French Patterns

Anonymous French Designer
Medallions and Bouquets
ca. 1785
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Floral Basket
ca. 1805
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Twining Garlands
ca. 1815-25
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Interlocking Shapes
ca. 1820-40
block-printed wallpaper border
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Gothic Tracery
ca. 1840-60
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Osborne
ca. 1850
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Renaissance Revival Bouquet
1860
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Trompe-l'oeil Blinds
ca. 1860
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Masquerade Ball at the Opera House
1883
machine-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Floral Stripes
ca. 1875-1900
block-printed and embossed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Garden Scene imitating Découpage
1920
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Adventure Stories
1923
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Blossoms on Branches
ca. 1928-29
machine-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Blossoms on Trellis
ca. 1928-29
machine-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Bunches of Grapes
ca. 1928-29
embossed and airbrushed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Leaves and Flowers
ca. 1928-29
machine-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Designer
Feather Plumes
1934
block-printed wallpaper
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Death's Lecture at the Funeral of a Young Gentleman.

Dear Reliques of a dislodg'd Soul, whose lack

Makes many a mourning paper put on black!

O stay a while, ere thou draw in thy head

And wind thy self up close in thy cold bed. 

Stay but a little while, untill I call

A summons worthy of thy funerall.

Come then, Youth, Beauty, & blood!

                All ye soft powres,

Whose sylken flatteryes swell a few fond howres

Into a false æternity.  Come man;

Hyperbolizèd Nothing!   know thy span;

Take thine own measure here; down, down, & bow

Before thy self in thine idæa; thou

Huge emptynes! contract thy self; & shrinke

All thy Wild circle to a Point.  O sink

Lower & lower yet; till thy leane size 

Call heav'n to look on thee with narrow eyes.

Lesser & lesser yet; till thou begin

To show a face, fitt to confesse thy Kin,

Thy neighbourhood to Nothing. 

Proud lookes, & lofty eyliddes, here putt on

Your selves in your unfaign'd reflexion,

Here, gallant ladyes! this unpartiall glasse

(Though you be painted) showes you your true face.

These death-seal'd lippes are they dare give the ly

To the lewd Boasts of poor Mortality.

These curtain'd windows, this retired eye

Outstares the liddes of larg-look't tyranny.

This posture is the brave one, this that lyes

Thus low, stands up (me thinkes) thus & defies

The world.  All-daring dust & ashes! only you

Of all interpreters read Nature True. 

– Richard Crashaw (1652)

György Kepes

György Kepes
Technique
ca. 1938
gouache and airbrush on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Responsibility
ca. 1938
gouache and airbrush on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Responsibility
ca. 1938
tear-sheet
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Juliet's Shadow Caged
1938
gelatin silver print
Princeton University Art Museum

György Kepes
Mirrored Eyes
1940
gelatin silver print
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Paperboard Goes To War
ca. 1940-42
gouache on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
One Integrated Flow of Production
ca. 1940-42
gouache and collage on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Folding Cartons Plus
ca. 1940-42
gouache on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Replacement Packaging
ca. 1940-42
gouache and watercolor on board
(advertising design for Container Corp. of America)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1941
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1946
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1949
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1952
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1955
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

György Kepes
Untitled
1968
lithograph
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Amethyst Stain
1970
oil paint and sand on canvas
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

György Kepes
Flowering Forms #6
1979
gelatin silver print
Denver Art Museum

from Metamorphoses

[Story of Baucis and Philemon]

    From lofty Roofs the Gods repuls'd before,

Now stooping, enter'd through the little Door:

The Man (their hearty Welcome first express'd)

A common Settle drew for either Guest,

Inviting each his weary Limbs to rest.

But e'er they sat, officious Baucis lays

Two Cushions stuff'd with Straw, the seat to raise;

 Coarse, but the best she had; then rakes the Load

Of Ashes from the Hearth, and spreads abroad

The living Coals; and, lest they shou'd expire,

With Leaves and Barks she feeds her Infant-fire:

It smoaks; and then with trembling Breath she blows,

Till in a cheerful Blaze the Flames arose.

With Brush-wood and with Chips she strengthens these,

And adds at last the Boughs of rotten Trees.

The Fire thus form'd she sets the Kettle on,

(Like burnish'd Gold the little Seether shone)

Next took the Coleworts which her Husband got

From his own Ground, (a small well-water'd Spot;)

She stripp'd the Stalks of all their Leaves; the best

She cull'd, and then with handy-care she dress'd.

High o'er the Hearth a Chine of Bacon hung;

Good old Philemon seiz'd it with a Prong,

And from the sooty Rafter drew it down,

Then cut a Slice, but scarce enough for one;

Yet a large Portion of a little Store,

Which for their Sakes alone he wish'd were more.

This in the pot he plung'd without delay,

To tame the Flesh, and drain the Salt away.

The Time between, before the Fire they sat,

And shorten'd the Delay by pleasing Chat.

– Ovid (43 BC-AD 17), translated by John Dryden (1700)