16.11.09

& Jennifer Angus, A Terrible Beauty


In A Terrible BeautyJennifer Angus reflects upon the warmth and comforts of home, travel, storytelling, and the human compulsion to form collections and to induce order where the potential for disorder is overwhelming.
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Her installation at the Textile Museum in Toronto consists of some 15,000 tropical insects pinned to the walls in elaborate wallpaper designs. One of the a printed wallpaper pattern is based on 18th-century toile de Jouy textiles, where bugs enact playful pastoral scenes.
Gallery of images.


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The Victorian era was a time of excitement. It was the age of travel, exploration, scientific discovery and the dawning of photography. Both adults and children were introduced to the natural world through a large number of educational publications in which various species of wildlife from insects to elephants were anthropomorphized so as to have greater appeal to the general reading public. Voracious collecting of all manner of plant and wildlife was extremely popular at that time. In my mind, the elephant's foot umbrella stand is the quintessential object that defines the era, for it is exotic yet grotesque. For the insatiable Victorian collector nothing was sacrosanct. In the heyday of collecting, the prestige of a large collection and the finest and most unusual specimens was enormous. While men of science worked in the field collecting, the wealthy sponsored expeditions and were great accumulators.Yet a strange contradiction existed, for as enthusiastic as the public was about Sir Richard Burton's discovery of the source of Nile and other exotic exploits, they were also captivated by the idea of and belief in fairies. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories and surely a master of logic, was a proponent of the existence of fairies. The publishing of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species in 1848 was embraced by Victorian anthropologists, for they interpreted it as an explanation of fairies as a separate and savage race
A Terrible Beauty embraces a world of science and fantasy. Three of the rooms in this exhibition are inspired by travel destinations of significance during the Victorian era. In particular, textiles from these regions have inspired the patterns which adorn the walls. Japan only opened to the West in the 1850's. Its art and culture were highly regarded by the British, and Japonisme refers to the influence this country had upon artists, designers and architects as the Art Nouveau style developed. Aubrey Beardsley is perhaps the best known of artists whose work was influenced by Japanese block prints.
The British populace had long been intrigued by ancient Egypt and what was broadly known as the Orient. Many writers and artists of the Victorian era travelled to Cairo's slave market, documenting it in various works. In 1860, the Suez Canal opened to great ceremony and in particular inspired a craze for Egyptian inspired jewellery. The scarab beetle, an ancient symbol of rebirth and afterlife, was a popular motif. When Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, another Egyptian revival period was set off.
India was the "jewel in the crown" of the British empire. The East India Company developed trade, and military officers and associated personnel were posted there bringing along their families including children. An indelible impression was made upon both countries as Indian government and bureaucracy developed along British models and Indian products, particularly tea and textiles gained popularity in Britain. British writer Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865. For many, his writings glorified British rule and exoticized India, although he is perhaps best known for his children's story "The Jungle Book".
Children's literature was in fact born in the Victorian period, for at this time the notion of childhood as a special and prized time was born. Until then, children were considered small persons who as soon as they were old enough, were given chores and put to labour. It was only the very wealthy who went to school or had tutors. Thus beginning in the 1830's, literature expressly written for children produced some of the greatest children's books and fairy tales including Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland. The Butterflies Ball and The Grasshoppers Feast by William Roscoe is considered the first story ever written for children in the English language which was not a moral tale or fable. The connection to childhood and fantasy is an important component of A Terrible Beauty. Perhaps you have walked on a warm summer evening and seen fireflies dancing in the sky. There is something magical about the sight, and one wishes one could be part of the festivities and the mystery. Scattered throughout the exhibition are Victorian era poems with insect themes engraved upon beetles and placed in curio boxes.
Upon one wall of the final room, spelled out in beetles, is an excerpt from Alice Through the Looking Glass in which Alice has a very nonsensical discussion with a gnat. This space is not inspired by place, but by the Victorian enthusiasm for flowers and what is known as "flower language". Victorians used flowers as a complex, symbolic code to convey their feelings. For example, a Chrysanthemum was a sign of cheerfulness, a daisy of innocence and a daffodil of respect. In a similar fashion, I draw upon pattern, for my work is dependent upon the supposition that there is a cultural understanding of pattern. That understanding provides the framework for a narrative. It is pattern that tells the tale of travel, adventure and perhaps magic!

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