Form versus Fashion
About this artwork
This watercolour by Gourlay Steell is also known as ‘A satire on modern dress with the ghost of Galatea reacting in horror’. It shows two women in nineteenth-century dress, looking at fashion advertisements and dressmakers’ windows. From around 1840 until the end of the century, women’s fashion was dominated by the restrictive corset that reduced the waist to a tiny size and made it impossible to slump. The fullness of the skirt was achieved either by adding layers of material or by a steel framework underneath the skirt. Although elegant, these styles were neither comfortable nor easy to wear. In Steell’s drawing, the perfectly proportioned Galatea – who according to Greek mythology embodies the male ideal of female beauty – is dressed in rather more comfortable classical attire.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Gourlay Steell (1819 - 1894) Scottish
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title:Form versus Fashion
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date created:1885
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materials:Pencil and watercolour on paper
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measurements:35.40 x 25.40 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Transferred to the Permanent Collection 1984
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accession number:PG 2629
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gallery:
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subject:
Gourlay Steell
Gourlay Steell
The son of a well-known wood carver, John Steell, Gourlay was an extremely successful animal painter. Born in Edinburgh, he began his artistic studies under the guidance of his father, before continuing under William Allan at the school of the Board of Manufactures and then in the studio of Robert...