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Wallpaper Frieze
ca. 1900 (manufactured)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
‘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
These wallpaper friezes were produced by British illustrator and poster designer John Hassall for Liberty & Co. around the turn of the twentieth century, a time when designing for children’s nurseries was very fashionable. They were part of a wider collaboration between Hassall and fellow artist Cecil Aldin, ‘Art for the Nursery’, which was aimed at making the appearance of children's rooms more attractive. This resulted in the Pictures for Children exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1900.
The papers are lithographs printed by Jellico and Co. to be fixed directly to the walls of children's nurseries.
Liberty Bazaar, 1898
These wallpaper friezes were produced by British illustrator and poster designer John Hassall for Liberty & Co. around the turn of the twentieth century, a time when designing for children’s nurseries was very fashionable. They were part of a wider collaboration between Hassall and fellow artist Cecil Aldin, ‘Art for the Nursery’, which was aimed at making the appearance of children's rooms more attractive. This resulted in the Pictures for Children exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1900.
The papers are lithographs printed by Jellico and Co. to be fixed directly to the walls of children's nurseries.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph on paper |
| Brief description | Section of nursery wallpaper frieze showing children playing, 'Sheet No. 4', lithograph on paper, John Hassall for Liberty, England, about 1900 |
| Physical description | One of a set of nursery wallpaper friezes showing a line of children on a brown field with stylised trees, moving towards the left, pulling or carrying toys. Two children are depicted on this frieze. The lead child, a boy, is dressed in matching roll-neck jumper, shorts and long socks, and is facing toward the toy he is pulling: a large wheeled locomotive. The boy behind pushes a large wheeled elephant toy, upon which rides a 'Golly' doll. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Mass produced |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Julia Cox |
| Object history | Given to the museum in 2019 by Julia Cox [2019/356] |
| Historical context | The term 'golly' is used as a historical term for a specific type of object or character depiction. 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. |
| Production | Six of the original design drawings for this series are also held by the museum (see B.1 to 6-2014) |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | ‘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 These wallpaper friezes were produced by British illustrator and poster designer John Hassall for Liberty & Co. around the turn of the twentieth century, a time when designing for children’s nurseries was very fashionable. They were part of a wider collaboration between Hassall and fellow artist Cecil Aldin, ‘Art for the Nursery’, which was aimed at making the appearance of children's rooms more attractive. This resulted in the Pictures for Children exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1900. The papers are lithographs printed by Jellico and Co. to be fixed directly to the walls of children's nurseries. |
| Associated object | b.3-2014 (Design) |
| Other number | 451546 - Registered Design number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.11-2019 |
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| Record created | May 9, 2019 |
| Record URL |
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