Lace Design Work of Arpad Dekani

Illustration: Arpad Dekani Lace design c1908

Much of the early twentieth century revival of practical lace making, but more particularly that of designing lace within Hungary, can be attributed fairly squarely to Arpad Dekani. Professor Dekani, who started his career relatively humbly as a teacher at a provincial school in Hungary, eventually became a professor at the Arts and Crafts School in Budapest. It was in this position that he had the influence to restructure some of the aims and ambitions of lace production throughout Hungary.

Dekani used old traditional Hungarian patterns as an origin point in which to engender the production of a whole new system of styles for twentieth century lace production. He was also able to engineer the training of students on two levels. Firstly, there were those who would hopefully produce lace as a going concern. These students were trained in all forms of lace making as well as that of book keeping and the general maintenance and organization of a business. On another level Dekani organized the training of students which in turn who become teachers themselves. These newly trained teachers who were well versed in the new production and design parameters that Dekani had set out for the modernisation of Hungarian lace making, would filter out into the traditional areas of lace making in Hungary, particularly in the north of the country. These Dekani disciples if you will, were given the task of restructuring and repositioning local customs and traditional frameworks of lace production, not to industrialise the craft as such, but to give it a decent competitive edge within Europe.

Illustration: Arpad Dekani lace design c1908

A number of areas of traditional lace production in Europe particularly that of Italy and Austria, had already gone through a restructuring process, giving exports a much more contemporary look and feel to their lace design work. Although still based very much as a traditional craft, European lace did see a considerably robust marketing campaign in the late nineteenth century, but particularly that of the early years of the twentieth century, when so many other crafts and traditions were also having to reshape and redesign themselves for the new century.

Hungary as a partner within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, tended to follow the structure already set out by the Austrian craft schools and college system, whereby traditional craft design and decoration was upgraded, restyled, repackaged even. However, Austria was not the only example of this repositioning of design and craft for the new century. Schools and colleges from Glasgow to Moscow were having to re-evaluate the textile craft system, its present position and its potential future in a rapidly expanding market that was becoming increasingly dominated by mass production and consumerism. Hand production of printed and woven textiles, as well as that of embroidery and lace was particularly vulnerable to market forces. The situation was not helped by the increasing reluctance of customers to subsidise these traditional crafts by paying much more for hand crafted work than they would for industrially based work.

Illustration: Arpad Dekani lace design c1908

In some respects the blame for the decline of the craft system of hand production can be placed with the general buying public as much as with industry. Many who could afford to subsidise these old traditions did so on a progressively smaller scale. As fashion began to incorporate the marketing ploy of inbuilt obsolescence, there was even less room for the craft system to manouvere, particularly with a product that was often produced with the intention that it be seen as outside the role of obsolescence and therefore fashion. Even though some craft work might have attempted to compete with fashion, by its very nature and its high price tag, craft products were meant to be bought as long term investments rather than for short term profit.

This by no means implies that Dekani and many others like him across Europe failed in their attempt to redesign and in many cases relaunch craft traditions. There is a long line of repeated craft initiatives that stretch across the twentieth century. Many of these might well have been short term or failed for various marketing, pricing and fashion reasons. However, the craft system is still with us today and as it yet again restructures itself in the form of contemporary craft, we should be thankful for the many individuals, such as Arpad Dekani who kept the ideal of production that was largely outside the increasingly fragile and some might even say destructive cycle of fashion and redundancy.

