A designer and his muse: Piero Fornasetti and Lina Cavalieri

Here is something I've been fixated with for the last while. Throughout the 20th century, Italian designer Piero Fornasetti used the same face as the template for more than three-hundred and fifty designs which are instantly recognizable as his work. The iconic designs were transferred to everyday items such as dinner plates. Below, you'll see just a few examples of these designs, which I'm drawn to for their whimsy and imagination.

They're just wonderful!

The 19th century Italian opera singer Lina Cavalieri served as Fornasetti's muse after he encountered her image in an old French magazine. 

From the Fornasetti site, we learn Fornasetti's reasoning with keeping Cavalieri's face as his template for so many designs.

Lina Cavalieri’s face, explained Piero Fornasetti, was another archetype – a quintessentially beautiful and classic image, like a Greek statue, enigmatic like the ‘Gioconda’ and therefore able to take shape into the idea that was slowly building in his mind. It was this formal, graphic appeal (rather than Lina Cavalieri’s celebrity) that demanded such loyalty and inspired the spontaneous and ceaseless creativity of Fornasetti. For him, this face became the ultimate enduring motif.

And to see photographs of her, who could question him?

Hers is a beauty not easily forgotten. (And those clothes!!)

Furs and snow: The wintry paintings of Cornelius Krieghoff.

When I was visiting the Royal Ontario Museum about a month ago, I was struck by the work of a celebrated painter from North America`s past. Cornelius Krieghoff, born in Amsterdam, painted during mid-nineteenth century. He can best be recognized for his winter scenes and so the deeper we delve into the winter months, the more I felt the desire to share some examples of his work.

What seems to strike me most in Krieghoff's paintings is how much attention has been paid towards the objects in each scene.  Though the landscapes and people in Krieghoff's scenes are certainly beautiful in their romantic styling, the clothing, the furniture, and the textures are so finely painted that they demand the most attention from the observer.

An Officer`s Room in Montreal

I particularly love An Officer`s Room in Montreal. You can nearly feel the cushy softness of the fur blanket draped over the chaise by the fire, where you sit to gaze at the innumerable objects that add such coziness to the room, and scratch the friendly dogs absentmindedly after they've both wandered contentedly towards you and compete for your affection.  The room itself is dry and maybe a bit too warm, but it is a welcome relief from the outside cold.

This officer appears to be an intellectual member of the merchant class (or wishes to present himself as such). The room is a 'cabinet of wonders,' filled with items acquired through trade and travel, samples of his intellectual interests. The traps above his desk reveal the origins of his trade as a fur trader, and the various pelts, beaded boots, slippers, and mitts strewn about the room demonstrate his interactions with First Nations.  These boots, as well as the pair of snowshoes, have been warn - are not merely items for display - and so he also interacts with the land himself, he is not just a passive observer.  The room is both a demonstration of the European Enlightenment as well as of Canadian entrepreneurial spirit and colonialism of the time.

Calling the Moose

1860

Winter was one of Krieghoff`s favourite seasons to depict in his work. The people in his paintings were fur traders newly arrived from England and Scotland, French Canadians who had already been been part of the landscape since the seventeenth century, and First Nations peoples who had known the winters around the St-Lawrence since time immemorial.  He didn't just paint people in wintry scenes, he painted these people interacting with the landscape  They were as much a part of these landscapes as any hill, river, or tree. He painted these people working, travelling, interacting, and having fun with winter.

An Early Canadian Homestead

1859

The snow in these scenes managed to accentuate the bright colours and fine detail in the fabrics of the people, furs, trees, houses, tools, and decorations he so carefully painted. Krieghoff painted people who loved bright colours for their clothing and houses in the depths of winter.

I also love how his paintings are so animated. You can nearly hear the people in the paintings yelling to one another across a snowy yard, the winter wind blowing, the sound of crunching snow beneath mocassined feet, or a dog barking.  Krieghoff's paintings demonstrated how winter in Canada near the St-Lawrence could be great fun and stunningly beautiful or utterly difficult and nearly hellish.

The Trapper's Return

1861

The Blizzard

1857

Not only did Krieghoff capture people living in the midst of winter, he captured the development of new social identities and was just as much a part of it as his subjects. The people in these scenes lived winter in such a way that it molded the way they viewed the world around them.  Their experiences during this time were neither strictly those of First Nations or strictly those of Europeans; these experiences were part of a burgeoning notion - of a new sense - of what it was to be Canadian.  Though the idea of what it means to be "Canadian" today is something quite complicated and the subject of ongoing study, a hint of its origins can certainly be found in the subjects of Krieghoff's paintings and how he chose to portray them. 

