Design History in London

During the Fall Semester, we will try to make a trip to a couple of archives in the US to begin your research. For example, in Chicago, the Newberry Library contains excellent examples of historical books.

Some examples of topics of research include:

Nineteenth Century Women Illustrators, including Kate Greenway or Beatrix Potter.

Nineteenth Century Women Photographers, such as Lady Clemintina Hawarden and Lady Filmer– both contemporaries of Julia Margaret Cameron, in the 1860's.

Contemporary designers - if you have a particular contemporary British designer you are interested in, you could make contact with him or her before January and arrange to meet them for an interview. . For example, Adrian Shaunessey of Intro Design is often called upon to comment on design for the British design press. (see image below).

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Some of the material held on the Special Collections in the National Art Library include:
  Comic Books and Graphic Novels
  Fine and Noteworthy binding
  Illuminated Manuscripts
  Fine Printing

  Artists' Manifestos
  Artists' Books
  Historical Posters re available through the
  V&A print room.

The Archives holds a large collection of street ephemera. Periodically, they make a sweep of the steets and collect an eclectic section of flyers, handbills, leaflets, promotions for concerts, raves, massage services, fast food, in short, every kind of popular culture artifact that can be found printed or posted on the streets of london. Ironically , these archives are kept in one of the most secure off-site locations, but can be visited by appointment. (The Design Museum had a major retrospective of the work of Peter Saville, who designed many rock album and CD covers.)

PHOTOGRAPHY

If you have an interest in Photography, the V&A print room has original photographs by 19th and 20th century photographers, including P.H. Emerson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Frederick Evans, Bill Brandt and many more, including photographers like Lady Clementina Hawarden, active in the 1860's and who was a contemporary of Cameron.

The sedge harvest; P.H. Emerson 1886

"Idylls of the Norfolk Broads"
P.H. Emerson 1886

It is not every day that you have the priviledge of handling original pieces of history. For me, personally, it was wonderful to pull a chair up to a folio of prints by 19th century photographer P. H. Emerson, and examine the richly-toned gravure prints one at at time. Not only were the prints magnificent to look at, but it was illuminating also to see the cover of the folio, to read the text, and to expereince it as it was intended, as a folio of images and text. I was surprised at the blackletter type used to print the title page for the folio, and in keeping weiht Emerson's mission to have photography accepted as a fine art, the cover of the folio was a gold-embossed engraving based on one of timages in the folio, quaintly named "water babies."

The Prints and books of photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot are available at the V&A, as are prints by Cameron, Hill and Adamson, and many of Pictorialist Photograhers. Early documentary photography was also beingn practiced and published in London, such as Joseph Thomas's Street Life on London, published in 1877.

FURNITURE, INTERIOR and PRODUCT DESIGN
There are excellent opportunities to explore historic styles of furnishing, from Elizabethan to Chippendale and other 18th century styles to the Arts and Crafts Movement started right in London by William Morris and his associates. Modern and Contemporary design can be explored both in museum and commercial settings.
Resources include:
       The Geffrye Museum which specializes in domestic interior from 1500-the present, presenting domestic artifacts in a social context.
       The William Morris Gallery and Kelmscott House have archives on the arts and crafts movement and people related to that period. , such as the Pre-Raphaelites.
       The Archives room at the V&A Museum has extensive collections on fabric design, furniture designs.
       The Design Museum also has rotating and permanent displays of product and furniture design. .

FASHION AND COSTUME DESIGN

For those interested in fashion, the V and A museum will have a special exhibit of the fashion designers of Ossie CLARK A wonderful exhibit of fashion and costume history is on permanent display in the main V & A gallery.

BOOK ARTS

Artist handmade books are one of the fastest-growing areas of fine art and an enduring interest of many graphic designers. Creative and unique book-binding methods figure prominently in design awards.The National Art Library and the British Library have wonderful examples of both historic and contemporary books collected specifically for their innovative folds, binding, use of paper, type or other materials, or for the creatie concept.

ILLUSTRATION
From manuscript illumination to nineteenth century illustrators like Beatrix Potter and Aubrey Beardslely, to underground comics and graphic novels, illustration has gone through many transformations. Start by reading a
survey of types of illustration. From the survey class you should know the difference between a woodcut, a line engraving and a lithograph. Some possible topics to look at in this area are Victorian children's book illustrations and children's literature, (Kate Greenway, and others - By the way, there is a great eclectic toy museum on London as well. )