Saturday, December 23, 2023

Media and Society
Art Essay

Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
Living with pandemics has become our new reality. As the human population explodes, poor people in third world countries will continue to live in slums and so they can never socially distance themselves, thereby providing a perfect breeding ground for new variants or new viruses. Moreover, we have never been more mobile in human history.

In Australia, if we bring in food or plants from other countries, border security confiscates them. However, we are free to bring in any virus. Go figure!

All is not doom and gloom. The first known clinical description of polio, by British doctor Michael Underwood, was not identified until 1789, and it was formally recognized as a condition in 1840 by German physician Jakob Heine. Physician Jonas Salk tested his experimental vaccine on himself and his family in 1953. The results were announced on 12 April 1955, and Salk’s inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was licensed on the same day.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was first identified in December 2019. By December 11, 2020, the Pfizer vaccine became the first to receive an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nowadays, science is more sophisticated. No vaccine in history was so rapidly developed as this vaccine!

Santa's Little Helper
Santa's little helper!

No matter what your belief systems, I wish you a happy and joyous festive season.
With best wishes,
Marie-Therese.
Note: The next post will appear on the 13th of January 2024.


Media and Society
The first commonly accepted newspaper was the German-language 'Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien', printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg (then Germany now France).

World's First Newspaper
A 1609 title page of the German Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605).

The earliest magazine appears to have been the German Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (1663–68); “Edifying Monthly Discussions,” started by Johann Rist, a theologian and poet of Hamburg.

World's First Magazine


It is clear that as these information outlets developed, they became more specialized in content and in audience capture. For example, the Woman's Weekly was geared towards the interests of adult middle class Australian housewives.

Womwn's Weekly (First Edition)
The Woman's Weekly (Australian magazine) Volume 1 Number 1 November 4th 1911 Paperback.

On 13 May 1897, Guglielmo Marconi sent the world's first radio message across open water, and he did it while visiting a seaside resort in Somerset (England).

Marconi


Marconi's radios were designed to appeal to the mass-market rather than to wireless amateurs who built complicated sets for themselves. It became more of a pastime for the whole family. You could hear news reports from all over the country as well as the world, without waiting for a newspaper. It was so revolutionary. Hence broadcast programs were aimed at a wide range of audience demographics - from children to teenagers to adults to seniors.

Films provided another source of information (e.g., newsreels) and entertainment as well as advertising. French inventor, Louis Le Prince invented the first motion picture camera in the 1880s. He shot several short films in Leeds, England in 1888. While travelling in France, he unexpectedly disappeared right before he was to show his work in New York in 1890. This event never happened and so his contribution was lost in history for quite some time.

Louis Le Prince
Louis Le Prince: The father of cinematography.

In 1927 Philo Farnsworth patented his 'dissector tube.' It turns out to be an important component in the development of all-electronic television sets. Television's first drama,The Queen's Messenger, was broadcast from Schenectady, New York station WGY on September 11, 1928.

Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer.

What did these media outlets have in common? They were public and/or private companies whose output were scripted, edited and focussed on an audience demographic. They were structured from a personnel and organizational point of view and so incurred significant costs. Hence, within several decades, Massachusetts alone, had some thirty newspapers, which later became defunct - from the Boston Chronicle to the Weekly Journal (East Freetown) etc.

Boston Chronicle
Boston Chronicle (Volume 1, Issue no. 3, Dec 28, 1767).

On October 29, 1969, ARPAnet delivered its first message: a “node-to-node” communication from one computer to another. The first computer was located in a research lab at UCLA and the second was at Stanford; each one was the size of a small house. The internet had arrived and with it the democratization of information exchange was created and had begun.

Internet Technology
Internet technology was first developed in the USA. The Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA) led to the formation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in October 1969. ARPANET is the technology that we today know as the Internet. In the beginning, ARPANET was only accessible to the selected members of the Defense Department. So, eventually, other networks were created to enable sharing of information.

Social media companies captured the popular information platform market. The Digital 2022 April Global Statshot Report found that there were 4.65 billion social media users on our planet. That’s 58.7% of the global population, many of whom are using social media as a primary source of information. From news (and disinformation) to lifestyle tips, decision-making to product research, social media users can gather all the information that they need, without ever leaving their platform of choice.

