Tate Compare & Contrast, V&A Timeline and Historical Narrative, Learning Reflection by Katy Collins

Patchwork Assignment Contains: Tate Compare and Contrast, V&A Timeline and Historical Narrative, Learning Reflection

Katy Collins- 20031519

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

Compare and Contrast two artefacts (300 words)

Portrait of a Young Woman

Self-Portrait

Meredith Frampton

Christian Schad

Date: 1935

Date: 1927

Dimensions: Support: 2057 × 1079 mm Frame: 2145 × 1174 × 65 mm

Dimensions: Support: 760 x 620 mm Frame: 1042 x 910 x 92 mm

Oil paint on canvas

Oil paint on wood

Collection: Tate

Collection: on long term loan

The painting ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’ was created by Meredith Frampton, a British painter, in 1935. Presently it is held in the Tate Modern and is displayed in the second room of the studio1. The other painting, ‘Self-Portrait’, was created in 1927 by Christian Schad, a

1

Tate, ‘“Portrait of a Young Woman”, Meredith Frampton, 1935 | Tate’ <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/frampton-portrait-of-a-young-woman-n04820> [accessed 28 November 2020].

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

German painter2. Both paintings were chosen due to their beautiful hyper-realistic depictions of figures (Which are the focus of both paintings). When comparing both paintings, many similarities are apparent. For one, each one is constructed using oil paint, with the focus being on portraiture. The spectator is positioned looking into the scene at these figures. In contrast to Frampton’s work, where the figure looks away, one of the figures in ‘Self-Portrait’ looks straight at the viewer, giving the illusion of walking into a private scene.

While only created 7 years apart, ‘Self-portrait’ was created in Germany a few years before the Great Depression3, which very directly affected the lives of all classes, and ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’ was created in England before the start of the second world war. This means that both the painters and audiences would have very different views of the painting. This can be seen reflected in the style of each painting. ‘Self-Portrait’ is painted in the style of the German movement ‘New Objectivity4, which put a lens on more uncomfortable parts of society and included realism, and ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’, while definitely realism, is not attributed to any art movement5.

2

Tate, ‘“Self-Portrait”, Christian Schad, 1927’, Tate, 2016 <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schad-selfportrait-l01710> [accessed 28 November 2020].

3 Florida Center for Instructional Technology, ‘Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party’, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, 2005 <https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/nazirise.htm> [accessed 28 November 2020].

4 Christopher P. Jones, ‘How to Read Paintings: Self-Portrait by Christian Schad’, Medium, 2020 <https://medium.com/thinksheet/how-to-read-paintings-self-portrait-by-christian-schad-d0c24a9ac256> [accessed 28 November 2020].

5 RA Collections team, ‘How to Read It: Meredith Frampton’s Still Life | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts’, Royal Academy, 2017 <https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it-meredith-frampton> [accessed 28 November 2020].

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

V&A Timeline

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

Historical Narrative

Figure 1: Papaver Orientale

Figure 2: Trousers

‘Trousers’ is a part of the Rapid Response collection held in the V&A and were manufactured in Bangladesh for the Retailer Primark6. ‘Papaver Orientale’ is a photograph created by Anna Atkins in 1852-18547. These pieces were chosen due to the historical relevance each object holds. For one, ‘Trousers’ is a mass-produced item that was retrieved from the wreckage of the Rana Plaza building, which had been illegally developed over many years and had collapsed6. This happened in 2013, when a huge conversation was occurring on 6

V and A Collections, ‘Trousers | Primark Stores Limited | V&A Search the Collections’, V and A Collections, 2020 <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1278284> [accessed 4 December 2020].

7 V and A Collections, ‘Papaver Orientale | Atkins, Anna | V&A Search the Collections’, V and A Collections, 2020 <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91281> [accessed 4 December 2020].

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

the working environment in factories (especially after this occurred)8. ‘Papaver Orientale’ is a cyanotype of a poppy, and the prints created by Atkins were some of the first to be used as illustrations in a book. They were created by placing an object onto dry paper covered with a “light-sensitive solution produced with ferric salts”9. Cyanotypes had only been invented around 10 years before this print, by John Herschel10, making the gorgeous depictions of botany even more impressive.

While both pieces were created to be functional, ‘Trousers’ was made to be worn and ‘Papaver Orientale’ was made immortalise the images of plants, they were both distributed in extremely different ways. ‘Papaver Orientale’ would never have been mass-produced like ‘Trousers’ were, due to literacy levels in the 1800s being incredibly low (with most of the working-class being illiterate)11 and each print was hand made by Atkins, making it impossible to create them in the thousands like ‘Trousers’, which were made to be worn by everyone with their low prices12.

