Back in time — perceptions of family life from across the pond
Launching this month, A Matter of Taste: How Artistic Representations of Families Have Been Shaped at The Yale Center for British Art is a new online exhibition exploring the representation of the family structure and family life.
Curated by MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, A Matter of Taste displays paintings, sketches and watercolours that depict the rigidity of social and family life in 18th and 19th century England.
The items within the exhibition have been selected from the Yale Center for British Art, the largest gallery outside of the UK dedicated solely to British art. Items have also been loaned from the Yale University Art Gallery and Tate Britain.
On view within the exhibition is Tea Party by Robert Barnes. Sitting cross-legged on the carpet, a young girl is serving another a cup of tea. Audiences may be drawn to the familiarity of this scene when looking back at their own childhoods.
Upper-class Victorian children were confined to the nursery. Outdoor play was limited and contact with their parents almost non-existent. Because of this, their parents were given the moniker ‘glamourous guests’ and raising ‘accomplished’ young women fell to the Nanny. Pastimes such as the pictured Tea Party were firm favourites as these prepared young girls for life beyond the home by placing formal skills from etiquette to preparing food and drink at the forefront of play.
Two Girls Playing / Tea Party, print made by Robert Barnes, 1840-1895, undated. Yale Center for British Art. Public Domain.
While carrying out research for the exhibition, MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies student Martha Healy-Gardner discovered the writings of Hungarian diarists Ferenc and Theresa Pulszky. Martha said:
“In the 1850s, Ferenc and Theresa Pulszky disapprovingly described American children as ‘having their own way’ and ‘tumbling and dragging about books and cushions and chairs and climbing up and down as they please’. In contrast, the Pulskys admired English children very much deeming them civilised and polite members of society.
“This is likely due to the rigidity of the rules of etiquette in 19th century England. For example, an engaged couple were not permitted to dance together more than two-three times in one evening, as it was seen to have been 'improper’."
Ferenc and Theresa Pulszky were not alone in their views of child etiquette in Britain. Many American parents admired the structure and discipline of family life ‘across the pond’.
Little seems to have changed by the 20th century — Paul Mellon, the founder of the Yale Center for British Art, may have been among these admirers of British family life. He spent time in England as a student at the University of Cambridge and eventually began collecting the art that comprises the bulk of our exhibition, art that depicts the so-called ‘traditional’ 19th century English family.
MA Art Gallery and Museums Studies student, Ashleigh Green, said:
“Selecting works from the Yale Center for British Art has been a fascinating experience. With an overwhelming number of portraits, whether that be single, double or family, there is a sense that ‘people’ and ‘human connections’ are at the forefront of the collection.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘bubbles’ were formed that did not adhere to the traditional family structure: these could be comprised of housemates or friends who live alone. It therefore felt important to seek out alternative depictions of the 19th century family from within the collection and beyond.”
A Matter of Taste: How Artistic Representations of Families Have Been Shaped at The Yale Center for British Art runs to 6 March 2022. It is one of ten online exhibitions curated by MA students from the University of Leeds as part of an ‘Interpretations’ module.
Feature image
George Chinnery, 1774–1852, British, A Family Group Around a Piano, between 1812 and 1815. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.