Social Media Outlets


By and large the media companies running these sites have taken a hands off approach. Ex-President Donald Trump's use of Twitter (now X) to spread falsehoods is legendary. Eventually US President Donald Trump's Twitter account was "permanently suspended... due to the risk of further incitement of violence", the company asserted. Twitter said the decision was made "...after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account". It came amid a Big Tech purge of the online platforms used by Mr. Trump and his supporters.

The account, which Twitter banned following the January 6 (2021) attack on the Capitol, was restored after Twitter CEO and new owner Elon Musk posted a poll on Twitter on Friday night asking the platform’s users if Trump should be reinstated.

Twitter


Suddenly new descriptors were invented for people's unedited insults. A 'troll' is Internet slang for a person who intentionally tries to instigate conflict, hostility, or arguments in an online social community. Platforms targeted by trolls can include the comment sections of YouTube, forums, or chat rooms.

Trolls often use inflammatory messages to provoke emotional responses from people disrupting otherwise civil discussion. Trolling can occur anywhere on open forums where people can freely post their thoughts and opinions.

Trolls
'Trolls' painted by John Bauer(1915).

Some of those who were targeted by so called trolls committed suicide whilst others were psychologically damaged (but for what purpose?)

Now there are lots of different forums on the internet where one can express oneself. In fact, a new category of internet users has recently appeared. These are the 'Influencers.' Generally, they are defined as follows: 'In social media influencers are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about topics on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views.'

Some might question whether they have the knowledge or expertise that they claim. For example, anti-vaxxers never are able to publish their findings in internationally refereed medical journals of high repute. Is it because their views are unscientific?

Flat Earthers
Flat Earth: How a 19th-Century meme turned Into TikTok’s strangest conspiracy theory.
Author Kelly Wiell talked to flat-earthers and discovered how conspiracy theories really took off on a whole new level thanks to YouTube and TikTok.


Conclusion
Every platform can be used for good, evil or indifference. It often reflects who we are, rather than what we actually know.

Confucius said, 'Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.'
We are blessed if we embrace and understand his wisdom.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

African Stitch Resist
ArtCloth
Marie-Therese Wisniowski


Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist


African Stitch Resist
One common method of preventing the dye reaching the cloth is to stitch the cloth - with running stitch or oversewing stitches - by hand or machine - with strong thread, which is then pulled tight, so that the cloth compresses and resists the dye. The cloth that is to be dyed is normally first doubled up or pleated, to create a symmetrical pattern and also to reduce the amount of work involved. Raphia thread is usually used, as it is strong (and so unlikely to break when pulled tight and also easy to snip off after dyeing). When the stitches are removed with a sharp blade and the cloth opened, the pattern is revealed in the negative. Patterns vary from simple arrowheads to more complex designs if the cloth is pleated before sewing.

Motif of embroidered resist from St Louis
Motif of embroidered resist from St. Louis, Senegal indigo-dyed cloth. The motif is derived from Pano d'Obra trade cloths from Guinea and the Cape Verde islands.

Dogon woman's indigo-dyed stitch-resist cloth from Mali
Dogon woman's indigo-dyed stitch-resist cloth from Mali. The embroidery is a phrase from a popular song.

The most complex of all stitched-resist work was practised at St. Louis on the Senegal river boarding Mauritania. Before the Second World War, complex cotton resists of Moorish or Pano d'Obra inspiration were embroidered onto cotton cloth before indigo dyeing. The resist stitching in the St. Louis textiles was always of cotton. It was so fine that it could be truly classed as embroidery.

Dogon indigo-dyed sitched-resist cloth from Mali
Dogon indigo-dyed stitched-resist cloth from Mali.

Ukara resist-sewn cloth
Ukara resist-sewn cloth of the Leopard Society of Cross River, South-Eastern Nigeria.

The task of unpicking the St. Louis stitching, carried out with razor blades (first brought back from Flanders by Senegalese soldiers serving in the First World War), was painstaking, far harder than the work involved with raphia resists, which can be easily snipped with a sharp instrument.

The resulting textiles are unrivalled in their complexity and beauty. The art has been revived in St. Louis in recent years using synthetic brown and blue dyes, but they cannot compare with the outstanding originals.

Machine-stitch resist indigo-dyed cotton cloth
Yoruba "Adire Alabere" machine-stitch resist indigo-dyed cotton cloth.

