Sac State Art History Symposium

There were a number of interesting lectures happening at the Symposium, this year. The first of the two that I enjoyed the most was regarding Master W with the Key, as he has come to be known, and was given by John Byck, who is a Ph.D. candidate at The Institute of the Arts at NYU. Master W with the Key was known for a series of 9 prints of ships in the 15th century. These came early in the history of printmaking, and were notable for their unusual secular content, for the time. These works were also the predecessor to the Dutch Maritime Print genre. He gets his name from the way in which he would sign his works, which can be seen in the top right of the print, below. 

Master W's work with ship prints was primarily used as models for craftsmen, to be integrated into  other works for secular or religious purposes, for use in prints or woodcuts, or for goldsmiths. These depictions were a common theme for household and table items of the time. Master W's work depicts several different types of ships, and is partially responsible for our current understanding of 15th century ship rigging techniques. He is also the precursor for ship-portrait engravings, and inter-cultural genre.

In addition of John Byck's amazing lecture, I also enjoyed the presentation of Pamela Iviniski, an independent scholar in New York State. Her lecture was entitled "The Unexpected Creation of Arabesques" and was focused on Mary Cassatt's color prints from 1890-91. Ivinski was clearly very invested and inspired by the "set of ten", the short series of japanese-inspired prints by Cassatt. She spoke quickly and excitedly about the artist and her work, and I couldn't help but feel similarly inspired.

Mary Cassatt
Mother's Kiss

She spent a bit of time comparing one of Cassatt's Set of Ten, Mother's Kiss, to a work by the Japanese artist Utamaro called "Mother Nursing a Child". While not entirely the same, one could infer that Cassatt's work was at least partially inspired and influenced by Utamaro. Despite the similar subject matter, the styles are comparable, as are the use of patterns fabric as well as the use of line to create form. Ivinski made a point to illuminate Cassatt's use of line, primarily in the way in which the boundary between the mother's left thumb is shared with the child's left arm, as well as with the mother's right hand and child's behind. I thoroughly loved being exposed to these works of Cassatt's. I knew of her paintings, and really enjoy many of the works in pastel of hers that I've seen, but I had no idea that she did any printmaking. After her lecture, I wanted to tell Ivinski how excited her talk made me about work by a known artist I had until now been completely unaware of. I asked her if Cassatt had the opportunity to make many more works in with drypoint and aquatint, such as these, but was told that unfortunately she did not make many more forays into the world of printmaking once these were completed.  One thing she said to me that I found interesting was how, during her time in the late 1800's, Cassatt was noted as being "devoted to art like other women are devoted to religion". It's not a terrible way to be considered.

Utamaro
Mother Nursing a Child