Anglada Camarasa's Women

In 2013 I wrote about Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa (1871–1959); his brief English language Wikipedia entry is here.

My post mentioned that:

"Spanish artists have the reputation of being especially fond of the color black, and Anglada used his share.  But he also made good use of bright colors to the point where some of his work has been associated with Fauvism, a movement he was well aware of.  He also has been mentioned as a kind of Catalonian Gustav Klimt with respect to his treatment of women in some of his paintings.

"I find Anglada something of a mixed bag.  Much is rather heavily painted and, due to influence by the modernist styles that abounded in his day, there is inconsistency in his approach and little in the way of artistic progression.  Nevertheless, several of his paintings are arrestingly interesting, particularly those featuring women and some of his later landscapes."

A few paintings featuring women were included in that post.  Today I present more examples, none of which aside from a drawing are conventionally representational.  After all, Anglada was a Modernist

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Le Paon Blanc - 1904
"The White Peacock" - shown in the previous Anglada post.

Blanquita - 1902
From his Paris years.

Woman in flower garden
I have no information about this, though her dress suggests circa 1915.

Mur céramique - 1904
Parisian women before a "ceramic" wall.

Fleurs de Paris - ca.1902-03

Nightbird - c.1913
By this time Anglada's women were less fuzzy-looking.

Girls of Burriana - c.1910-11
Strong colors and elaborate decoration.

Woman with fan - 1908
For some reason her face is shaded: to highlight the costume?

La maja del Guadalquivir - c.1943
A fairly late example of a female portrayal.  Strong colors, décor, and sharply drawn face.

Drawing of a woman's face
I don't have a date for this.  The eyes seem too wide for her face.

Up Close: Pauline Astor by John Singer Sargent

Pauline Astor (ca. 1880-1972) was the daughter of William Waldorf Astor and granddaughter of John Jacob Astor III.  Her portrait was painted ca. 1898-99 by John Singer Sargent.  As best I can discover, it is in the William Morris Collection, and was on loan to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, where I saw in in January of 2010.

I took a few photos of it with a digital camera that seldom did a decent job of focusing on paintings.

Sargent made Miss Astor seem like a very attractive young woman, so I thought I'd pass my photos along in this post.  Click on the images to enlarge somewhat.

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The portrait as seen at the Huntington.

Zooming in to typical portrait detail.

Showing Sargent's treatment of fabrics.

Closeup of Pauline's face.

Coles Phillips' Fadeaway Illustrations

Clarence Coles Phillips (1880-1927) lived a short, but highly productive life as an illustrator.  He was and is famed for his striking "fadeaway" compositions where areas of the subject's clothing color are identical to the flat background's color.

Two biographical sources (that differ in a few details) are here and here.

Much of Phillips' work was not in the fadeaway style.  I cover that in a separate post.  I think that it's likely that he would have abandoned fadeaway had he lived longer, because most illustrations in that style were made around the 1910-20 decade.

Below are examples of fadeaway illustrations.  Images are in chronological order; click on them to enlarge.

Gallery

Life cover - 22 December 1910
Phillips' earliest fadeaways were for Life magazine covers.

Life cover - 28 September 1911
A more interesting design.

Good Housekeeping cover - November 1912
He also did many covers for Good Housekeeping.  The model for this cover and the one above seems to be the same -- perhaps his wife.

Flanders automobile advertisement - 1912
But fadeaway was rare for his car subjects.

Good Housekeeping cover art - March 1913
This seems to be painted using gouache.  The reproduction process in those days obliterated the brushwork, creating a uniform surface.

Good Housekeeping cover - Novemebr 1917
Another striking design.

Life cover - 7 April 1921

The Magic Hour - Oneida Silversmiths - 1924
In the Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art.

The Magic Hour - Oneida Silversmiths - detail
My photo.  The dark bar at the top is part of the frame.

De Laszlo Paints King Alfonso XIII and Family, 1926-27

Philip de László (1869-1937), Wikipedia entry here, was a highly successful portrait artist: considered by some the successor to John Singer Sargent.  Born and raised in Hungary, most of his career was spent in England.  Not all his later subjects were British.  For example, in 1910 and again around 1920 and 1927 he painted Spain's royalty.  Today's post presents selections from 1926-27.

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King Alfonso XII (1886-1941) of Spain
Biographical information is here.  He abdicated in 1931.

Queen Victoria Eugenie (1887-1969)
Wikipedia entry here.  She was British, a descendent of Queen Victoria, passing on genes related to haemophilia.

Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907-1938)
He renounced his claim to the throne in 1933, later dying due to haemophilia-indiced bleeding.

Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia (1908-1975)
He also renounced his claim.

Infanta Beatriz (1909-2002)
She was the most long-lived of the group.

Infanta María Cristina (1911-1996)
Some biographical information is here.

Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (1913-1993)
He was the father of King Juan Carlos I.

Infante Gonzalo (1914-1934)
He also died of complications due to haemophilia.

Sonia Delaunay Clothing in Black and White

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Wikiperdia entry here, was a Modernist designer of note who during the 1920s and early '30s focused largely on cloth patterning for women's fashions.

In this post I present contemporary photos of some of her efforts.  Of course, they were taken black-and-white because color photography technology was still fairly primitive in those days.

Her patterns are geometrically based.  They are also "busy."  Perhaps too cluttered-looking from today's perspective.  Yet interesting.  Take a look.

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Color image of 1928-29 vintage dress.

A similar pattern top as worn by a model.

Dresses pictured at the famous (for Deco fans) 1925 Paris Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes.

More dresses.

Beachwear.

More.

Swimwear.

Coat.

Modeling clothing in front of the same car.

Sonia even applied her patterns to a car, in this case a Citroën B12.

Thomas Maitland Cleland's Cadillac Images

Thomas Maitland Cleland (1880-1964), brief Wikipedia entry here, was an art director and graphic artist of note during his career.  Perhaps he is best known for creating the first cover of Fortune magazine, dated February 1930.  The magazine was under development prior to the October 1929 Wall Street Crash, and inertia and perhaps thinking that recovery would happen soon, it was launched essentially on schedule.  Cleland was its art director / designer as well as cover artist.

Today's post features work he did for what I believe is a brochure for model year 1928 Cadillac automobiles.  Each illustration features a view of a particular model (such as Roadster), and places  it in a luxury setting he deemed appropriate.

As a former commercial art major and current writer about automobile styling (my blog on that subject can be found here), I find his work particularly interesting.  So might readers interested in Deco/Moderne cum-traditional graphic arts styles of those times.

Click on images (via the Detroit public library) to enlarge.

Gallery

Cover

Seven Passenger Sedan

Five Passenger Coupé

Roadster

Town Sedan

Seven Passenger Touring

Sport Phaeton

Convertible Coupé

Fleetwood Transformable Town Cabriolet