Machine-stitch resist indigo-dyed cotton cloth
Yoruba "Adire Alabere" machine-stitch resist indigo-dyed cotton cloth (Detail).


Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Silk Designs of James Leman [1]
Artist Profile

Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other post in this series:
Silk Designs of the 18th Century
Woven Textile Designs In Britain (1750 to 1763)
Woven Textile Designs in Britain (1764 to 1789)
Woven Textile Designs in Britain (1790 to 1825)
19th Century Silk Shawls from Spitalfields
Silk Designs of Joseph Dandridge
Silk Designs of James Leman


Silk Designs of James Leman [1]
James Leman was born into a weaving family, of Huguenot descent. His father, Peter, had been admitted to the London Weavers' Company in 1674, and was described as 'natif de Cantorbury'; he may have been descended from the Leman family who are recorded as coming to Canterbury from Tourcoing to escape religious persecution in the late 16th century. James Leman was born ca. 1688, and apprenticed in 1702 to his father, the family by now living at Stewart Street, in Spitalfields.

Leman trained as a designer as well as a manufacturer, very unusual for the English industry. Smith's 'Laboratory or School of Arts' (1756 edition) records that every Lyon manufacturer thus qualified, as was the late ingenious Mr. Leman in this time.' The museum's earliest designs by him are dated 1765, just four years from the start of his apprenticeship. Some are inscribed, 'For my father, Peter Leman, by me, James Leman.' In 1711 he was admitted as 'For[eign] Master' to the Weavers' Company, and on his father's death in 1712 he took over the family business.

As well as producing his own accomplished silk designs, Leman engaged other designers to supply him, including Christopher Baudouin (see previous post) and Josephh Dandridge (see previous post), both well known in their day. The latest designs known to be by Leman are dated 1722, but there is no reason to believe he gave up this side of his profession after that time. Part of the canopy used at George II's Coronation in 1727, now in the Victoria and Albert's collection, was supplied by the mercer George Binckes, known to have bought designs from Leman; it is very similar in style to his work and may have been designed by him.

Leman rose to high office in the Weavers' Company, becoming a Liveryman and member of the Court of Assistants; in 1731 he was elected Renter Bailiff, second-in-command in the Company. He was clearly an energetic and capable man, actively involved on a number of Committees working for Weavers' Company interests, and in the year of his death, 1745, he helped organize the campaign being launched against the sellers and wearers of printed calico.

James Leman was talented in a number of fields, and the diversity of his interests is revealed by his will: '...my paintings, drawings and all my collection of prints, my reading books, my music and picture books and my collection of copy books, my musical and my mathematical instruments of all sorts, my collection of reptiles in spirits, my collection of medals and coins, with several odd things,' all to be distributed by his wife to his surviving children.

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman (Dated: 1706/1707).

Silk design by James Leman for a flowered satin
Silk design by James Leman for a flowered satin. It had two pattern wefts, 'one to continue the other to change.' (Dated: 1706/07).

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman for a 'Flow: Satin with changing & Brocade.' (Dated: 1707).

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman (Dated: 1708).

Chasuble, the silks French
Chasuble, French Silks. These can be dated by comparison with designs by James Leman from 1707 and from 1708.

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman (Dated: 1708).

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman (Dated: 1708/09).

Silk design by James Leman
Silk design by James Leman (Dated: 1709).


Reference:
[1] Ed. C. Brown, Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century, C. Browne, Thames and Huson, London (1996).

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Pigments for Oil Painting [1]
Art Resource

Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
This is the twenty-eighth post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel

There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.

To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.

If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.

The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!


Introduction
Although any and all of the pigments in this post and following posts may be used, many will be found to be superfluous on a working palette. While painters will naturally have their preferences for specific pigments, some pigments, although definitely separate colors with varying properties, are so closely related to each other than more than one will seldom be required in the same pictiure. The families and groups have been printed on the same line.

Pigments for Oil Painting [1]
There are eight pigment hue designations given below, but in an average normal working palette the artist usually requires about twelve or fourteen pigments.

