Costume Drawings
MR. GORSLINE is an American painter and illustrator, and the most valuable part of his rather ambitiously named book is undoubtedlY the portion devoted to American costume during the last century. He rightly claims that " nineteenth-century America produced an entirely native life—that of the frontier. In these regions a real, if short-lived, folk dress developed—one which has never been reported in great detail." He begins the American section with the year 1840, and, basing himself upon contemporary photographs, shows us the costumes of fur-trappers of the 'thirties, with their fringed Indian-style buckskin coats, the clothing of the lumberjacks of the 'sixties, which still shows pronounced French-Canadian influences, and the dress of the cowboys in the golden age of the 'seventies. Rangers, ranchers and Klondike prospectors complete the picture. All this is extremely valuable, and does not seem to have been done before in anything like so detailed and systematic a manner.
Anticipating a question which will certainly be asked, the author asks it himself : " Why did I not use photographic illustrations instead of making drawings from source materials of the period ? He claims that photographs in general sacrifice clarity and detail and are " cluttered with irrelevant background material. It seemed to me both more practical and more esthetic to make new drawings from the best examples available, carefully and with devotiont In doing these drawings—quite an undertaking, I now realise—I have assumed the responsibility for accuracy, which I sincerely hope I have fulfilled." While paying willing tribute to Mr. Gorsline's care and devotion, and also to his modesty, one cannot help feeling that it was a mistake. For if reproductions of photographs—and there- fore, presumably the photographs themselves—lack clarity and detail, where has Mr. Gorsline got his detail from ? When he couldn't see the detail, did he just make it up ?
The practice of illustrating costume-history by means of drawings is very frequent, but it is seldom satisfactory. The trouble is that those who set out to produce costume-histories are very often artists. It was in the course of their art studies that they became interested in costume. Very naturally, they want to illustrate their books them- selves, and it is sad that, in the nature of things, they can hardly ever make a success of it. Documents are misread ; details are not completely understood; inaccuracies creep in ; " period flavour " evaporates. One needs to be a superb draughtsman—an Adolf Menzel in fact—even to draw a three-cornered hat, once three- cornered hats have ceased to be worn. It is difficult enough to draw a " topper." With more remote ages the difficulty is greater still. It would be quite impossible to deduce the actual structure of an Egyptian head-dress from Mr. Gorsline's drawings ; his Greek helmets are quite perfunctory ; and he has not in the least under- stood the complicated headgear of the fifteenth-century noble lady. His ruffs are almost equally unsatisfactory.
One is compelled to ask also what possible purpose is served bY re-drawing one of Wenzel Hollar 's famous etchings of mid-seven- teenth-century attire. The originals are extremely clear (there can be no question here of photographs lacking clarity and detail), and something is bound to be lost in the translation into terms of a modern line-drawing. And the author has taken it upon himself to add colour, giving the lady a red underskirt trimmed with gold lace or braid. It may have been so, but there is no possible means of knowing.
The treatment of modern dress leaves much to be desired. " Three upper-class English people " are shown on page 177. The male figure is dated 1917, and is wearing the wide, floppy trousers which did not come in until 1924 or 1925. The "Prize fight referee" on page 198 is presumably wearing evening dress, but it would be impossible to deduce this from the shape of the coat.
Nevertheless the book will be of use. It is well produced, lavishly illustrated and reasonably inexpensive ; and Mr. Gorsline certainly earns our gratitude by his survey of American frontier costume
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