Christopher Dresser was one the most important and influential designers of the late 1800's. These patterns were first published in his 1874 book, "Studies in Design". His influences included Japanese art and botany. These designs were meant for wall and ceiling decoration. There are multiple online sources for other images of his work including the New York Public Library. This book has also been republished. I have seen these plates in person, and I do regret that the full quality of the period color does not come through. The slightly sulfuric greens, mustards, teal-gray blues, cobalts, red-browns, rich tans, and lichen greys are beautiful in their combinations.
I was feeling a little "Late Victorian" due to a recent project and thought I would post a few of my favorites from that period. For some reason, this is feeling fresh again to me...
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3 comments:
Beautiful stuff. I love Aestheticism and how it progressed toward Art Nouveau. Periods used to logically flow into new ideas and styles. It was going so smoothly in a future forward direction until we landed on the moon. Post Modern, then nothing. It’s been floundering ever since like the timeline skewed into an alternate reality, a design nightmare. I miss the days of Designer Dictators.
Love it. Gorgeous!
It did flow,,,,but it also seemed to peak in different areas with some countries "following".England seemed to do Aestheticism best, but Art Nouveau seems to have peaked in France (some would argue Belgium). Every movement seemed to focus on different countries....now chaos!
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