An original artwork for a nursery frieze by John Hassall for liberty's ca 1900, part of a set of six.

Original artwork on brown paper. The images are hand drawn and painted in simplistic manor bright in bold solid colours, with distinctive dark outlines. There is a line of horizon drawn two thirds of the way up and a dotting of trees along this line. In the foreground of this images are two children, the first child wears a white top, shorts, knee high socks and shoes, he is pulling along a toy train. The second child is wearing the same outfit in orange and grey and is pushing along a toy elephant with a golly sitting on top. The artwork is stretched on canvas and framed.

Purchased with Art Fund support

The original golliwog was a central character in a series of books by Bertha and Florence Upton published between 1895 and 1909. Florence, the illustrator of the stories, based the golliwog on a doll she had acquired in the US in the 1880s. The appearance of this doll was influenced by the Blackface performance tradition. From the late 19th century until the 1960s, the golliwog flourished as a toy. Its image featured on toys, games, textiles and ceramics and was also used by food companies. From the 1970s the golliwog’s popularity began to wane as many British people felt that it promoted racial stereotypes.

These friezes were displayed at the Leighton House Centenary John Hassall exhibition in 1968 and British Murals & Decorative Painting 1910 to 1970 at The Fine Art Society in 2013.

The freizes were held by a family member David Cuppleditch until 1999 and have since been in a private collection.
A set of the prints are held in the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture.

The object is to place before children such pictures as are well drawn and well coloured and thus training the eye in infancy to discriminate and enjoy artistic work.
Liberty Bazaar 1898
This nursery frieze was produced by illustrator and poster designer John Hassall for Liberty’s. The designs were part of a wider collaboration between John Hassall and fellow artist Cecil Aldin, ‘Art for the Nursery’, aimed at making the appearance of children's rooms more attractive. This resulted in an exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1900, Pictures for Children. These friezes were also displayed at the Leighton House centenary John Hassall exhibition in 1968. They were recently on display again at The Fine Art Society as part of the exhibition, British Murals & Decorative Painting, 1910-1970.
These original designs would have been printed as lithographs by Jellico and Co. to be fixed directly to the walls of children's nurseries.

B.3-2014