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| Frontispice of Heraldry and Floral Forms used in Decoration by Herbert Cole (1922) |
In 1922, Herbert Cole published Heraldry and Floral Forms used in Decoration with his own drawings. The book focuses on Heraldry and its ancient and modern use in decoration. The aims of the book are to educate the decorators and to help then understand the iconography of the Middle-Ages. Cole talks about design, history and principles for his time, not a mere history of heraldry. He emphasises how often you can see heraldry in "modern" (non medieval) building.
Herbert Cole (1867-1930) was a draughtsman, engraver and illustrator. He taught Costume illustration at Camberwell School of art and was a close friend of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Nowadays, he is mainly remembered for his illustrations of medieval myths and his portrait of Sylvia Pankhurst (1925) at the National Gallery in London.
In "Heraldry and its use in Decoration", Cole asserts that the role of decorators, this new profession which emerged at the end of the 19th century, is, by the 1920s, an established profession with which artists have to work with. Cole seems unimpressed by decorators and would like them to study closely medieval examples in order to learn design principles. This emphasis on principles and "good" and "bad" taste has been at the heart of the art debate in Britain since the 1830s and the first reports on art and industry in the country. Henry Cole was the key figure of the movement and wanted to teach professionals and the public what was good and bad design. It obtained mixed results, some victories like the creation of the South Kensington Museum, now Victoria and Albert Museum, and some defeats especially in relation to manufactured goods.
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| Portion of a two mantel-pieces in carved stone Tattersall Castle - Lincolnshire 15th century p.40 |
In the 1920s, these questions are still alive and Cole is trying to connect decorators, who are now controlling the trade, with art history. His choice of heraldry is mainly dictated by his past as a Pre-Raphaelite.
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| Mermaid, Herbert Cole (1915) |
He starts his argument with the history of heraldry and how it has been abused by some artists:
�with the rise of purely pictural art the decay set in. The herald began to imitate the picture painter, and forgot that his duty was to appeal to the eye by expressive symbols, designed to serve a special purpose��p.8
This quote is a perfect example of the rivalry between decorative arts/craftsmen and fine arts. For Cole, fine arts has perverted heraldry to make it pretty without meanings.
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| p.123 |
�In searching for examples of heraldry in decoration it is astonishing how widely it has been used and how great the range of material in which it has been employed. Carving in wood and stone, weaving and embroidery, enamelling on metal, painting on glass, ironwork, cast and wrought, printed and painted book decoration are only some of the various ways designers and decorators have used in its expression.�p.64
Heraldry is not only used on shields and on the battle fields, even if according to Cole it was its first use, but is also present inside the house, as a common and domestic iconography. Heraldry is a multi-purpose decoration which if used correctly can help us to remember the past, real or fantasised.
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| p.101 |
"In days gone by heraldry came more into the domain of the craftsman and the decorator than into that of the pictorial artist, but much could be brought forward in the way of evidence to show that it was well understood by all workers in the arts. Experts have shown that in modern times many easily avoidable mistakes have been made through the lack of little knowledge of the subject." p.113
When reading Cole it is hard not to compare his work with another artist, Augustus W.N. Pugin who also advocates for the return of heraldry in modern houses and did it in his own house. In La Grange, Pugin painted his heraldry and motto everywhere, from the walls to the ceiling to his plates. Pugin was living his medieval dream. Cole follows Pugin's path but he modernised it by allowing decorators, and not artists, to use heraldry on different media. For Pugin, the support was as important as the iconography but Cole seemed to allow people more freedom with medieval historicity.
Bibliography:
Herbert Cole. Heraldry and Floral Forms as Used in Decoration; London & Toronto, J. M. Dent & Sons ltd.; New York, E. P. Dutton & co., 1922. http://archive.org/details/heraldryfloralfo00colerich
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