JESSIE MARION KING (1875-1949)
FRONTISPIECE FOR 'L'EVANGILE DE L'ENFANCE', 1902
£23,940
Auction: Lots 267 to 528 | 18th April at 10am
Description
pen and ink on vellum
Dimensions
29cm x 20cm (frame size 45.5cm x 35.2cm)
Provenance
Provenance: Collection of Major J. R. Abbey
Paul Grinke Esq., London
Private Collection
Footnote
Exhibited: The Scottish Arts Council Jessie M King 1875–1949, touring exhibition, 1971, no. 3a
Literature: The Studio, volume XXVI, 1902, p. 185 illustrated
White C. The Enchanted World of Jessie M King, Canongate 1989, p.33, pl.28 illustrated
Note: This remarkable Art Nouveau drawing by Jessie M. King was the frontispiece design for ‘L’Evangile de L’Enfance’, for which she designed the binding and illustrations circa 1902. The book was entered as part of the Scottish Section of the 1902 International Exhibition of Decorative Art in Turin, which was organised by Fra Newbery, director of The Glasgow School of Art and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The binding, a striking Art Nouveau design tooled in gilt on white vellum, was executed by the Glasgow bookbinders, MacLehose and won the coveted Gold Medal for bookbinding at the exhibition. The certificate was made out to ‘Signor Jessie King’ such was the assumption that a man would be the recipient of the award. This success however brought with it a raft of publicity and commissions as articles about Jessie’s work appeared in art journals around Europe.
Her achievement is all the more remarkable given the early point in her career. From 1899 her work was already beginning to attract attention, being selected for an exhibition at the Venice Biennale and illustrated in The Studio magazine. This was followed by the offer of a teaching position in the department of Book Decoration and Design at the Glasgow School of Art, a role she undertook whilst a student at the same institution. This was a time of stylistic experimentation and evolution for King, as her characteristic two-dimensional figures surrounded by halos and orbiting stars became increasingly abstract. At their furthest progression, her designs were entirely devoid of figural representation. This was the case in an 1899 cover design for ‘Rund um Berlin’ in which the spirits of her ethereal subjects are suggested purely through fine circles of ornamentation.
This frontispiece demonstrates the influence of continental and Scottish artists on King’s designs. The symmetrical arrangement of her figures possesses not only a German orderliness but also echoes the work of her Glasgow contemporaries, whilst retaining her particular interest in a fantasy world which she maintained throughout her career.