Illustration: Arpad Dekani lace design c1908

Reference links:
By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art
Contemporary Crafts
Form Magazine - Australia
Crafts: Contemporary Design and Technique
Arts and Crafts Furniture: From Classic to Contemporary
Contemporary African Arts and Crafts: On-Site Working with Art Forms and Processes [460 Photographs; 23 Color Plates]
Common Ground: Contemporary Craft, Architecture and the Decorative Arts (Mercury Series)
Craft and Contemporary Theory
Craft and contemporary culture,
In Praise of Hands: Contemporary Crafts of the World
Exploring Contemporary Craft: History, Theory and Critical Writing
Jim Partridge (Contemporary Craft Series) (Contemporary Craft Series)

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Anders Zorn Tapestries

Illustration: Anders Zorn. Dalecarlian Scene tapestry panel, 1909

Anders Zorn the Swedish fine art painter is probably better known outside of his native Sweden, as that of an accomplished and highly successful nineteenth and early twentieth century portrait painter. Zorn travelled widely in both Europe and North America and his portraits made him wealthy and acclaimed. However, as if a tonic for the often unrewarding profession of portrait painter, Zorn had a keen interest in the traditions of his native Sweden. The representation of both a rural and traditional basis of life in Sweden became more important to him as his life and career progressed, so that nearer the end of his life the subject of the traditions of Swedish life and culture became much more acute.

Zorn produced a number of compositions with subject matter that were based on the ordinary traditions of rural life in Sweden. These came in a number of disciplines, most admittedly within fine art painting, but some within the traditionally strong Swedish discipline of textiles. This was not particularly unusual for the period as many fine artists were keen to be seen as pan-discipline workers, producing efforts not only in textiles, but also that of ceramics, metal, glass and wood. That much of this work was art rather than design based did often limit the results, but it is still interesting to note the results of the process of a fine art sensibility being transposed into craft or design.

The examples shown here are relatively straightforward transpositions from a fine art origin to that of woven tapestry. Although there is no overly unique interpretation from Zorn, it is interesting to note how he has interpreted his compositions towards a textile based medium. The work has all the appearance of a graphic based dimension, with figures and backgrounds appearing both fresh and spontaneous, giving the impression of an element of contemporary vitality and spontaneity to the traditional rural scenes. Admittedly, this is not always the impression that has been immediately connected to either rural or traditional lifestyles, particularly by those of a more urban disposition.

Illustration: Anders Zorn. Dalecarlian Scene tapestry panel, 1909

All three tapestries are connected and should by rights be seen as a triptych of panels showing various aspects of the one theme. That theme was to illustrate the life lived in the Dalecarlian region of Sweden. Dalecarlia or Dalarna, is an area of the country that had become associated since at least the mid-nineteenth century as being in some respects, the heartland of both Sweden and its culture.  The native Arts & Crafts movement was particularly interested in using Dalecarlia as a metaphor for all that was considered vital in preserving and prolonging the traditions of Swedish life.

Perceived heartlands were a particular necessity for a number of Arts & Crafts movements, more so in Europe than elsewhere. Specific regions and areas were often interpreted as literal vaults containing the uncontaminated traditions and root culture of a nation. Although much of this was clearly romantically misplaced sentiment, it does not change the fact that areas like Dalecarlia became the subject of intense retrospection and rich subject matter for a wide ranging list of creative individuals that included fine artists, designers, craftspeople, photographers, critics, musicians and writers.

These particular pieces by Zorn were even displayed at the 1909 Exhibition of Swedish Applied Art that took place in the capital, Stockholm. Zorn was not the only fine artist represented at the Exhibition, a number of popular and well-placed names in both Swedish fine art and design were represented such as Alfred Wallander, Carl Larsson and Gunnar Wennerberg. Zorn's tapestry work can be seen as a fine example of both the traditions of Swedish craft and culture, along with the sensibilities of a contemporary artist to those traditions.

Illustration: Anders Zorn. Dalecarlian Scene tapestry panel, 1909

Anyone interested in good selection of the fine art work produced by Zorn during his career might wish to follow the link to the Anders Zorn website which can be found below in the Reference links section, along with some relevant books on Zorn that can be found on Amazon.com.

