Hyphen Press, London, 2010. Dust jacket and cover. “I prefer typefaces that are uneasy … imperfect … like jazz. It’s more believable.” — Karel Martens
« The grotesque is a kind of free and humorous picture produced by the ancients for the decoration of vacant spaces in some position where only things placed high up are suitable. For this purpose they fashioned monsters deformed by a freak of nature or by the whim and fancy of the workers, who in these grotesque pictures make things outside of any rule, attaching the finest thread to a weight that it cannot support, to a horse legs of leaves, to a man the legs of a crane, and similar follies and nonsense without end. He whose imagination ran the most oddly, was held to be the most able”. Giorgio VASARI, “About painting”, circa 1550The origin and etymology of the grotesques is linked to the discovery in Rome and its countryside of roman houses and their painted decors, which were buried for centuries. Especially the ruins of the extravagant antique palace of Nero, the Domus Aurea, aroused enthusiasm: it was built for the emperor just after the big fire of Rome, and is composed of several buildings, large gardens, and an artificial lake. One after the other, artists explored those surprising rooms. Its frescos corresponded to the 4th Pompeian style: a style characterized by a linear and vegetated architecture and an ornamentation constituted of plants, animals or even monsters like the griffon or the centaur. The discovered frescos inspired a new style of decoration full of fantasy that was called “grottesques”, in reference to the “cave” (“grotte” in Italian) in which they were. While at the 15th century the taste for Antiquity was growing, Italy became the initial situation of this “renaissance” (“rebirth”) with the exploration of antique ruins and the rediscovery of their ornamentations.During the 15th century, the word “grottesque” lost a “t”: the spelling evolved at the same time that the style of the “grotesques” was transformed. Being able to incorporate all the imaginative forms of ornamentation was the strength of the grotesque. The word acquired a comic, ridiculous meaning. Some peculiarities, monsters, inhabited half-palmette tendrils, or even antics or chinoiseries abounded in those ornaments. Two fundamental aspects always allow to identify them: the negation of space - it consists of a weightless world where all the elements seem to float -, and the presence of hybrid forms - half-human, half-beast or half-vegetal - sprang from pure fantasy. The grotesque art is used to decorate ceilings and walls on which large paintings could not be placed and numerous painters specialized into this art, like Domenico Ghirlandaio, Raphael and Michel-Ange. Around 1518, Raphael and his workshop decorated the famous Loggias of the Vatican, and consecrated the grotesques which encountered from then an extraordinary success.The etching and the engraving participated to the fast dissemination of the copied or reinvented grotesques patterns, and were used to report the motifs on mural paintings, tapestries, on gold or silver works or even ceramics. In France, Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, protected by the king Francis Ist, simplified the shapes of the grotesque art by creating a more harmonious structure (picture 4), which will pervade the decoration of his time. At the next century, in keeping with the French Classicism, the grotesque patterns were ruled by symmetry and harmony. After the glorious 16th century, the 18th century, with the discovery of Herculanum and Pompeii, gave a new impetus to this ornamentation. At the 19th century, the grotesques were much rarer.
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Engraving style grotesque mask designs
It has a grotesque structure that contains humanistic effect. Although it is designed upon the basic geometric structure, it shows own style with expansion that
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The Grotesque Whiteface Clown, also called the Comedy Whiteface, has features that are out of proportion.
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Honesty in form is one of the major tenets of modernism. In other words, a design should accomplish a narrowly defined function in the simplest manner possible. This belief is extolled in many design disciplines, including typography. In 1931, Eric Gill wrote: “The world is not yet clothed in garments which befit it; in architecture, […]
window detail from the Gallery of Maps, Vatican Museums As an Ornamentalist I can't help but obsess just a bit about the grottesca ornamentation that covers entire ceilings and indeed whole rooms in some of the places I have been visiting recently here in Italy. I am also absolutely thrilled with my newest book aquisition: Les Grotesques by Allessandra Zamperini. A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated book that traces the history of this form of ornamentation, from ancient Pompeii to the bestiaries and drolleries of medieval manuscripts, to the discovery of the Domus Aurea in the 15th century, which in turn inspired Raphael and his contemporaries to create an entire system of "grottesca" ornamentation, and what we might consider the first decorative painting of the modern era. Grottesca has endured as a major influence in painted decor for centuries, including singerie, neo-classical, and 19th century revival interiors. I bought the French version of this astounding book while in Florence and have only slightly minded its weight in my luggage this last week. As a designer I notice how Grottesca could be adapted to any shape or size of area, and offered the decorative artist a chance add some personal statements into their work. Details designed to simpy ornament space, could have more meaning. Rome: ground zero for Grottesca In future travels I'd love to visit the Guila Romano, Palazzo Farnese, Villa d'Este and some of the other fabulous villas that sport this kind of painting. This time, I did get to spend a long day at the Vatican Museums, as well as a few places elsewhere in Rome. Spandrel ornament in the entry stairways, Vatican Museums Grottesca ceiling in the entry stairway to the Vatican Museums wall ornament in the stairway entrance to the Vatican Museums, the ornament is tilted to match the angle of the stairs Vatican - Museo Pio Clementino: detail of ornamentation by Christoforo Unterperger circa 1776 Santa Maria dell'Anima, Rome: detail of a chapel painted by Francesco Salviati, 1548. Florence: The Uffizi A large number of ceilings in the Uffizi Galleries are ornamented with this Grottesca style. Most were painted far later than the Vatican, by about 40 years. They are busier, and full of interesting details. Spectacular painted ceilings in the main corridors, many of which were painted by Antonio Tempesta and Alessandro Allori around 1580 detail of above Uffizi ceiling a later style of Grottesca, painted in the lower floor of the Uffizi, Florence note: at this time photography is not permitted inside the Uffizi, so my images were taken by stealth. All of the images in this post photographed by Lynne Rutter, April 2008. Books! Les Grotesques is now available at amazon.com in English as: Ornament and the Grotesque: Fantastical Decoration from Antiquity to Art Nouveau also recommended: "La grottesque" by Andre Chastel Art and Techniques of Grottesca Incredible book detailing painting techniques by contemporary master Carolina d'Ayala Valva.
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