{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1282711"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1282711/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HD4223/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HD4223/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HD4223","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX8568","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1282711/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1282711","accessionNumber":"B.3-2014","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"'The object is to place before children such pictures as are well drawn and well coloured and thus training the eye in infancy to discriminate and enjoy artistic work.' \r\nLiberty Bazaar 1898\n\r\nThis nursery frieze was produced by illustrator and poster designer John Hassall for Liberty’s. The designs were part of a wider collaboration between John Hassall and fellow artist Cecil Aldin, ‘Art for the Nursery’, aimed at making the appearance of children's rooms more attractive. This resulted in an exhibition at The Fine Art Society in 1900, Pictures for Children. \n\r\nThese original designs would have been printed as lithographs by Jellico and Co. to be fixed directly to the walls of children's nurseries.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Original artwork on brown paper.  The images are hand drawn and painted in simplistic manner, bright in bold solid colours, with distinctive dark outlines. There is a line of horizon drawn two thirds of the way up and a dotting of trees along this line. In the foreground of this images are two children, the first child wears a white top, shorts, knee high socks and shoes, he is pulling along a toy train. The second child is wearing the same outfit in orange and grey and is pushing along a toy elephant with a 'golly' sitting on top. The artwork is stretched on canvas and framed. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"John Hassall","id":"A8489"},"association":{"text":"Artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Liberty","id":"A1527"},"association":{"text":"commissioned and published","id":"x38773"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Paint on paper","categories":[{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Wall coverings","id":"THES48878"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"YVA","id":"THES48593"},"images":["2014HD4223","2017JX8568"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES304604"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Drawing","id":"x32498"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"Yes-racial-stereotyping","note":"Term 'golly'/'golliwogg'"}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1900","earliest":"1900-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"B.11-2019","id":"O1491129"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"B.1-2014","id":"O1282709"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"B.2-2014","id":"O1282710"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"B.4-2014","id":"O1282712"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"B.5-2014","id":"O1282713"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"B.6-2014","id":"O1282714"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"Purchased with Art Fund support","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"48.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"150","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"These friezes were displayed at the Leighton House Centenary John Hassall exhibition in 1968 and British Murals & Decorative Painting 1910 to 1970 at The Fine Art Society in 2013. \r\n\nThe freizes were held by a family member David Cuppleditch until 1999 and have since been in a private collection. \n\r\nA set of the prints are held in the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture. \n\nThis drawing depicts a 'golly' doll riding on a toy elephant. The original golly was a central character in a series of books published between 1895 and 1909. Bertha Upton (1849–1912) wrote the books and her daughter, Florence Kate Upton (1873–1922), illustrated them. They based the character ‘Golliwogg’ (as it was originally spelled) on a doll Florence owned as a child growing up in 1880s America. The appearance and clothing of the doll (see B.493-1997) is based on the ‘blackface minstrel’ figure, a 19th-century racial caricature of African Americans. Blackface minstrel shows were performed by white actors and singers, who parodied African Americans by darkening their skins with shoe polish or burnt cork. These portrayals perpetuated many negative stereotypes and were steeped in racism. The shows originated in the USA, with the first widely known blackface character, ‘Jim Crow’, appearing around 1830. Soon after it became popular in the UK, which developed its own blackface traditions.\r\n\r\nFlorence moved to the UK in the 1890s, where the Uptons’ books became very popular. Their Golliwogg character was not copyrighted, allowing multiple representations of the golly to enter the public domain. The character featured in British toys, games, textiles, ceramics and children’s books, and was used as a mascot by the food manufacturer, Robertson’s, from about 1910. From the 1980s the character’s popularity began to wane as campaigners fought against the racist stereotypes that the golly represented. Robertson’s continued to promote the figure as part of a British ‘national tradition’ until 2001, when they stopped using the golly in their branding. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"An original artwork for a nursery frieze by John Hassall for Liberty's ca 1900, part of a set of six.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"The World of The Nursery","id":"AUTH332613"},"details":"","free":"p.77"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Artist's proof","id":"THES48869"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["B.3-2014"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"B","accessionYear":2014,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-07","recordCreationDate":"2014-02-18","availableToBook":true}}