Reference links:
Anders Zorn website
Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn Rediscovered
ANDERS ZORN, His Life and Work
Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination: Swedish Art of the 1890s
Greeting Cards: Anders Zorn Paintings
Anders Zorn In the Woods 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 Print
Anders Zorn 1860-1920: An Introduction to His Life and Achievements
The Prints of Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn 
The Etchings of Anders Zorn: From the Collection of the Springfield Art Museum
Dagmar, 1911 Giclee Poster Print by Anders Leonard Zorn, 24x32

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Embroidered Panel by George Washington Jack

 Illustration: George Washington Jack. Embroidered panel, 1890

George Washington Jack is the patriotically named Scottish American designer who spent much of his professional career in England. Jack trained as an architect and from 1882 became the chief assistant of Philip Webb, taking over sole responsibility for the company in 1900 when Webb retired.

Jack was largely responsible and best remembered for his prodigious amount of furniture design produced for, amongst others Morris & Co. Much of this work was produced during the 1880s when Jack became a convert to the English Arts & Crafts movement. This may well have been through his contact with William Morris, through Morris friendship with Webb and Jack's work for Morris & Co. However, Jack was no mere disciple of Morris, but in fact an independent and enthusiastic supporter of the movement which can be noted by his membership of such prestigious groups and associations as the Art Workers Guild for example.

Although trained as an architect and mostly remembered now for his furniture design work, Jack was also a designer of at least a certain amount of stained glass and textiles. As far as textiles are concerned, a particularly fine example is that of an embroidered panel produced in 1890. The example shown in this article is an excellent representation of what can be achieved through the medium of embroidery. Both the colours and composition are forceful, without appearing strident. There is a rich, though graphic quality to the work that places it very much as an example of the contemporary state of the decorative arts in England as it approached the final decade of the nineteenth century.

It is an example also of Arts & Crafts sensibilities, with the usual use of the abundant elements of the natural world. However, while much of the output of the English Arts & Crafts world was largely tempered by conservative values, along with the characteristic natural inclination towards understatement, Jack's embroidered panel is anything but. A certain element of the exuberant curving of the foliage could be seen as an indication of the inroads being made by the European Art Nouveau movement, and it must be remembered that this piece does date from 1890. However, although elements pertaining to Art Nouveau could be seen in the composition of this piece, it does not necessarily mean that that is what they are.

Art Nouveau struggled to make any headway in England, 1890 being still relatively early for an all out assault by a designer on the English market. This does mean that there was no evidence of the new European movement in England at the time, but is unlikely that a man as steeped in the philosophy of Morris, Webb and the Arts & Crafts movement would have seen the potential of Art Nouveau, when most saw it as a mere fashion fad that had no depth or substance. Most English and in fact British critics saw Art Nouveau as a European, but mostly French folly that would be replaced rapidly by an equally trivial folly. That Art Nouveau made such a fundamental and fairly universal impact on the decorative arts of not only Europe but also that of North America, and was to lead directly into the even more universal and all-pervading Art Deco style, perhaps showed the lack of objective judgement made by the British in regards to that of Europe, but more particularly France.

It would be tempting to imagine that Jack had brought an element of exuberant and youthful vitality from the new world to that of a stuffy and overly traditional old one. It seems unlikely that this is the case as Jack himself was very much an integral part of the English Arts & Crafts movement and of its traditional English philosophy, though it can perhaps not be ruled out entirely.

In the case of Jack's embroidered panel of 1890, it seems more a matter of exuberant detailing on the theme of the English Arts & Crafts mould, but perhaps more specifically of that of Morris. Notably, some of the central foliage seems reminiscent of a Morris design style, particularly some of his more Indian inspired textile work. The embroidered panel also seems similar in some respects to that of a furniture inlay. This perhaps should not be so surprising considering Jacks history of both furniture design and his woodcarving ability. However, whatever the reasoning or origins of the design piece, it is still a fine example of English embroidery work of the late nineteenth century, and should be taken as such.

Reference links:

International Arts and Crafts

The Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts Movement (World of Art)
The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America: Design for the Modern World 1880-1920
Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts & Crafts Companion
Arts & Crafts Design

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