By Brittany Boyd & Kate Lesser
Anna Heyward Taylor (1879-1956) was an American artist native to Columbia, South Carolina. Raised by an affluent family with origins in the cotton industry, Taylor was an avid traveler and learner of all things related to art.
Taylor’s work widely ranges in terms of medium and subject matter. Her work often reflected her surroundings and the places she visited during her worldly travels. Taylor is best known for her woodblock and linoleum prints that depicted scenes of the South, i.e. Harvesting Rice (1936). [1] While this type of work is more commonly associated with Taylor, she was a dynamic artist who also explored techniques new to her such as batik. Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to textiles.
The Charleston Museum received seven of her silk batiks from the artist herself in 1955. These batiks depict exotic plants that the artist recorded during her excursion to British Guiana with naturalist William Beebe.
How Anna Hayward Taylor came about learning the batik method is uncertain, but through tracing her travels and referencing the book Selected Letters of Anna Heyward Taylor: South Carolina Artist and World Traveler by Edmund Taylor and Alexander Moore, it can be concluded that she learned one of two ways.
Taylor’s first experience with batik methods might have been during her travels in Asia in August of 1914.[2] In a letter to her family back in South Carolina, the artist talks about how she experimented with the Japanese printmaking art of shoji screens. Shoji screens are sliding doors composed of lattice screen covered in white paper which has designs and patterns printed on it. While in Japan, Taylor may have been exposed to other Japanese printmaking methods such as roketsuzome. The Japanese process of batik is known as roketsuzome or rōzome (“rō” translates as “wax”; “ketsu” translates as “resist or block out”; “zome” translates as “dye”). In rōzome, wax and dye are applied with a brush, which avoids batik’s signature crackling and allows for more subtle shading. [3] Japan is known for its printmaking culture therefore it is possible that Taylor was introduced to batik during her travels there.
Another possible way Taylor was exposed to batik was during her stay in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Taylor returned to Provincetown following her travels with William Beebe in 1916. Here, she was immersed in an artistic community. Taylor writes about being introduced to Marguerite and William Zorach, a free-spirited couple, devoted to the arts. Marguerite Zorach was a textile artist, well skilled in the batik method. The Zorach’s were both American-born but interested in ancient and non-European sources of design and art.[4] Marguerite was one of the first American artists to practice batik.
Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik
https://www.chairish.com/product/158991/vintage-batik-patchwork-blanket
http://maryedna.com/public-art/above-mobile-bay/
[1] “Anna Taylor,” The Johnson Collection, Accessed December 15, 2015.
[2]Moore, Alexander, and Edmund R. Taylor, Selected Letters of Anna Heyward Taylor: South Carolina Artist and World Traveler, 54.
[3] Petty, Marcia, “Dorothy “Bunny” Bowen: The Art of Rōzome,” Fiberarts, 2010, 28-29.
[4] “Zorach, Marguerite Thompson.” Dictionary Of Woman Artists, January 1, 1997, Accessed December 15, 2015.
By Alexis Drapanas & Grace Tapert
$100.00 Reward will be paid for the detection and conviction of any person, or persons, found refilling our bottles or putting up imitation goods in bottles similar to ours, and offering them for sale with intent to deceive the public.
Storeroom Stories: Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B
Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B
By Lydia Smith & Jesse Teague
The Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B was built in 19311932. There are many other styles of the Rainbow Hawkeye and this is the rarest one since it was only made for a year. The special thing about this camera is that it came in color options. It was now marketed to everyday people. They emphasized the small size of the camera so that the buyer would see how portable it was to carry around for everyday events.
The cameras that came before the Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B are slightly different. The No. 3A Folding Autographic Brownie was made from 19161926. It was special for its film. The film was created so that you could write on the back of it. It was mainly used for people to remember a location, time, or settings that were used to take the picture. People also wrote their signatures on the film to verify it was their photograph. This camera was also one of the first to have rounded edges.[1] The No 2A Folding Cartridge 1 Hawkeye Model B was created in 19261934. It was slightly smaller than the No. 3A. This model had special lenses so that the images were presented more clearly. The No. 1A Pocket Kodak Series II was built from 19281932. It was much smaller in size, closer to the size of the Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B. It was built with a Meniscus Achromatic lens in Kodex shutter. It also offered a few color options, but not as many options as the No. 2A Folding Model B.[2]
The Rainbow Hawkeye No. 2A Folding Model B came in many color options. It came in blue, brown, green, old rose, and black. The exterior was covered in a fake leatherette bounding. It cost $9 to buy the camera then, and now it goes for $25-75.[3] It also had a single 3 achromatic or
RR lens. This camera was available for premium purchases and at times featured in Eastman
Kodak’s catalogs.[4]
1. “Retired Cameras.” Retired Cameras . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
2. Britton, Rebecca. “Types of Cameras Used in the 1930s.” EHow . Demand Media, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
3. “No 2A Folding Rainbow HawkEye Model B Camera.” National Media Museum . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
4. “Kodak HawkEye Cameras.” the Brownie Camera Page . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.