8

Lucy Siegle, ‘Primark: How Ethical Are Your Clothes?’, The Guardian, 5 October 2013, section Environment <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/06/ethical-high-street-clothes-primark> [accessed 4 December 2020].

9 Kerry Lotzof, ‘The First Book of Photographs’, Natural History Museum <https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/anna-atkins-cyanotypes-the-first-book-of-photographs.html> [accessed 4 December 2020].

10 Courtney Reed, ‘From Blue Skies to Blue Print: Astronomer John Herschel’s Invention of the Cyanotype’, 2010 <https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2010/12/07/from-blue-skies-to-blue-printastronomer-john-herschels-invention-of-the-cyanotype/> [accessed 4 December 2020].

11 ‘Ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.Pdf’ <https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primarysources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-essays/ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.pdf> [accessed 4 December 2020].

12 ‘Primark - How Primark Keeps Prices Low Without Compromising On Ethics | Primark UK’ <https://www.primark.com/en/primark-cares/how-primark-keeps-prices-low> [accessed 4 December 2020].

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

Learning Reflection

Formats Through formats I have learnt to represent myself in my artwork. The project ‘this is me’ really helped with this. A lot of the feedback has shown me that I am good at executing work in medias that I’m unfamiliar with. Feedback has also shown that I need to improve in showing more evidence of my work. One area I need to improve is the amount of time I spend on each piece of work. To do this, I need to better plan my pieces beforehand, so I don’t spend more time than needed on a piece. I should also try and do smaller pieces, as they’ll take less time and in media I’m more familiar with.

Critical and Contextual Studies Through CCS I have learnt more about art galleries, which I previously thought little about (other than to display art), and the wider context of art. Through learning more about the history of art, I feel I better understand where my work could fit. The feedback I have received has been helpful in letting me understand that I am able to talk about art and have the comparisons make sense. It also helped me see that I need to improve on answering the brief in full. To do this, I need to read the brief more carefully, as well as clarify with my tutor the instructions.

Project and Techniques From project and techniques I have gained a better understanding of the fundamental basics of art. Some of the feedback has shown I’m good at design work, as well as some of the 3D work. It has also shown me that I need to improve the presentation of my work, as it can sometimes look rushed. Ways I plan on doing this are taking more care in representing surface texture in illustrations and try and stop my hands from shaking (as that can make my linework shaky).

Patchwork Assignment: Katy Collins 20031519

Bibliography Courtney Reed, ‘From Blue Skies to Blue Print: Astronomer John Herschel’s Invention of the Cyanotype’, 2010 <https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2010/12/07/from-blue-skies-toblue-print-astronomer-john-herschels-invention-of-the-cyanotype/> [accessed 4 December 2020] Florida Center for Instructional Technology, ‘Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party’, Florida Center for Instructional Technology, 2005 <https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/nazirise.htm> [accessed 28 November 2020] ‘Ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.Pdf’ <https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-usen/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextualessays/ghn_essay_bln_lloyd3_website.pdf> [accessed 4 December 2020] Jones, Christopher P., ‘How to Read Paintings: Self-Portrait by Christian Schad’, Medium, 2020 <https://medium.com/thinksheet/how-to-read-paintings-self-portrait-by-christian-schadd0c24a9ac256> [accessed 28 November 2020] Kerry Lotzof, ‘The First Book of Photographs’, Natural History Museum <https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/anna-atkins-cyanotypes-the-first-book-of-photographs.html> [accessed 4 December 2020] ‘Primark - How Primark Keeps Prices Low Without Compromising On Ethics | Primark UK’ <https://www.primark.com/en/primark-cares/how-primark-keeps-prices-low> [accessed 4 December 2020] RA Collections team, ‘How to Read It: Meredith Frampton’s Still Life | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts’, Royal Academy, 2017 <https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it-meredithframpton> [accessed 28 November 2020] Siegle, Lucy, ‘Primark: How Ethical Are Your Clothes?’, The Guardian, 5 October 2013, section Environment <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/06/ethical-high-street-clothesprimark> [accessed 4 December 2020] Tate, ‘“Portrait of a Young Woman”, Meredith Frampton, 1935 | Tate’ <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/frampton-portrait-of-a-young-woman-n04820> [accessed 28 November 2020] Tate, ‘“Self-Portrait”, Christian Schad, 1927’, Tate, 2016 <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schad-self-portrait-l01710> [accessed 28 November 2020] V and A Collections, ‘Papaver Orientale | Atkins, Anna | V&A Search the Collections’, V and A Collections, 2020 <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91281> [accessed 4 December 2020] V and A Collections, ‘Trousers | Primark Stores Limited | V&A Search the Collections’, V and A Collections, 2020 <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1278284> [accessed 4 December 2020]