W is for Whimsical Nocturne

Week W | Insider Friday | Japanning: Tuesday Riddell

Mary Oliver, from ‘Staying Alive’

Until I came across the stunning artwork above last week, I thought that ‘japanning’ meant the process of visiting Japan, from the delicious anticipation to the experience itself, to revisiting the memories afterwards.

But it’s actually a laquerware technique with a fascinating history, from ‘women’s work’ to industrial uses and back again.

The precision of Tuesday Riddell’s technique is astonishing, resulting in a nocturnal and mystical enchantment that is the very height of art for me – yet is also ‘decorative’.

And spellbinding! An hypnotic, mandorlic, fairytale blending of darkness and light. Layers upon layers upon layers.

There’s something about her work that reminds me of Mary Delany’s collages. I suppose it’s simply the effect of a black background, a choice I must remember to make more often in my own work. But it’s something more than that, too.

It seems to me that her marriage of almost industrial technique and precise, entrancing artistry reflects the very history of japanning itself. It’s considered an ‘endangered craft’, but my word is she keeping it gloriously alive.

I’ll look out for other artists using japanning. I recommend you visit Tuesday Riddell’s website while staying cool this weekend. And there’s a gorgeous profile of her on Inigo (a wonderful website I found thanks to her). I feel cooler just looking at these.

I’m not yet sure why watching this made me a bit tearful.

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