New Year's Greetings

The sending of New Year’s Day cards was a popular custom in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  Frances Glessner may have received more than her usual share of cards as January 1^st was also her birthday (born 1848).  The museum collection includes four beautiful cards found inserted into a green leather scrapbook assembled by Frances Glessner, probably in the 1880s. 

The first of these is a one-sided card featuring a sprig of apple blossoms with the greeting “Hopefully, prayerfully greet the New Year.  May it bring all you hope for and naught that you fear.”  The sender of the card is identified only as “C. G. C.”  It was printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons, a London-based company started in 1866.  Raphael Tuck was born in Prussia where he received training in graphic arts and pursued his interest in commercial art.  After moving to England with his family, he established the company with three of his four sons, and they became prolific publishers of greeting cards, pictures, gift books, and postcards.  Most of the color printing, known as chromolithography, was done in Germany.  The London headquarters of the company, known as Raphael House, was destroyed during World War II, taking with it most of the original artwork, and the company never fully recovered.

The second card in the collection was also printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons.  The small one-sided card depicts a branch of pink roses with the greeting “Wishing you a happy New Year.”  The back side of the card features a handwritten message which reads “For you and yours, dear Mrs. Glessner, the happiest of New Years.  Josie B. Gwynne.”

The back side of both Tuck cards features the logo of the company, consisting of an easel depicting “RT&S” and a small artist’s palette below which reads “Artistic Series.”  The company received many prizes for its work, and also sponsored competitions for collectors of their cards.  The prolific output of the company is demonstrated by the fact that the winner of the first competition had a collection of 20,364 cards.

The third card is an elaborate folded card that would have appealed to Frances Glessner’s interest in Japonisme.  The front and back sides of the card feature vignettes of blue and white Japanese porcelains with the words “BRIC A BRAC” above.  A band of white cranes flies across the top, and Japanese fans are propped to each side of the main image.  

The inside features a much larger vignette with more blue and white porcelain (one vase holding peacock feathers), an ebonized cabinet with panels depicting more white cranes, a copper ewer (very similar to one owned by the Glessners and now displayed in the dining room) and a convex mirror hanging on the wall.  This image also bears the greeting “A NEW YEAR BRIGHT WITH HAPPY DAYS.”

This card was printed by Marcus Ward & Co., an Irish-based company formed in the early 19^th century by John Ward.  John’s son Marcus took over the company in the 1830s and focused on color lithography, winning a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.  The firm began mass-producing greeting cards and calendars in the 1860s, with Thomas Crane as artistic director and artists including Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators. 

The last card in the collection was created by an unknown maker, but may be the most elaborate of all.  It was sent by a “Miss Pomeroy.”  The front and back covers are identical, with the greeting “WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR” surrounded by beautiful Aesthetic Movement-inspired designs including medallions at each corner featuring different floral motifs (an idea often used by Isaac Scott in the creation of his picture frames). 

The left panel of the interior of the card features an illustration of a young girl dressed in a fur-trimmed red coat throwing a snowball, with the greeting “HAPPY NEW YEAR” underneath. 

The right panel, with elaborate detailing around the border reads “COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON” at the bottom, and features part of a poem by William Allingham at center.  Allingham (1824-1889) was a well-known Irish poet, diarist, and editor with his best known work being “The Faeries.”  The greeting card includes the first stanza of his poem “Frost in the Holidays” and reads:

The time of frost is the time for me!

When the gay blood spins through the heart with glee;

When the voice leaps out with chiming sound,

And the footstep rings on the musical ground;

When the earth is gray and the air is bright,

And every breath is a new delight.

The four New Year’s Day cards, along with a selection of Christmas cards sent to the family, are displayed each year on the partner’s desk in the library during the holiday season.

The Glessners and Japonisme, Part II

On Tuesday May 14, 2013 at 7:00pm, Glessner House Museum will host a lecture by Rolf Achilles entitled “The Glessners’ Kutani ware bowl and Chicago’s take on Japonisme.”  The event celebrates the restoration of the Glessners’ Kutani bowl, funded by a generous gift from the Chicago Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, The First Chapter and restored by the talented craftsmen at The Conservation Center.  For further information on the lecture or to make reservations, call 312.326.1480.  Tickets are $10 per person and can also be purchased at the door.

Last week we explored the Glessners’ strong interest in the Japonisme movement by looking at several of the books in their library that focus on Japanese art and design.   This week, we spotlight a few of the beautiful objects on display in their home.  The Western world had been closed off to the kingdom of Japan for centuries until 1853 when the American government sent a formal party headed by Commodore Matthew Perry to the Emperor of Japan to establish friendship and trade.  A formal treaty was signed in March of 1854.   Many Americans, including the Glessners, would have first had an opportunity to see examples of Japanese wares at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia.   (The Glessners attended the fair for two days in August of that year).  Not surprisingly the Japanese department was one of the main centers of attraction of the fair and Clay Lancaster, writing in his Japanese Influence in America in 1963, noted that “the importance of the exhibits, in introducing Americans to these phases of Japanese art cannot be overestimated.”  The Glessners also frequently visited curiosity shops, and their journal makes numerous mentions of looking at and purchasing items of Japanese design.  The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 also provided a wonderful opportunity to view “some four hundred pieces, including sculptures in wood, plaster, and bronze and other metals, carvings in wood and ivory, paintings, prints, cloisonné enamels, pottery and porcelains, lacquers, metal works, and architectural models” according to A History of the World’s Columbian Exposition published in 1897, R. Johnson, editor.

