Mary Ellen Edwards – A Victorian Woman Illustrator

Mary Ellen Edwards (later Mrs Freer, later Mrs Staples) by Unknown photographer, albumen carte-de-visite with black masking paint, 1860s, © National Portrait Gallery, London

Illustrator Mary Ellen Edwards was born to Mary (née Johnson, c.1809-1898) and Downes Edwards (c. 1805-1882) on the 6^th November 1838 on her father’s farm in Surbiton just outside London. The family had nine children of which two died in infancy. The Edwards moved frequently. Her father was an engineer and inventor and had by 1848 enough funds to built a family residence, Ravenscliffe in Douglas on the Isle of Man. Eventually they settled in London and lived there at various addresses in fashionable parts of town such as Pimlico, South Kensington and Chelsea.

Exploring the School of Art Collection 2017

Gathering Storm

Gathering Storm, Corinna Button, drypoint with monotype, 2006

Three women sit on a bench huddled close together. Backs to us, their arms wrap around each other snuggly, they look intimate and protected. Heads bent forward with faces close, these women are in the middle of a private moment, excluding the rest of the world. Rain falls from black clouds in the sky above, whilst overhead telephone wires stretch across poles from either side of the women, as if framing them. They are centre and focus of the print.

Joseph Wolf – “The best all-round animal painter that ever lived.”

Joseph Wolf, Lance Chalkin, 1890, the Zoological Society of London (Source: Wikipedia)

Joseph (Mathias) Wolf was born on the 22^nd January 1820 in the little village of Mörz, near Koblenz, Germany. His father, Anton Wolf (1788-1859) was a farmer and headman of the village. As a boy, Wolf loved spending time outdoors, observing and sketching the local wildlife. Sometimes, he would shoot specimens to dissect them at home in order to achieve a better understanding of their anatomy, plumage or fur. He would also capture live birds and mammals to draw them. He built special traps to catch large birds of prey without harming them. His obsession, apparently, earned him the unflattering nickname ‘bird fool’ from his father. Watching wildlife became a lifelong passion and, although he killed some for study, he abhorred the mindless slaughter of animals that many Victorians regarded as a ‘manly’ pastime and sport. According to his biographer and friend Alfred Herbert Palmer (1853-1931), son of artist Samuel Palmer (1805-81), Wolf accused these ‘sportsmen’ of having “no desire to know about a thing. Their only desire is to kill it.” He also called man “the most destructive and carnivorous animal in the world.”

Karen’s Cabinet of Curiosities December 2017

 

(Click on images to enlarge them.)

Curiosity: 2 miniature portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte

Created: 1824

Artist: Maestro di Pavia

Measurements: Full-length portrait: 183×118 mm

                              Head portrait: 74×62 mm

These two miniature portraits have come to the University museum’s collection through the bequest of George Powell of Nanteos. As with so many of his objects, we have unfortunately no idea how, when and where he bought them. Holland and Meyrick explain that “Powell was very taken with Romantic struggles for liberty and nationhood. Like many other collectors in the 19^th century he collected material associated with Napoleon Bonaparte.” This and the exquisite execution of the portraits might have been his reasons for acquiring them.

Karen’s Cabinet of Curiosities August 2017

Curiosity: Opium pipe

Country of origin: China

Maker: Unknown

Created: 19th century (?)

Measurements: 558mm

Material: Bamboo and metal (possibly tin or brass)

 

 

Karen’s Cabinet of Curiosities July 2017

 

Curiosity: Panel pipe

Creator: Haida people

Origin: Haida Gwaii

(formerly Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia, Canada

Date of creation: ca. 1820-1900

Material: Argillite

Measurements: 330 x 117mm

Alternative Facts: Interpreting Works from the School of Art Collection: 22 May to 29 September 2017 at the School of Art Gallery, Aberystwyth University

The phrase ‘alternative facts’ is a recent addition to our vocabulary.  It has come to prominence in a political climate in which views and actions are shaped more by emotions than by reliable intelligence.  Reflecting this shift, Oxford Dictionaries declared ‘post-truth’ to be Word of the Year 2016.  And yet, alternative facts are as old as language itself.

