Illustration: Marie Vogl. Decorative pattern work, c1910.
The illustration for this article is a piece of decorative work by Marie Vogl produced in about 1910. Although it is always tempting to place both the design work and the designer within the cultural and political context of the era in which it was produced, it might be genuinely refreshing to look at a piece of design work without too many preconceptions, some of which are always inevitably misplaced.
The illustration itself deals with a piece of decorative work, it therefore has not been tagged as textile per se and has no definition within that as in printed, embroidered etc. It could well have been used as pattern work for a number of options including ceramics. Although pattern can very well be dependent upon the textural aspects of the material that it has to deal with, as in textile, wallpaper, ceramic etc., it is also surprising how robust and flexible it can be when asked to deal with a number of decorative situations, although to be fair this is often the result of good design from a good designer rather than necessarily the result of pattern work in general.
The specific decoration featured here is nature-based with a number of floral and leaf designs repeated throughout the pattern. It should be noted that most of the full flowers are singular, with repetitions being limited largely to the leaf work. This is often the case and has been through much of floral decorative history, where leaf motifs are used largely as background or foreground filler for the more impressive flower decoration which was usually picked out in a much punchier colour than the multiple leaves. Although it could be said that this is true of nature, or even the work of flower arrangers, and that designers merely copy what they see, it is also true to say that they are very much the tool of the pattern maker, whereby both flower and leaf are vehicles, vocabulary tools if you will, of the designer.
All design, decoration and pattern are artificial constructs and serve the purpose of the designer, not the other way around. Using nature is always seen as a starting point and even those that have tried to closely follow the tenets that nature has set find themselves producing variations that suit their own personal creative needs, those of the society they live in, or simply the needs of the discipline and materials in which they choose, or are chosen for them.
In this particular case, although nature has been chosen as a source for inspiration, the result has become tightly packed within an invisible frame. The closely allied flowers and leaves leave little space for any form of expansive meandering and compositional freedom, where the spaces between objects can often be as important if not more so, than the pieces themselves. Much has to do with balance and harmony, using both negative and positive spaces to an equal beneficial effect. However, by limiting space the designer has managed to produce a piece of decorative work that gives the impression of dynamism due to its busy and close proximity. However, this also allows the eye to wander over a large amount of differing detail in a relatively close space. This in effect allows the viewer to pick out different aspects of the design without getting quickly bored.
Although much decorative work has always been used as support rather than a focus and therefore only ever seen as a complement, this has not always been the case. Some decorative work has been seen as the feature, rather than secondary and this has led to decoration being seen in some quarters at least, as the leading interpretation and reflection of particular periods in time. This has sometimes even taken on some of the aspects and theories used by contemporary fine art.
In some respects, this singular piece of decorative work can be seen in that light. It is importantly largely non-repetitive, it has a balanced and well-thought out, though naturally appearing compositional framework and it does not necessarily limit itself to the practical necessities of a discipline, such as weaving for example. It is always difficult when likening the decorative arts to fine art as there are so many built in expectations and even prejudices on both sides. However, with so many artists now working in a range of traditionally design, decoration and craft disciplines, it would be interesting to note down exactly what are the parameters that separates the two worlds, worlds that for generations were often considered to be either side of the same coin.
Further reading links:
Surface Pattern Design: A Handbook of How to Create Decorative and Repeat Patterns for Designers and StudentsFurther reading links:
Repeat Patterns: A Manual for Designers, Artists and Architects
The Pattern Sourcebook: A Century of Surface Design
Basics Textile Design: Sourcing Ideas: Investigating Textures, Colors, Structures, Surfaces and Patterns
Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif, Style, Color, Layout, and Period
Repeating Patterns 1100 - 1800 (+ CD-Rom)
Pattern Motifs: A Sourcebook
Twentieth-Century Pattern Design
Patterns: New Surface Design
Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 2: A Complete Guide to Choosing the Perfect Color and Pattern in Design (Bk. 2)
