I went to the exhibition last weekend Valerie Weilmuenster was on-hand to demonstrate some of the techniques of the medieval illuminator.
No, she's not asleep but rather showing us her gesso preparation technique as part of a larger demo on gilding or applying gold to the page. In this case, it is gold leaf.
She has a sheet of paper with the text on it and the marginalia in outline around it. To apply gold leaf you need gesso which is like a primer. It bonds to the paper and the gold adheres to it. Back in the Middle Ages gesso was made of stuff like chalk and fish glue. Ms. Weilmuenster was using a new-fangled variety made of acrylic. In the photo above she is gently blowing on the gesso in order to make it tacky just as the monks did in the days of yore.
Now she has placed the gold leaf onto the page and is using a burnishing(?) tool to press it firmly onto the gesso. With that done, she pulls the leaf backing away and uses a brush to clear excess leaf.
Ms. Weilmuenster also showed how you can put down two or three layers of gold leaf to give your work some contours.
Another method of gilding involves shell gold which is finely ground gold mixed with gum arabic. The name comes from the practice of illuminators who stored the stuff in shells. You know, like mollusks. It is reconstituted with water and then painted onto parchment like this.
The exhibit itself was really neat. Not only was the artwork fantastic…
…but it was simply wonderful to look at books that were hundreds of years old and think about monks creating them and distant ancestors reading them. A few of the folios had marginalia that featured strawberries and I stood there thinking about how a tasty, juicy strawberry and warmer weather would be so nice right about then.
Another highlight was the Franciscan antiphonary which is actually from the UW-Madison's collection. The thing was huge. Not quite as big as this one but still very large. The texture of the vellum looked like a football. There were large measures drawn on it along with squares and other shapes representing the musical notes. (Antiphonaries were books of chants used during liturgical ceremonies.) Being a music fan I guess I just am drawn to all things musical so this book really caught my eye.
And since I saw gilding demos, I have to admit that I didn't know that so many manuscripts had the stuff on them. Not every folio had gold on it but a lot did. At over six feet tall, I had to bend over or twist around to see the light reflect off of it but it was there. It really added to the beauty of the pages and I can imagine it enhanced the tactile sensation of turning the pages or using a finger to follow text. While I'd imagine lovely contoured gilding wouldn't be a big deal for a John Grisham novel, I can imagine it adding that little something extra to a psalter that you're paying an arm and a leg for.
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When I was done marveling over the manuscripts I took some time to check out the rest of what the Chazen has on offer. Much to my shame, I have to admit that it was the first time I'd wandered around the whole place in many, many years. One gallery had European art from 1300-1600 and it complemented the manuscripts nicely.
While I enjoy medieval art in a general way, I can only take so many paintings of magi, sheep, etc. adoring the newborn Christ. It seems that every artist was obligated to make pictures of Mary and the baby Jesus surrounded by onlookers and angels. I'm not sure if this is because it was just the hoopiest subject at the time or whether painters were constantly commissioned to paint them. Regardless, they get old for me eventually.
One interesting thing was to look at all these paintings by artists from Western Europe and then check out Deësis with the Twelve Feasts of the Church, a Byzantine Greek work. Unlike the works from Western Europe, this icon has no figures with blond hair and the people of the Middle East have brown skin instead of alabaster.
I also went to the fourth floor and saw the horny goats statue. Honestly, it didn't impress me. It's art, I don't have a problem with it, but it just didn't do anything for me. I found John De Andrea's Untitled Bronze #1 much more to my liking.
I am looking forward to the new wing opening this October. Perhaps some of those Japanese woodblock prints they have in storage will be put on display. And maybe another venue for some artsy fartsy films too.
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