An interesting entry is found in the Glessner journal, dated January 30, 1891:

“We stayed in the parlor after supper where Prof. Morse talked for awhile about his experiences in Japan where he was a Professor in the University of Tokio.  When he came in the house he walked straight up to a vase which we have always called ‘Corean’ – he told us it was very rare Satsuma – and the first he had ever seen in a private collection.  He showed us how the (Japanese) made tea and was altogether interesting and delightful.  He asked me Sunday if I had the September Harper’s for 1888.  I sent to the attic and found it.  It had a very interesting article about Satsuma with a picture of the mate (almost) to our vase.”

NOTE:  Prof. Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925) originally gained recognition as a zoologist and in 1877 travelled to Japan where he was offered a post as the first Professor of Zoology at the Tokyo Imperial University.  He amassed an important collection of more than 5,000 pieces of Japanese pottery and ceramics which today form part of the “Morse Collection” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  He became Keeper of Pottery at the Museum in 1890, shortly before his visit to the Glessners. 

The 10-inch stoneware jug, shown above, is very similar to a piece of Sunkoroko Satsuma illustrated in the September 1888 Harper’s article by Prof. Morse, but it is not known if this is the piece referenced in the journal entry. 

This vase, 14.5 inches tall, is also a Satsuma piece, but was clearly made for the Western market.  It features the typical dingy cream color seen on many Satsuma pieces, and is decorated with large roses applied in relief to the vase, with a stick-like branch that “jumps” on and off the surface of the piece.  The glaze features a fine crackling effect.

The centerpiece of the May 14^th lecture is the Glessners’ large Kutani bowl.  Measuring more than 19 inches in diameter, the boldly colored porcellaneous stoneware bowl is an example of ao Kutani and is dateable to the 1870s period when the Glessners first began collecting “bric-a-brac” and Japanese objects.  Original Kutani ware was only made for a brief period in the Kaga province during the mid-17^th century, but the process was revived in the 19^th century.  Ao Kutani (green Kutani) refers to pieces that are decorated all over in green, yellow, and purple, usually with geometric background patterns.  A “fuku” (good luck) mark on the reverse of the piece indicates it may have been produced at the Yoshidaya kiln, originally built on the site of the Old Kutani kiln.  The Glessner piece features a bold design of bamboo stalks and leaves with cherry blossoms, all set against a background of stylized chrysanthemums.  The sides are deep green with repeated stylized scalloped clouds.  The bowl shows in photographs of the Glessners’ home on Washington Street taken about 1880 so it is clearly among the earlier pieces of Japanese manufacture that the Glessners purchased.  In their Prairie Avenue home, the piece was always displayed atop the Isaac Scott designed bookcase in the upper hall.  It was damaged in 1996 and has not been on public display since that time.

Another interesting piece in the collection is a 14.5 inch stoneware oil plate featuring a Samurai warrior made in Seto Japan and attributed to Kozan, who exhibited at both the 1876 and 1893 fairs.  It began its life as a piece of Seto folk pottery produced for everyday use, which was then glazed and decorated, a wax resist applied and glazed again to achieve the beading effect.  (Detail shown at top of article)

This pair of Japanese vases feature enamel work consisting of trailing floral vines against the marbleized brown and cream ground.  In John Glessner’s 1923 The Story of a House, he mentions this “pair of mottled Japanese vases from the Centennial Exposition of 1876.”  They may be the first pieces of Japanese design the Glessners every purchased.

This piece, considered among the finer pieces in the Glessner collection is known as engobe ware, an example of Japanese porcelain that copies Chinese pieces.  The fine quality white porcelain is glazed in a version of ‘ashes of roses’ – a popular color in the 19^th century. 

A striking piece, displayed in the library is an example of Hirado ware.  Hirado has a long history of porcelain production and the period from the mid-1700s to about 1830 is considered to be the years in which the finest Hirado, and in fact the finest Japanese porcelain, was produced.  The ware is characterized by a very fine-grained, pure white body with no traces of grayness, and bold ultra-marine blues, the pieces formed into slender necked exaggerated forms.  This is probably the finest Japanese piece in the collection today. 

