The Fin de Siècle: 1890s & Late Victorian Culture

(image via: turnofthecentury:Swann Galleries)

Florence Lundborg ~The Lark for May,1896

Lundborg was a San Francisco illustrator and muralist associated with the bohemian group of California writers and artists who called themselves ”Les Jeunes.” The group published The Lark, an artistic and literary periodical edited by Gelett Burgess and Bruce Porter between 1895 and 1897. Lundborg regularly contributed her prints to the publication.

You can see a full text version of issues 13-24 of The Lark here.

Elbert Hubbard was a true American original: proponent and disseminator of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the U.S., a printer, publisher, artist, salesman, socialist, lecturer, and self-proclaimed philosopher. Hubbard started the Roycrofters in 1894, an artisan community in East Aurora, New York. His contoversial (and often paradoxical) opinions garnered much criticism and scandal throughout his life. PBS released a documentary in 2009 entitled Elbert Hubbard: An American Original.

~Books to Burn!! William Wallace Denslow

William Wallace Denslow, who would later go on to illustrate The Wizard of Oz series for L. Frank Baum in the early 1900’s, worked in the Roycroft Arts and Crafts artisan shop in East Aurora, New York under Elbert Hubbard. You can see more examples of his work here.

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A question for all of my wonderful new readers/followers...

Who is your favorite author (or literary work) from the late nineteenth century? I would love to know!

The Clubbing List – Refused by the Complete Alphabet of Freaks

This “alphabet” from Les Petits Journal des Réfusées (1896) is a brilliantly snarky example of fin de siecle literary humor. The editor(s) mock and berate numerous American (and a few British) periodicals of the late 1890’s. They also seem to have a less than favorable opinion of literary decadence. The editors (we know the California humorist Gelett Burgess was involved) also published the small magazine entitled The Lark. How many references do you recognize?

A is for Art of the age-end variety; we Decadents simply can’t get a satiety.

B is for Beardsley, the idol supreme, whose drawings are not so bad as they seem.

C is for Chap-Book, the pater familias of magazines started by many a silly ass.

Kenyon Cox - An Eclogue 1890

Cox was an influential (and stylistically conservative) figure in American art and criticism at the turn of the 20th century. He also published several books on regional art and travel. I wrote a short biography on him a few years ago, but this is the first I’ve seen of this wonderful painting (sorry for the shameless self-promotion!). If you want to know more about Cox’s life and work, read here.

(via: my-ear-trumpet: allnightradio)

As far as those of us at the Fin de Siecle “headquarters” are concerned, Walt Whitman was one of the most magnificent individuals to have graced the 19th century. We like to refer to him as “The Great Loafer.” This is, of course, intended as a term of endearment. Unlike the common connotation, “loafer: (n.) a lazy bum,” we prefer to think of him as a connoisseur of the laid-back pleasures of life. And here he is, in his old age, still looking languid and oh-so-wise.

Image Title: [Walt Whitman in Camden, New Jersey, 1891.]

Created Date: 1891

(via: NYPL Digital Gallery)

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This is a 36-second wax cylinder recording of what is thought to be Walt Whitman’s voice reading four lines from the poem “America.” It is estimated that this recording was made in 1889 or 1890. (via: whitmanarchive.org)