Higgins Glass - 30 Plates of Printed Color Charts from Frances Stewart's Master Thesis with Michael Higgins' Introduction to Stewart's Thesis, Two Original Manuscript Pages with Color Chart Drawings and Corrections, and Ephemera [WITH] Lawrence J. Lange's Student's Notebook of Color
NP: NP, 1948. Original artwork and documents. Softcover, hardcover. Elephant Folio (16 1/4 x 12 1/2"). 30 plates of color charts in original light brown burlap-covered boards portfolio with string-ties from Frances Stewart's thesis. Laid in 2 copies of Michael Higgins' introduction to Francis Stewart's master thesis, plus two pages of color charts with handwritten descriptive text and corrections, two letters between the President of the Institute of Design Serge Chermayeff and Egbert Jacobson, dated 1949, regarding Frances Stewart's thesis, and printed and filled out Institute circular regarding the thesis.
1. Thirty original printed Color Charts (16 1/4 x 12") by Frances Stewart for her master thesis on color printing with penciled signifiers in margins, in elephant burlap-covered portfolio (16 3/4 x 12 1/2") with string-ties. All plates contain four squares with variant color mixing scales in gray borders.' An additional typed page on "Primaries," most likely from Stewart's thesis, due to variant typeface compared to Michael Higgins introduction.
1a. Two pages (11 x 8 1/2") with various color charts drawn by hand and handwritten instructions for color printing, including corrections, drafted presumably by Michael Higgins.
2. Accompanied by two copies of a second state typescript, the introduction to "Frances Stewart: Master's Thesis" by Michael Higgins (Sponsoring Teacher), 10pp. with cover. A detailed and methodological analysis on limitations in use of color in common printing processes of the time.
In the introduction Higgins points to the differences that occur between artist/designer and printer, whof actually were incapable to reproduce the intended original design due to the limitation of printing processes. A shortcoming to be overcome with Frances Stewart's system offered in this thesis. "...this system is offered not as a complete system of color notation in silk screen printing, but as a readily repeatable production exercise in charting a wide area of available additive combinations." Following are suggestions of use and Higgins describes "Actual Problems" of color mixing and printing in detail, offering demonstrations on request at the end.
From Higgins introduction: "... as Frances Stewart states in the first two paragraphs of her thesis, this color-combination system was worked out to provide a tool in the use of which visual design students might gain a greater understanding of additive color combinations as used in printing." (Higgins). Second copy of this introduction missing page eight.
3. Two 1949 typescript letters on Mrs. Higgins' color printing projects, correspondence between the president of the Institute of Design Serge Chermayeff and Egbert Jacobson. Added is one additional printed circular of "Department Correspondence," filled out revealing topic, Frances Stewart Thesis, and the short list of institute staff to read the thesis, listing seven staff members with original signatures of six of them, incl. president Chermayeff.
[WITH]
A Student's Notebook of Color by Lawrence J. Lange.
Large Quarto (11 x 8 1/2"). 10pp. Original orange stiff illustrated wraps with black lettering on cover, bound with black library tape.
"COLOR is a basic sensory quality extremely capable of evoking very intense and deep emotional reactions... but it is also a basic element of plastic creation, capable of being structurally organized into a visible composition. Lange goes on to suggest to systematize existing knowledge on colors into psycho physical & psychological categories, detailing in chapters on white, gray, and black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue (the spiritual color), violet, followed by two charts. Each of the categories with color chips pasted to paper. The Illinois Institute of Technology archive contains five boxes of archival material relating to Lawrence J. Lange's work. Printed to variant color and white paper.
One additional printed and filled out form card for domestic purposes. Student's Notebook with light wear along covers, small chip at lower foredge and lightly rubbed, minor wear along edges of content pages. Burlap portfolio disjointed and worn with frayed string-ties and only one flap present. Light bookworm damage of some introduction pages. Correspondence with some creasing along edges. Poor portfolio to very good+ condition. Item #54982
Higgins Glass is considered art or fused glass designed and manufactured by Michael and Frances Higgins (Frances Stewart, married to Michael Higgins in 1948). Soon after their marriage they established a studio in their apartment. The first Higgins products appeared on the market in 1950 at upscale retail stores like Marshall Fields, Bloomingdale and others. Their work was first featured in the "Designer Craftsman Exhibit" and the "Good Design Show" of the Chicago Art Institute in 1951. The work was said to combine aesthetics reminiscent of Kandinsky wile emphasizing functionality. Their successors, Louise and Jonathan Wimmer, continued the production of this distinctive style.
Price: $7,500.00