Plate, from New Suite of Notebooks of Ideal Flowers for Use by Draftsmen and Painters - Anne Allen

The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund

"Plate, from New Suite of Notebooks of Ideal Flowers for Use by Draftsmen and Painters" by Anne Allen (c. 1795) Color etching with à la poupée inking on blue laid paper.

Commentary

"Plate, from New Suite of Notebooks of Ideal Flowers for Use by Draftsmen and Painters" by Anne Allen (c. 1795) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close viewing, where line, texture, an d contrast do most of the expressive work. Themes to notice include etching. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Anne Allen is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Anne Allen (English, active 1790s) after Jean-Baptiste Pillement (French, 1728-1808). The work is cataloged within a England cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as etching, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Color etching with à la poupée inking on blue laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Plate: 19.5 × 14 cm (7 11/16 × 5 9/16 in.); Sheet: 23.3 × 27.4 cm (9 3/16 × 10 13/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include etching. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/246808

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data