Froggy Went a Courting
Mat
1949 (designed and made)
1949 (designed and made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Folly Cove Designers was a collective of designers established by Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968) in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Demetrios used her art school background to tutor her neighbours in design so that they could produce block printed goods for sale as a cooperative group. The designs convey the nature of everyday life in rural New England of their time. Themes include growing vegetables, collecting sap, cotton picking, fishermen mending nets and other everyday occupations. This mat by Joshua Tolford, a technical artist at a research firm during the day, depicts the traditional nursery rhyme 'Froggie Went a Courtin' or 'A Froggie Would A-Wooing Go'.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | lino cut print on cotton |
| Brief description | Mat, black dye on a pink/fawn coloured cotton, 'Froggy Went a Courting' or 'A Froggie Would Wooing Go'; Joshua Tolford for Folly Cove, 1949, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, USA |
| Physical description | Rectangular mat with a linocut printed design, showing characters and scenes from the nursery rhyme/traditional song "A Froggie Would A Wooing Go". The image shows a frog, dressed with a sword and holstered gun. In the various windows created by repeating arches of giant lily leaves, Froggy prepares himself in front of the mirror and is shown on one knee opposite the object of his desire, a skirted mouse who sits at a spinning wheel. Three rows of animal and insect characters increase in size from top to bottom with a line of musical notes serving as a lower border. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Cynthia Shaver in honour of Phyllis Boyes |
| Summary | Folly Cove Designers was a collective of designers established by Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968) in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Demetrios used her art school background to tutor her neighbours in design so that they could produce block printed goods for sale as a cooperative group. The designs convey the nature of everyday life in rural New England of their time. Themes include growing vegetables, collecting sap, cotton picking, fishermen mending nets and other everyday occupations. This mat by Joshua Tolford, a technical artist at a research firm during the day, depicts the traditional nursery rhyme 'Froggie Went a Courtin' or 'A Froggie Would A-Wooing Go'. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.37-2023 |
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| Record created | January 4, 2023 |
| Record URL |
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