The Glessners and Japonisme, Part I

On Tuesday May 14, 2013 at 7:00pm, Glessner House Museum will host a lecture by Rolf Achilles entitled “The Glessners’ Kutani ware bowl and Chicago’s take on Japonisme.”  The event celebrates the restoration of the Glessners’ Kutani bowl, funded by a generous gift from the Chicago Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, The First Chapter and restored by the talented craftsmen at The Conservation Center.  For further information on the lecture or to make reservations, call 312.326.1480.  Tickets are $10 per person.

The Glessners had a strong interest in Japanese design, as evidenced by the numerous Japanese made items in the collection, as well as a significant number of books and publications on Japanese art and design.  In this article, we will examine a few of the books found in their library; in the next blog posting, we’ll feature some of the beautiful items on display in the house.

Artistic Japan was one of the most successful publications of the late 19th century aimed at educating the European and American public about the art and culture of Japan.  A total of 36 issues were produced in French, English, and German between May 1888 and 1891.  The audience for the magazine included knowledgeable collectors as well as individuals such as the Glessners who were eager to collect Japanese objects as part of defining their home environment.  Each issue was lavishly illustrated with full-color plates featuring Japanese art from leading collections as well as details of textiles and other objects.  The articles were penned by the leading European writers and collectors of Japanese art, including Edmond de Goncourt and Philippe Burty, both of who had helped initiate the Japonisme movement in the mid-1860s.  The publisher of Artistic Japan was Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), a progressive art dealer who was extremely influential in introducing Japanese art to the West.  In 1894, his Paris gallery was redesigned as the Maison de l’Art Nouveau, with windows by Toulouse-Lautrec and Tiffany.  The shop sold “contemporary” art objects with a Japanese influence in what came to be known as the Art Nouveau style (named after Bing’s gallery).  The museum archives contains the first 24 issues of the publication, including the first issue which is stamped “Sample Copy.” 

Edward Greey (1835-1888) was an English officer, diplomat and art dealer.  He became enchanted by everything Japanese after being sent as an attaché to the British Legation in Japan in the 1860s.  By 1868, he moved to New York City where he imported and dealt in Asian ceramics, textiles, and art objects, specializing in Japonica.  He also authored numerous books, most of which were Japanese-themed.  The Glessners visited Greey’s shop in New York in April 1884 purchasing a vase and receiving a signed copy of his book The Bear Worshipers of Yezo and the Island of Karafuto (Saghalin) or The Adventures of the Jewett Family and their Friend Oto Nambo.  He was one of the first westerners to write about the light-skinned, bearded Ainu people of Yezo (Hokkaido).  Six months earlier, Greey and his wife presented Frances Glessner with a signed copy of another of his books, The Wonderful City of Tokio or Further Adventures of the Jewett Family and their Friend Oto Nambo while he was exhibiting in Chicago.

The Glessners owned another volume by Greey entitled A Brief History of Japanese Bronze, published in 1888, the year that Greey died.  Tragically, Greey committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol, the result of ill health and financial difficulties.  Little remembered today, clearly Greey was a significant influence in the Glessners’ understanding and appreciation of Japanese art and culture.

The great English designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was the author of another important book on Japan in the Glessner library, Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures, published in 1882.  Dresser was a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic movement, and a major contributor to the allied Anglo-Japanese branch of the movement.  He wrote several books on design and by 1865 was called the “most active revolutionizer in the decorative arts of the day.”  In 1876-1877, he traveled throughout Japan as a guest of the nation by order of the Emperor.  His design work, much of which looks strikingly modern even today, included carpets, ceramics, furniture, glass, graphics, metalwork, and textiles.

James Lord Bowes (1834-1899) was a wealthy Liverpool wool broker, art collector and patron of the arts, an author and authority on Japan and its art.  He began actively collecting Japanese art works of all kinds in the 1860s, sharing his passion for the subject with architect George Ashdown Audsley, who designed his Liverpool home Streatlam Tower in 1872.  He was appointed the Honorary Japanese Consul at Liverpool 1888, a position he held until his death eleven years later.  In 1890 on the grounds of his Liverpool home, he opened to the public the first museum dedicated to Japanese art in the western world.  He published several works on Japanese art and design, including Japanese Marks and Seals in 1882, a copy of which the Glessners owned.  After his death, the Bowes Museum of Japanese Art closed, and its contents were sold at auction. 

British architect James Conder (1852-1920) worked as a foreign advisor to the government of Japan during the Meiji period.  He designed numerous buildings in Tokyo, and educated many Japanese architects earning him the designation of the “father of Japanese modern architecture.”  Invited by the Japanese government, Conder taught at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo beginning in 1877.  He helped transform the Marunouchi area of Tokyo into a London-style business district, and several of his students became prominent architects, building western-style buildings in Japan.  He developed a strong interest in Japanese arts and studied painting with a prominent Japanese artist.  His studies led to a number of publications including The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement published in 1891, a copy of which the Glessners owned.  It was the first book in English on ikebana (the art of Japanese floral arranging).  He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tokyo Imperial University in 1915 and remained in Japan for the remainder of his life.