W., Ellen, Album of cut-paper flowers, circa 1835
- Title(s):
- Album of cut-paper flowers.
- Published/Created:
- Great Britain, circa 1835.
- Physical Description:
- 1 volume (23 collages) : cut paper, collage ; 29 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsQK98.2.W3 A43 1835+ OversizeYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/10585957
- Classification:
- Visual Materials
- Notes:
- The leaves of the album are watermarked 1835. The black sheets of paper on which some of the designs are executed may be watermarked 1827.
Bound in contemporary gilt-stamped green morocco, with dentelles, gilt edges, and marbled endpapers. There is also an original needlework botanical picture of a spray of roses mounted onto each inner board, executed in the style known as Berlin woolwork ("Type of embroidery beginning in the 19th century, usually worked in worsted yarns following a colored pattern drawn on a graphed chart; named as such because early major supplies of these patterns, yarns, and canvas came from Berlin. Primarily a Victorian phenomenon."--Getty Research, Art and Architecture Thesaurus.)
Of green leaf, bird, and flower: artists' books and the natural world, p. 49
The album contains 23 cut-paper flower collages, in the style of Mary Delany, created by an "Ellen W.", circa 1835. The compositions are all unsigned, but the first non-blank leaf bears a cut-paper wreath encircling the name "Ellen," and the front cover of the volume is gilt-stamped "E.W."
The flower compositions fill up a large portion of each 28 x 22 cm page; some are affixed to the album's matte white paper, others to glazed black paper. Ellen W. was clearly influenced by the work of Mary Delany (1700-1788) who, at the age of 72, began to create botanically accurate "paper mosaicks" in handcoloured tissue paper set against a black ground.
The album also includes one botanical watercolour painted onto an actual leaf. - Subject Terms:
- Delany, Mrs. (Mary), 1700–1788.Flowers -- Pictorial works.Women in natural history.
- Form/Genre:
- Cut-paper works.
Collages (visual works)
Embroidery.
Textile materials.
Berlin woolwork.
Botanical illustrations.
Watercolors. - Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
"Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower" : Artists' Books and the Natural World (Yale Center for British Art, May 15, 2014-August 10, 2014) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
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