Notes
Notes
1. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899( Reprint. New York: The Modern Library, 1931), p. 209. Although the term“ conspicuous consumption” was coined by Veblen over a decade later, it is applicable to what was developing in American society at the time.
2. For a full discussion on this topic, see Doreen Bolger Burke,“ Painters and Sculptors in a Decorative Age,” ln Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement( New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Rizzoli, 1986), pp. 294 – 339.
3. Linda Henefield Skalet,“ The Market for American Painting in New York 1870 – 1915”( unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, John Hopkins University, 1980).
4. William Mackay Laffan,“ The Tile Club at Work,” Scribner’ s Monthly XVII, no. 3( January 1879), pp. 401 – 409.
5. For detailed biographical sketches on each artist member see: Constance Eleanore Koppelman,“ Nature in Art and Culture: The Tile Club Artists / 1870 – 1900”( unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1985). This is the most comprehensive source on material relating to the Tile Club, however, with all secondary sources about this elusive group, facts must be carefully rechecked and confirmed. This is not meant to demean Ms. Koppelman’ s impressive research and extensive biographies, for which I am indebted.
6. F. Hopkinson Smith and Edward Strahan [ Earl Shinn ], A Book of the Tile Club( New York Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1887), p. 5.
7. Laffan, p. 401. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid., p. 402. 11. Ibid.
12. Letter from Edwin Austin Abbey to Will Low( 1908) quoted in E. V. Lucas, The Life and Works of Edwin Austin Abbey, R. A.( New York: Scribner’ s, 1921), Vol. I, p. 47.
13. Laffan, p. 402. 14 Ibid. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid., pp. 402 – 403. 18. Smith, p. 9.
19. As a means of deciphering these sobriquets see: William R. Shelton,“ Autobiography,”( Washington D. C.: Archives of American Art, c. 1920, Roll No. 800); and J. B. Millet,“ The Tile Club,” J. Alden Weir: An Appreciation of His Life and Work,( New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1922).
20. Primary sources have variously identified Paris’ s studio at“ 1” and“ 3” Union Square. Shelton( cited above), who claims he took over the studio from Paris, lists the address as“ 3” and provides a description.
21. Laffan, p. 403.
22. Smith, p. 5.
23. For technical background and English derivations see Althea Callen, Women Artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement( New York: Pantheon Books, 1979).
24. Smith, p. 5.
25. F. Hopkinson Smith, The Fortunes of Oliver Horn( New York: Scribner’ s Sons, 1902), p. 432. Smith provides an account loosely based on the Tile Club in Chapter XX,“ The Stone Mugs,” and Chapter XXI,“ The Woman in Black.” Interesting as these accounts are, none can be taken as pure fact.
26. Smith, p. 6. 27. Ibid. 28. Laffan, p. 407.
29. All technical details have been derived from two basic primary sources, as listed above: Laffan, and Smith and Strahan.
30. For numerous related works done at Mountainville, New York, see: Gordon Hendricks, The Life and Work of Winslow Homer( New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1979). This source also includes discussion on Homer’ s tile and tile fireplace surrounds.
31. See Burke, p. 338, who in footnotes 71 – 72 credits Lloyd and Edith Havens Goodrich for providing extensive information on Homer’ s tiles( correspondence, April 6, 1984).
32. Ibid. 33. Laffan, p. 409.
Decorative Age or Decorative Craze? 37