Ariadne's Jewelled Mushroom
Design
1967 (made)
1967 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is one of a set of drawings and printed images in the V&A's collection by artist John Hurford. Hurford was one of the key figures in the explosion of psychedelic imagery in Britain in the late 1960s. His drawings, mainly executed in pen and ink and enlivened by brilliant washes of coloured inks, were reproduced as posters and illustrations in the leading Underground publications of the day, including Oz, IT and Gandalf's Garden.
Hurford's meticulously and minutely-particularised drawing style was coupled with his fascination with natural plant and tree forms. They gave his work a direct appeal to the hippy generation, who either aspired to get back to the simpler country life or who, as city-dwellers, nurtured a romanticised dream of rural existence.
Hurford's meticulously and minutely-particularised drawing style was coupled with his fascination with natural plant and tree forms. They gave his work a direct appeal to the hippy generation, who either aspired to get back to the simpler country life or who, as city-dwellers, nurtured a romanticised dream of rural existence.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Ariadne's Jewelled Mushroom (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Black Indian ink on white paper |
| Brief description | Original artwork for a magazine cover, 'Ariadne's Jewelled Mushroom' by John Hurford, England, 1967. |
| Physical description | Figure of a nude woman standing in a crevice in the ground and next to her toadstools with geometric patterns on a hillock with jewel-like pattern. Behind this is a sun-ray stretching left across the page, one ray terminating with a white circle (moon?). In the centre trees are 'silhouetted' in white against the sun-ray. On the left is a man's head and above this the heads of two women, one wearing earrings, against a wavy black and white and geometric pattern formed from dots. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by the artist |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This is one of a set of drawings and printed images in the V&A's collection by artist John Hurford. Hurford was one of the key figures in the explosion of psychedelic imagery in Britain in the late 1960s. His drawings, mainly executed in pen and ink and enlivened by brilliant washes of coloured inks, were reproduced as posters and illustrations in the leading Underground publications of the day, including Oz, IT and Gandalf's Garden. Hurford's meticulously and minutely-particularised drawing style was coupled with his fascination with natural plant and tree forms. They gave his work a direct appeal to the hippy generation, who either aspired to get back to the simpler country life or who, as city-dwellers, nurtured a romanticised dream of rural existence. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.367-2010 |
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| Record created | February 1, 2011 |
| Record URL |
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