Aesthetic Movement Art: Herter, Godwin & American Vases

Introduction

This paper addresses two questions relating to works held at the Art Institute of Chicago. The first question concerns two Aesthetic Movement pieces: a cabinet by the Herter Brothers and a sideboard by E.W. Godwin. The second question involves a compare-and-contrast of two works from the American Decorative Art galleries. The two works selected for the second question both fall under the "related but different" paradigm — in this case, two vases of broadly similar form but strikingly different character. While the pieces in the European and American galleries are quite distinct, they tend to be related in meaningful ways, including the motivations behind their designs and how both looked toward the future of what was then modern design.

Herter Brothers and E.W. Godwin: The Aesthetic Movement

The first question addresses an American piece made around 1878 by the Herter Brothers and a European piece — a sideboard made in 1876 by E.W. Godwin. The Herter offering is a cabinet while the Godwin offering is a sideboard. The pieces occupy the same general category of furniture and come from the same decade, yet they are vastly different in appearance. Even so, both are considered works of the Aesthetic Movement, and the task here is to explain why.

The Aesthetic Movement flourished roughly in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The movement as it manifested in both Europe and the United States is bound together for a significant reason. The European response emerged largely from the Industrial Revolution in England. A parallel movement developed in the United States at roughly the same time, and European-inspired art was exhibited in Philadelphia and other American cities just before these two pieces were made. As a result, artists on both sides of the Atlantic were responding to much the same influences in much the same spirit. Both pieces reflect a looking forward — toward the coming decades of a new century in which artists were pushing the boundaries of form and decoration (AIC, 2016).

Japanese Influence and the Herter Cabinet

One important source of inspiration for many artists of the period — though not all — was Japanese art, and this influence is clearly visible in the Herter cabinet. Christian Herter followed cues from English trends of the day but was also one who sought to "reform" what he saw as "poorly conceived and constructed" work being produced at the time. He aligned strongly with the Aesthetic Movement in his emphasis on "bold rectangular shapes, which they often enlivened, as in this case, with exquisite surface decoration inspired by Japanese art" (AIC, 2016). Family crests and other decorative seals were common features of pieces from this genre. However, Herter also drew from non-Japanese sources. For example, the "paw feet" on the cabinet are distinctly Egyptian in character (AIC, 2016).

Conclusion

The Art Institute of Chicago holds a remarkable breadth of works, and the European and American pieces examined in this paper alone offer extensive material for analysis and reflection. The Aesthetic Movement demonstrates that even when artists share a general orientation and common influences, there can be great variation and contrast among individual works within the same movement. A sideboard and a cabinet, a lavish glass vase and a restrained botanical one — all can belong to the same cultural moment while remaining distinctly, even strikingly, different from one another.

References

AIC. (2016). Cabinet — The Art Institute of Chicago. Artic.edu. Retrieved 23 February 2016, from http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/105105?search_no=1&index=1