Year of Legends 2017

2017 is the ‘Year of Legends’ in Wales, and we delved deeply into our collection to see what treasures relating to this fabulous theme might come to light. We selected a few, some of which will be included in a small display at the School of Art; others will only be viewable online. This is an on-going project and from time to time we might add to this post, so keep an eye out for updates.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens with illustrations by Phiz (Household Words, 1874)

“A compliment which Mr. Weller returned by knocking him down out of hand: having previously with the utmost consideration, knocked down a chairman for him to lie upon.”

“Sam, having been formally introduced . . . . as the offspring of Mr. Weller, of the Belle Savage, was treated with marked distinction.”

“Before Mr. Pickwick distinctly knew what was the matter, he was surrounded by the whole body, and kissed by every one of them.”

“Mr. Wardle looked on, in silent wonder.”

“Take this little villain away”, said the agonised Mr. Pickwick.

“I say insolent familiarity, Sir,” said Mr. Pickwick, turning upon Fogg with a fierceness of gesture which caused that person to retreat towards the door with great expedition.”

“Mr. Snodgrass and Mr. Winkle had each performed a compulsory summerset with remarkable agility?.”

“Who are you, you rascal?” said the captain, administering several pokes to Mr. Pickwick’s body with the thick stick. “What’s your name?”

“The door was just going to be closed in consequence, when an inquisitive boarder, who had been peeping between the hinges, set up a fearful screaming.”

“The horse no sooner beheld Mr. Pickwick advancing with the chaise whip in his hand.”

“Old Mr. Wardle, with a highly-inflamed countenance, was grasping the hand of a strange gentleman.”

“The mottled-faced gentleman reviewed the company, and slowly lifted his hand.”

“Mr. Weller was dispelling all the feverish remains of the previous evening’s conviviality, . . . . when he was attracted by the appearance of a young fellow in mulberry-coloured livery.”

“The Kitchen door opened, and in walker Mr. Job Trotter.”

“He has come out,” said little Mr. Perker, greatly excited; the more so as their position did not enable them to see what was going forward.

“Old Lobbs gave it one tug, and open it flew, disclosing Nathaniel Pipkin standing bolt upright inside, and shaking with apprehension from head to foot.”

“Sam stole a look at the inquirer.”

“Mr. Pickwick no sooner put on his spectacles, than he at once recognised in the future Mrs. Magnus the lady into whose room he had so unwarrantably intruded on the previous night.”

“Mr. Tupman looked round. There was the fat boy.”

“Permit me to introduce my friends — Mr. Tupman — Mr. Winkle — Mr. Snodgrass.”

“Mr. Pickwick….went slowly and gravely down the slide, with his feet about a yard and a quarter apart, amidst the gratified shouts of all the spectators.”

“Heyling!” said the old man wildly. “My boy, Heyling, my dear boy, look, look!” Gasping for breath, the miserable father pointed to the spot where the young man was struggling for life.

Mr Pickwick sat in a wheelbarrow. Frontipiece

“There was a scream as of an individual — not a rook — in corporeal anguish. Mr. Tupman had saved the lives of innumerable unoffending birds by receiving a portion of the charge in his left arm.”

“You just come avay,” said Mr. Weller. “Battledore and Shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you an’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores.”

“Sam looked at the Fat Boy with great astonishment, but without saying a word.”

“The words were scarcely out of the old gentleman’s lips, when footsteps were heard ascending the stairs.”

“I say, how nice you look.”

“The heroic man actually threw himself into a paralytic attitude, confidently supposed by the two bystanders to have been intended as a posture of self-defence.”

“The chair was an ugly old gentleman; and what was more, he was winking at Tom Smart.”

“Standing before the dressing-g;lass was a middle-aged lady in yellow curl-papers, busily engaged in brushing what ladies call their ‘back hair’.”

“God bless me, what’s the matter?”

“Seated on an upright tombstone, close to him, was a strange unearthly figure.”

Frontispiece for chapter 1 ‘The Pickwickians’

(Click on the images to enlarge them.)

Karen’s Cabinet of Curiosities May 2017

Curiosity: Tiger head and forepaws in glass case

Date: 1903 (shot)

Origin: Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India

Maker: J. Hutchings, Naturalist and Gunmaker, Aberystwyth

Measurements (case): 71x41x79cm