2,286 Traditional Stencil Designs by H. Roessing

Author:H. Roessing [Roessing, H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486155548
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-07-23T04:00:00+00:00

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

THE ART OF STENCILING is thought to have originated in China, where, in contrast to modern techniques, stencil designs were created by means of numerous pinpricks into impervious materials through which powdered charcoal was forced onto the surface to be decorated. Subsequently developed by the Egyptians, the Romans, the Japanese and the Eskimo of the Baffin Islands, stenciling reached its apogee as a fine art in the hands of anonymous artists during the Renaissance in Europe, at which time it acquired its modern name. The word “stencil” is derived from the Middle French estanceler (to make sparkle) and, beyond that, from the Latin scintilla (a spark). The now familiar cut-out paper stencil, of the kind advertised by Roessing in the two catalogs reprinted in the present volume, is a relatively late development in the art’s history. Printing stencil designs on paper became economically feasible only with the advent of the cheap manufacture of paper during the early decades of the nineteenth century.

The two Roessing catalogs of “Excelsior” Fresco-Stencils (ca. 1918 and ca. 1920) reprinted here display a remarkable variety of styles and motifs, derived from the art of North America, Europe and Asia. Depictions include architectural structures—arches, cornices, pedestals and capitals—fretwork and continuous borders, gargoyles, heraldic devices, landscapes, animals, birds, portraits and religious symbols. Stylistic influences range from Doric and Ionic Greek to medieval Gothic and the intricate foliation of sixteenth-century Persian art.

In the present Athenaeum of Philadelphia/Dover edition, the contents of the two catalogs have been reprinted unabridged and include the folios, running feet and price list of the original publications. However, the original front cover and the “To the Trade” notice, which appear on pages 1 and 2 of the present volume, have not been reproduced at the beginning of the second catalog because they are identical to those of the earlier catalog. In addition, although the order of the original publications has been retained, almost every page in the present volume contains two of the narrow pages of the original catalogs. The original designs have also been slightly enlarged. At the bottom of each page of the present volume, a new folio in square brackets has been added. The hiatus in the original pagination between the old page numbers 180 and 211 is occasioned by the original break between the two catalogs. It should be noted that at the time of original publication, the swastika design depicted in the second Roessing catalog did not have the political connotations it has now. Formerly, the design had a talismanic or religious value and is found in the art of ancient Persia, India, China, Japan and among the tribes of North, Central and South America.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.