum
The
Punch cartoon, Morrow, Gardening (detail)
don't work
'Cause the vandals took the
Punch cartoon, Smith, Our Reverend Spoonerist (detail)

Ain't Got No, I got life by Nina SimoneĀ - the illustrated Version

24/3/2017

 
Click on the images to see each picture's description
I ain't got no
Study of a Country House 19th Century Pencil Drawing
ain't got no
18th century engraving, Shakespeare's Henry VI, pt2 (detail)
Ain't got no
20th Century Watercolour, Would Hand Out Sovereigns (detail)
ain't got no class
Ain't got no
Pencil drawing, recumbent female figure (detail)
ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume
ain't got no
The Death of Cardinal Beaufort, engraving (detail)
Ain't got no mind
Ain't got no
A Mother and Children in a Landscape, pencil drawing
ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends
ain't got no
Rugby School, watercolour painting
Ain't got no
Punch cartoon, Take the Children Away (detail)
ain't got no name
Ain't got no
A Scene from Shakespeare's As You Like It, engraving (detail)
ain't got no
Portrait of Viscount Bridport, engraving (detail)
Ain't got no
Portrait of Lord Talbot from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1, engraving (detail)
And what have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got?
Nobody can take away
Got my
Portrait of a Lady with Flowers in her Hair, print, detail
got my
Pencil Study of a Sculpture, drawing (detail)
Got my brains
Got my
Portrait of James the First of Scotland, engraving (detail)
Got my
Portrait of Anne, Widow of Edward Prince of Wales, engraving, detail
got my
Julius Caesar, 18th century engraving (detail)
Got my
Portrait of George III, 19th century engraving (detail)
I got my
Charles Grave Punch cartoon, comedian (detail)
I got my tongue
Got my
Boy with a Goose from the Vatican Museums, drawing (detail)
Got my
Monocotyledonous Plants - Palms and Plantains, print (detail)
got my
Female Nude with Hat, watercolour (detail)
Got my
A Scene from Henry VI, Part 3, engraving (detail)
got my soul
Got my
Study of a Female Nude from Behind, pencil drawing (detail)
I got my
Female Nude Study, watercolour wash (detail)
I got my
A Scene from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, engraving (detail)
got my
Mr Bensley in the Character of Iago from Othello, engraving (detail)
Got my
A Scene from Shakespeare's King Lear, engraving (detail)
got my
Nude Lying Down, watercolour wash (detail)
Got my
Mr Holman in Faulconbridge, 1786 , engraving (detail)
got my
Miss Farren in the Character of Hermia, 1785, engraving (detail)
Got my liver
got my
A Scene from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, 1709, engraving (detail)
I've got life
I've got my freedom
I've got the life.

Watercolours and Gremlins: Separated at Birth?

24/3/2017

 
Florence - a damaged print showing signs of foxing
The gremlins in Joe Dante’s 1984 film Gremlins aren’t actually gremlins – at least to begin with – they’re mogwais. Mogwais are happy little furry creatures and they’ll stay that way provided three simple rules are followed. When looking after mogwais, it is vital that:
  • They are not exposed to bright lights (this will hurt them)
  • They are not allowed to get wet (this enables them to multiply)
  • They are not fed after midnight (this turns them evil)
As you may know (or can guess), these rules are not strictly adhered to and the once-friendly mogwais turn into something far more troublesome: gremlins.
The regulations that govern the care of mogwais are simple and relatively straightforward (what ‘after midnight’ means is anyone’s guess) and they can be applied equally to the care of watercolours, drawings, etchings and engravings. In fact, the ‘mogwai rules’ are a useful primer when considering the mounting, framing and display of any work on paper.
If you overly expose your watercolours to bright light (direct sunlight, for instance) they might react in a mogwailian fashion and fade away, over time, like a well-intentioned diet in the middle of January. Once-sharp colours can lose lustre and definition may blur.
Naturally, we wouldn’t choose to get a paper-based artwork wet - that would ruin it. But moisture (due to an overly humid environment, for example) can be just as damaging. The picture on the right has been subjected to overly moist environment and is showing evidence of foxing as a result.
And feeding? In addition to the moisture we unwittingly feed them we are also apt to expose our pictures to a varied diet of changing temperatures; hot, cold and all points in between.
The very best place to display a work on paper is in a stable environment with a temperature of between 16°and 19°C and a relative humidity level between 45%-60% (source: Conservation Register, www.conservationregister.com). This is the ideal. It is also known as a museum. Museums have thermometers and hygrometers to measure ambient conditions and thermostats and humidifiers to maintain an optimum environment.
Museum conditions are the gold standard but we, of course, don’t live in museums. We live in houses where we like to take steamy baths and showers; we might also, from time to time, have mist-emitting pans of vegetables bubbling away in our kitchens. In the winter, we like to have the central heating on in the morning, turn it off when we go to work and turn it back on again in the evening. Thus we live in occasionally humid environments with large variances in temperature. In terms of paper-based art, our homes are not stable environments.
Does this mean we can’t own watercolours? No, of course not. For thousands of years, we humans have sought to decorate and embellish the spaces we choose to occupy – it is an innate human instinct (you can satisfy your own innate human instinct by visiting our ‘Watercolours’ section here).
Happily, there are tools at our disposal that help us limit any potential risks to art – namely knowledge and choice.

A mount burn damaged print
We now know more about how to conserve and care for the works we own. The picture on the left shows a print that was mounted in the late 19th or early 20th century. The mount boards from that period were made of acidic wood pulp and we can clearly see how this has ‘burnt’ the paper. Today, acid-free mount boards are readily available (The Saturday Gallery only uses conservation-grade board for the works we mount in-house) and additional protection is provided once works are framed and appropriately sealed to the reverse.

In terms of choice, we can decide where best to hang a particular work. For watercolours, drawing and prints, opposite a south-facing window may not be such a good idea. Similarly, you might want to reconsider if you decide that the best place for a fine watercolour is above the bath tub.
Thanks to the work of conservators we know what harms works on paper and we have a better understanding of what we can do to reduce the potential risks to them. So next time you are deciding how to mount and frame a piece or considering where to hang it, remember it’s not just a watercolour or a drawing or a print – it’s also a mogwai. And you wouldn’t want it to turn into a gremlin.  

Next time: Oil Paintings and Ewoks: Just Good Friends or Something More Serious?

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