There were some art techniques and artists that have influenced the way I intend to develop the contents of my model. Some of them are directly relevant as they contextualise the development but some are a source of inspiration in terms of how the eventual outcome could be enhanced or made different. The content would be created and visualised through a mixture of several artistic influences.
Toy Theaters
Theatre was the main form of popular entertainment in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Toy theatres became a popular form of family entertainment during the 19th century.
Toy theatres were usually constructed out of card and fitted onto a tabletop to be played with. The characters were printed on paper and card, attached to wooden sticks, and appeared on the stage by sliding in and out of slots on the stage floor. Different scenes and facades could be added to the basic set. Wealthy families often had a toy theatre custom-made.
They were originally created as souvenirs and advertisements for adult theatergoer’s and sold outside playhouses and vaudeville theatres. However, by mid nineteenth century, they were established as socially acceptable toys for middle- class children.
The sheets, which were produced with characters and scenery, came in different versions: cheaper ones in black and white or more expensive full-colour versions. The way in which they were created i.e. the cut outs representing actors frozen in action at steep angled, arms aloft and faces defiant, represented a stylized manner of drawing. The target-audiences were both adults and children.
The idea of the proscenium and using thin, cardboard layers to create depth on stage in a mini theatre was one of the main inspirations behind me using toy theatres as a source of inspiration. I will use a similar manner of construction to depict a scene inside my model. The famous saying of, ‘penny plain, two pence coloured’, the two ways in which the scenic content of toy dioramas were sold, was also an inspiration behind the way I will construct the layers as they will be sketched in black and white.
Theatre was the main form of popular entertainment in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Toy theatres became a popular form of family entertainment during the 19th century.
Toy theatres were usually constructed out of card and fitted onto a tabletop to be played with. The characters were printed on paper and card, attached to wooden sticks, and appeared on the stage by sliding in and out of slots on the stage floor. Different scenes and facades could be added to the basic set. Wealthy families often had a toy theatre custom-made.
They were originally created as souvenirs and advertisements for adult theatergoer’s and sold outside playhouses and vaudeville theatres. However, by mid nineteenth century, they were established as socially acceptable toys for middle- class children.
The sheets, which were produced with characters and scenery, came in different versions: cheaper ones in black and white or more expensive full-colour versions. The way in which they were created i.e. the cut outs representing actors frozen in action at steep angled, arms aloft and faces defiant, represented a stylized manner of drawing. The target-audiences were both adults and children.
The idea of the proscenium and using thin, cardboard layers to create depth on stage in a mini theatre was one of the main inspirations behind me using toy theatres as a source of inspiration. I will use a similar manner of construction to depict a scene inside my model. The famous saying of, ‘penny plain, two pence coloured’, the two ways in which the scenic content of toy dioramas were sold, was also an inspiration behind the way I will construct the layers as they will be sketched in black and white.
Katsushika Hokusai and Uriyo - e
The style in which i will sketch the panels of the model is loosely inspired by the works of the Japanese artist and printmaker of the Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai. The line work of his famous print ‘The Great Wave’ is a style that I will try to incorporate while sketching the panels. However, the panels of my model would be more stylized as Hokusai used to create natural scenes in a more realistic way.
Katsushika Hokusai belonged to the famous Edo period in which art was characterized by a decorative style. The Edo school of art is best known for its Ukiyo – e paintings and woodblock prints. Ukiyo – e, which literally means ‘pictures of the floating world’, was a style of painting that was used for entertainment. It was affordable to recreate and thus was meant for the common people who could not afford paintings. The content portrayed wealthy courtesans, kabuki actors, everyday life and was used as a style of printmaking for advertising purposes. The most common theme in Ukiyo – e portrayed was landscapes painted in odd angles and shapes with emphasis on flat planes and strong linear outlines.
Trompe d'oeil
Another thing that i studied for a deeper understanding of the illusion of depth but which did not necessarily influence the development of my project was Trompe d’oeil, an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create optical illusions that depict objects to appear in three dimensions.
Trompe d’oeil has existed in paintings since the renaissance and has been extensively used by painters and artists ever since to study foreshortening, light and making objects appear three dimensional on flat surfaces. It has long been used in set design to create the illusion of a much deeper space than the actual stage. A famous early example is the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, which has a permanent Trompe d’oeil stage. It was created by Vincenzo Scamozzi and depicts a seven forced perspective street scene that appears to recede into the distance.
REFERENCE:
Horton, S. R. Where They Having Fun Yet: Victorian Optical Gadgetry, Modernist Selves [online]. Available at:http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft296nb16b&chunk.id=d0e554&toc.id=&brand=ucpress. [Accessed: 5 June 2011]
REFERENCE:
Horton, S. R. Where They Having Fun Yet: Victorian Optical Gadgetry, Modernist Selves [online]. Available at:http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft296nb16b&chunk.id=d0e554&toc.id=&brand=ucpress. [Accessed: 5 June 2011]
Museum of Childhood [online]. Available at:http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/toys/toy_theatre/index.html. [Accessed: 5 June 2011]
Hokusai, A. 1994-2010 [online]. Available at:http://andreas.com/hokusai.html. [Accessed: 7 June 2011]
Ukiyo-e. Available at:http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ05064/Templates/ukiyo-e.htm. [Accessed: 10 June 2011]
Hokusai, A. 1994-2010 [online]. Available at:http://andreas.com/hokusai.html. [Accessed: 7 June 2011]
Pioch, N. 2002. Art of the Edo Period [online]. Available at:http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/japan/edo.html. [Accessed: 7 June 2011]
Delahunt M. 1996-2010. Edo Period or Edo Era [online]. Available at:http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/e/edo.html. [Accessed: 7 June 2011]
Tokugava Gallery [online]. Available at:http://tokugawagallery.com/history.html. [Accessed: 10 June 2011]
Saturday Art: Trompe l’oeuil Frecsco by Andrea Pozzo, Jezuit Church, Vienna [online]. Available at:http://my.firedoglake.com/karin/2011/04/09/saturday-art-trompe-loeuil-fresco-by-andrea-pozzo-jesuit-church-vienna/. [Accessed: 10 June 2011]
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