Interesting stuff.

Wishing you all the best over these winter months!

Images from Rupert`s Land: The Work of Peter Rindisbacher.

How time flies! The month of March has kept me busy; marking papers, concentrating on my own work, and yes, procrastinating. I'm currently working towards completing an essay about the artwork of Peter Rindisbacher. Never heard of him, you say? Canada claims his work as an important element within the foundations of its history. Rindisbacher came from Switzerland at the age of fifteen in 1821. The Rindisbacher family, as well as 160 other settlers (primarily Swiss), were part of a last effort by the English Lord Selkirk and the Hudson's Bay Company to try and colonize the Red River area (present day Winnipeg). This project had begun in 1812 and was never considered anything other than a failure. The area of Red River was already inhabited by various First Nations groups, retired fur traders, their families and earlier groups of settlers (mainly Highland Scotts in this case) sent by Selkirk in years previous. Meanwhile, many from this fresh group of Selkirk Settlers would not stay in Red River very long; some, including Rindisbacher, would travel southwards to the United States after a few years of crop failures and disease. Rindisbacher would die at the age of twenty-eight in St-Louis, Missouri.

Great Danger of the ship Wellington of being crushed by an iceberg at Lat. 61.42 N.

July 25, 1821.

In the meantime, Rindisbacher painted many scenes depicting life in Rupert's Land. He was primarily self-taught, except for having studied briefly with Swiss artist Jakob Weibel, a minituarist and landscape artist. Rindisbacher's images reflect European stylistic preferences of the time. Scenes of Rupert's Land would begin with the arrival of the settlers aboard the Wellington at York Factory in Hudson Bay and the ship's close call with an iceberg. Other scenes would reveal the life of the settlers as they journeyed from Hudson Bay towards Red River; portaging York boats and camping along Lake Winnipeg.

Extremely wearisome journeys at the portages,

1821 .

Cold night camp on the inhospitable shores of Lake Winnipeg,

1821 .

Colonists on the Red River in North America

ca. 1822 .

The Governor of Red River, driving his Family on the River in a Horse Cariole,

1825.

Un métis et ses deux épouses.

Other scenes, such as the one above, would cater to European interests of the time such as notions of the exotic.

Indian hunters pursuing buffalo in the early spring,

1822.

Another popular scene at the time, which Rindisbacher produced amply, was that of hunting big game.

In the past, many of these images have been taken as accurate and truthful representations, though current endeavours by historians have commented that Rindisbacher had his own perceptions of that which he was witnessing and was also well aware of the interests of potential buyers. Negative stereotypes regarding First Nations and Métis peoples have also sprouted from literal interpretations of these images. Nevertheless, the art of Peter Rindisbacher are valuable remnants from an exciting age of interaction between cultures. The last image is one of my favourites; it depicts the forks where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet, where now stands the center of present-day Winnipeg.

Winter fishing on the ice of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers,

1821.1

*Images were provided by the digital collections of Library and Archives Canada*

emily carr

indian house interior with totems
1912-1913

vanquished
1930

a woman i look up to is emily carr. i'm not sure how well known she is outside of canada, but i find her truly amazing. born and raised in victoria, british columbia, emily carr never married and followed her passion - painting - and it she would travel great distances throughout her life to enrich her skills to capture that which she wished to express through the medium of paint.
the forests and first nations people of the west coast inspired her throughout her life. she sought to convey the feeling of a scene, and became a student of the impressionist movement then occurrence in france. emily travelled to france and spent some years there to learn the technique, but then returned to her native victoria, travelling up and down the pacific coast visiting first nations villages and painting.

kispiox village
1912

to me, contemplating one of emily's paintings is like sensing what it is to stand amongst ancient trees, the crashing of ocean waves audible yet dulled through the dark and thick carpeting of the tropical forest. i can hear children laughing in a village belonging to seaside cultures richer and older than the thousand year old trees. dogs barking and the smell of damp cedar and woodsmoke on the salty sea breeze. the echo of a raven through dripping leaves.

skidegate

1928

arbutus tree
1922

kispiox village
1929

in an age where racism and sexism could have easily halted emily's endeavours, she never wavered and pushed to capture the essence of that which she witnessed on canvas. her pieces have contributed to the enrichment of canadian identity.

old time coast village
~1929-1930

tree trunk
1931

emily carr
1871-1945
artist, author, woman, visionary, lover of animals

*i had trouble limiting the number of examples of her work, for more, please visit the Vancouver Art Gallery website*

alice's adventures in wonderland

camille r. garcia, illustrator

alice's adventures in wonderland
by lewis carroll
(2010)