Binding for Laurence Housman’s A Farm in Fairyland

Laurence Housman, designer; signed in bottom right hand corner.

1894

Ink blocking, with a gilt overlay, on pale green cloth.

7¾ x 5¼ inches

One of Housman’s figurative designs, this binding exemplifies his expressive distortion of forms, which are elongated and treated decoratively. The composition is an interesting fusion of stylistic tendencies: the airless treatment of space and tendency to flatten the planes into a pattern are closely linked to second stage Pre-Raphaelitism. [commentary continued below]

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Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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