Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Victoriana 1840-1900

1875-1900 advertisement for "Magical Pain Extractor" sourced from tidbitstrinkets.com.

This image shows many Victoriana details e.g. curved lettering on a ribbon banner, romantic portrayal of people which has nothing to do with the product, framing around the image and a faded symmetrical background. The clothing worn is also overdone, particularly the hats, and the sleigh is very ornate.
 This image has a very traditional emphasis, but the colouring is quite nice and the winter scene is reminiscent of a festive atmosphere.










1867 original cover of the first Harpers Bazaar fashion magazine sourced from their website.

This shows classic Victorian details such as the illuminated font of illustrated capitals portraying an idyllic country scene and cherubs. The subtitle is on a lacy banner and the whole thing is on a background of twining leaves with very little white space. The full length illustrations further down the page are also very sentimental in feeling and the background shows the Victorian love of symmetry and ornate architecture. It is also drawn with soft shading which gives the idealised romantic feel that Victorians indulged in.

This is not a style I like, because of the sentimentality and unrelenting filling of every available space, but elements of Victorian style can be interesting when used in a modern artwork.

No comments:

Post a Comment