105

  • Study for "Shuttlecock"

  • ca. 1868-1870
  • Albert Joseph Moore, R.A., R.W.S. (British 1841-1893)
  • Black and white chalk drawing
  • 32.9 x 16.2 cm., 13-1/16 x 6-7/16" image
  • Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts Purchase in Honor of Martha Tedeschi, Former Deputy Director, The Art Institute of Chicago, Director, Harvard Museums, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2002.6

Essay by Meghan O'Brien, Class of 2005 and Errin Copple, Class of 2005

Albert Moore began his life surrounded by a family of landscape painters. He synthesized many influences in his art. His Classical roots were evident in his detailed and structured compositions, emphasizing the mathematical linearity he employed in his architectural studies. He had in fact copied many Classical works of art, including the famous Elgin Marbles, sculptures from the Greek Parthenon temple in Athens that were brought to England by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century. Similar to these figures, Moore's females are clothed in wet drapery, with delicate folds that subtly reveal idealized bodies beneath.

Along with Classical sources, Moore revered nature, which resulted in his initial admiration for the powerful Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, who encouraged artists to replicate nature (Prettejohn 118). To this end, Moore generally worked from a live model for his studies. He, however, never fully adhered to slavishly copying nature, but ultimately moved toward the opposite camp of Aestheticism, which encouraged interpretation. Advocates of The Aesthetic Movement, or Art for Art's Sake, believed in the artistic liberty to manipulate nature in order to improve it. Opposing these ideas were those who felt, as Ruskin and many conservatives did, that true art was edifying if it followed nature.

In 1865, Moore forged a very important friendship with American expatriate, James McNeill Whistler, perhaps the most vocal leader of The Aesthetic Movement in England. Both artists were fascinated by the possible aesthetic analogies between music and painting and were strong advocates for Aestheticism (Prettejohn 127). In this particular sketch, Moore has drawn a figure that is supposed to be playing badminton, but by looking at the dress and stance of the figure, it would be difficult to discern this recreational aspect, her quiet beauty being the more evident theme.

This Study is one of many preliminary sketches for Moore's painting, Shuttlecock (1868-1870), which was commissioned along with another work, Battledore. In his biography of Moore, Baldry related that Moore "set his models for some hours to play the game of battledore and shuttlecock, watching them and sketching each attitude that struck him as presenting pictorial possibilities" (Asleson 112). In this chalk sketch, Moore's preoccupation with drapery is evident. The contrasting vertical and horizontal lines of the cloth seem to be the focus, rather than the figure whose head and foot are lightly sketched and whose arms are only suggested by means of a few dark lines.

This sketch clearly reflects the artist's love for Greek idealism gained through his thorough academic training. The drawing was done in chalk with beautiful detail and no smudging. Lone Classical Greek figures are generally the focus in Moore's works. This work, as a study, better reveals the true artist as he searched for his essential form, demonstrating Moore's idealism at its very best.