COVE

The Birmingham School of Art, England's first Municipal School of Art, opened in 1885 in a Victorian Gothic building designed by John Henry Chamberlain.  Under the guidance of founding Director of Edward R. Taylor, it became an important site of Arts and Crafts design.

Celia Levetus
The Cinder Youth
Pen and ink, around 1896

In this pen and ink study for Turkish Fairy Tales, Levetus demonstrates her adept use of 'saturated' black. While the flattened space recalls the Pre-Raphaelites, Levetus has also been influenced by the 'Aesthetic' and 'Decadent' movements, particularly the stark, dramatic use of black in Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations.

Poems by Edward Levetus, illustrations by Celia Levetus

Verse Fancies

(Chapman & Hall, 1899)

This collection was created by the brother and sister duo, Edward and Celia Levetus.  ‘Love in Ambush’ depicts a typically English scene, with luscious rose bushes and dense foliage in the background.  The peacock adds a contemporary twist – peacocks often appear in the work of ‘Aesthetic’ artists such as Aubrey Beardsley. 

Andrew White Tuer

History of the Horn-Book, Volume II

(Leadenhall Press, 1897)

This richly illustrated volume contains a space for storing ‘horn books’.  These educational tools had been used to teach reading from mediaeval times. The striking purple ‘battledore’ horn book, embossed in gold on its highly-coloured back, features a comical poem bordering the main content. The illustrators include Birmingham School artists Georgie Cave France (later Gaskin), C. M. Gere and Celia Levetus, whose image ‘Taskmistress’ won an award.

William Blake, with designs by Celia Levetus

Songs of Experience

(Nutt, 1902)

In contrast to her work in Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence’, here Levetus introduces a more unsettling and menacing undertone, echoing the uneasiness in the poems (first published in 1794).  Bare, spindly branches wrap around the image, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere.  The snake, a symbol of Satan, looms threateningly on the left, while the winged woman to the right seems to be protecting the two frightened children at her feet.