Mrs. Delany and Her Circle
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Mark Laird and Alicia Weisberg-Roberts
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Format: ClothPrice: $75.00
Out of Print
At the age of seventy-two, Mary Delany, née Mary Granville (1700-1788), embarked upon a series of nearly a thousand botanical collages, or “paper mosaics,” which would prove to be the crowning achievement of her rich creative life. These delicate hand-cut floral designs, made by a method of Mrs. Delany’s own invention, vie with the finest botanical works of her time. More than two centuries later her extraordinary work continues to inspire.
Although best known for these collages, Mrs. Delany was also an amateur artist, woman of fashion, and commentator on life and society in 18th-century England and Ireland. Her prolific craft activities not only served to cement personal bonds of friendship, but also allowed her to negotiate the interconnecting artistic, aristocratic, and scientific networks that surrounded her. This ambitious and groundbreaking book, the first to survey the full range of Mrs. Delany’s creative endeavors, reveals the complexity of her engagement with natural science, fashion, and design.
Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art
Exhibition Schedule:
Yale Center for British Art (9/24/09 – 1/3/10)
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London (2/18/10 – 5/1/10)
Mark Laird is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Alicia Weisberg-Roberts is Assistant Curator of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Art, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Yale Center for British Art (9/24/09 – 1/3/10)
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London (2/18/10 – 5/1/10)
‘The magnificent catalogue…explores these ideas in greater depth and from the perspective of a greater range of scholarly disciplines than can be adequately represented in an exhibition…Visually enchanting as these images are, they stand as microcosms of her entire world…Mrs Delaney and her Circle is a model of inter-disciplinary collaboration.’ —Timothy Wilcox, Apollo
‘History has often been unkind to the amateur artistic endeavours of women, but this book puts this right...This beautifully illustrated book shows the paper collages in detail and explains how they were created…It brings a remarkable woman to our attention, and through her shows that it is never too late to produce a masterpiece.’—Bill Spence, Yorkshire Gazette and Herald
‘A book that is scholarly, yet also readable and sumptuously produced…A timely reassessment of an underestimated figure (and at £40, a snip).’—Tim Richardson, Country Life Best Books of 2009
‘Mrs Delaney and Her Circle contains essays on Delaney’s astonishing range of accomplishments, and fine illustrations of her handiwork.’—Jane Shilling, Daily Mail
‘[A] rounded portrait of a remarkable woman.’—Anne Gatti, The Times
‘Yale books have class, so Mrs Delaney (sic), ‘the woman of fashion of all ages’ in Burke’s phrase, would surely applaud this elegant commemoration. It brings Delaney studies to a new pitch of scholarly refinement, with a dozen experts exploring the various aspects of her achievement in sometimes clinical detail.'—John McEwen, Spectator
‘Handsome, beautifully designed and profusely illustrated book…backed up by superb illustrations, fastidious references, expert consultation and an exemplary bibliography, the authors succeed in showing how closely linked were Mrs Delany’s interests in fashion, the natural world, and physical engagement with small collectible objects.’—Nicola Gordon Bowe, Irish Arts Review
‘Editors, Laird & Weisberg-Roberts have achieved a fine balance between cultural context and a meticulous focus on specific aspects of her work…The book, designed by Derek Birdsall, is itself a work of art and contains more than 250 colour illustrations.’ — Elizabeth Eger, Times Literary Supplement
‘Beautifully illustrated, groundbreaking book.’ — Leonie Highton, House and Garden
"The sumptuous Mrs Delany & Her Circle…. A book for enthusiasts of botanical painting."—Philip Stephen, Historic Gardens Review
Publication Date: December 1, 2009
Publishing Partner: Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art
10 b/w + 300 color illus.