Pigments such as green earth and ultramarine green, red or violet, which have low tinctorial power, are valued more as glazing colors than as opaque colors; several other permanent but very weak pigments have been omitted. The imitation cobalt blues and turquoise greens, which are special shades of ultramarine, are just as permanent and have the same physical properties as ultramarine blue. Special cleanliness must be observed in handling flake white and Naples yellow in order to prevent lead poisoning. When well-made lead pigments of high quality are used they may be freely mixed with the rest of the permanent palette; sulfur-bearing pigments, such as the cadmiums and ultramarine blue, will cause them to darken in oil mixtures only when poor or badly washed materials are used. Flake white and Naples yellow have such desirable qualities that they are widely used despite this disadvantage.

The pure iron oxide reds are referred to under Red Pigments. Indian red has a bluish or rose undertone, and light red, a comparative yellowish or salmon undertone. In oil paints these two products should be used in opreference to the native earth reds, and also the artifical product, Venetian red, all of which are inferior. For the same reason vermilion, zinc yellow, and vine black, which are perhaps durable enough for the majority of uses, should not be used, when they can be replaced by more trustworthy pigments of equal color value.

White
(i) Zinc White.

Zinc White


(ii) Flake White. Cremnitz White.

Flake White


(iii) Titantium Oxide.

Titantium oxide


Black
(i) Ivory Black.

Ivory Black


(ii) Mars Black.

Mars Black


(iii) Lampblack.

Lamp Black


Red
(i) Cadmium, Light.

Cadmium Light


(ii) Alizarin Red.

Alizarin Red


(iii) Light Red, Indian Red. Mars Red.

Indian Red


(iv) Cadmium, Deep. Cadmium Maroon.

Cadmium Maroon


Blue
(i) Ultramarine Blue (all shades).

Ultramarine Blue


(ii) Cobalt Blue.

Cobalt Blue


(iii) Cerulean Blue. Manganese Blue.

Manganese Blue


(iv) Phthalocyanine Blue.

Phthalocyanine Blue


Green
(i) Viridian

Viridian


(ii) Chromium Oxide

Chromium Oxide


(iii) Phthalocyanine Green

Phthalocyanine Green


(iv) Green Earth

Green Earth


(v) Cobalt Green

Cobalt Green
(vi) Ultramarine Green

Ultramarine Green


Yellow
(i) Cadmium Pale.

Cadmium, Pale


(ii) Cadmium Medium. Cadmium Deep.

Cadmium Deep


(iii) Cadmium Orange.

Cadmium Orange


(iv) Naples Yellow.

Naples Yellow


(v) Mars Yellow. Ochre. Transparent Ochre. Raw Sienna.

Mars Yellow


(vi) Cobalt Yellow. Hansa Yellow.

Cobalt Yellow


(vii) Strontium Yellow.

Strontium Yellow


Violet

(i) Cobalt Violet. Manganese Violet.

Cobalt Violet


(ii) Mars Violet.

Mars Violet


Brown
(i) Raw Umber

Raw Umber


(ii) Burnt Umber

Burnt Umber


(iii) Burnt Sienna.

Burnt Sienna


(iv) Burnt Green Earth.

Burnt Green Earth


(v) Brown Madder.

Brown Madder


The left-hand column lists eight huse designations, but in an everage normal working paette the artist usually requires about twelv or fourteen pigments.

Pigments such as green earth and utramarine green, red, or violet, which have low tinctorial power, are valued more as glazing colors than as opaque body colors; several other permanent, but weak pigments, have been omitted. The imitation cobalt blues and turquoise greens, which are special shades of ultramarine, are just as permanent, and have the same physical properties as ultramarine blue. Special cleanliness must be observed in handling flake white and Naples yellow in order to prevent lead poisoning. When well-made lead pigments of high quality are used they may be freely mixed with the rest of the permanent palette; sulphur-bearing pigments, such as cadmiums and ultramarine blue, will cause them to darken in oil mixtures only when poor or badly washed materials are used. Flake white and Naples yellow have such highly desirable qualities that they are widely used despite this disadvantage.

The pure iron oxide reds are referred to under 'Red Pigments.' Indian red has a bluish or rose undertone, and light red, a comparatively yellowish or salmon undertone. In oil paints these two products should be used in preference to native earth reds and also the artificial product, Venetian red, all of which are inferior. For the same reason vermilion, zinc yellow, and vine black, which are perhaps durable enough for the majority of uses, should not be used, when they are replaced by more trustworthy pigments of equal color value.


Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).