List of Extant Examples of Artistic Dress
Contemporary literature makes reference to well over a thousand Artistic Dresses and dress designs. The bulk of those that survive are works by Mariano Fortuny, most likely because his Delphos gown became popular after the heyday of Artistic Dress and maintained the air of timelessness that so many designers sought. For a partial list of Fortuny garments in public collections, see Guillermo de Osma, Mariano Fortun:His Life and Work, Rizzoli: New York, 1980.
I have found only forty-one extant Artistic Dresses and fragments thereof by artists other than Fortuny. Because Artistic Dress is a relatively unknown and thus underpublished topic, there are most likely more surviving examples. As the topic becomes better known, I suspect that more Artistic Dresses will surface and appreciate any help identifying more examples. Please contact me if you can provide information on other extant Artistic Dresses.
Marie Elisabeth Beijers-de Graaf, Winter Dress, c. 1904-05. The Hague, Gemeente-museum.
Walter Crane, Aesthetic Dress worn by Girlie Sandys later Lionel Crane, 1910. Canary yellow ponge silk with metallic embroidery, Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe.
Rosa Genoni, Society Dress, 1902. Florence, Palazzo Pitti.
Herman Kloppers, Dress with tunic, 1914. The Hague, Gemeente-museum.
Jessie King, Green Coat. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Gustav Klimt, Artist’s Smock. Vienna, Historisches Museums der Stadt.
Thérèse Lessore, , Dress of embroidered linen, 1905, Manchester, the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester.
Anne MacBeth (attribution), Brown Velvet Collar. Glasgow School of Art.
Anne MacBeth (attribution), Green Silk belt or stole. Glasgow School of Art.
Anne MacBeth (attribution), Brown Velvet Embroidered Cuff. Glasgow School of Art.
Anne MacBeth (attribution), Orange Velvet Collar. Glasgow School of Art.
Daisy McGlashan, Green Linen Dress, c. 1910, Glasgow School of Art.
Christine McLaren, Unfinished Dark Blue Collar Yoke. Collection of Margaret C. Scott.
Grace Melvin, Black Velvet with Rabbit fur Collar. Glasgow School of Art.
Grace Melvin, Unbleached calico Collar Yoke. Glasgow School of Art. (An image of this collar was published in Educational Needlecraft and Needlecraft in School.)
Koloman Moser, Dress for his sister Leopoldine, Vienna, Historisches Museums der Stadt.
Koloman Moser, Gown for his Mother. Vienna, Historisches Museums der Stadt.
Koloman Moser, Society dress designed for his wife, c. 1905. Vienna, Historisches Museu.m der Stadt.
Jessie Newbery, Collar and Belt, c.1900. Victoria and Albert Museum. (Also reproduced in Anna Muthesius, “Das Frauenkleid in England,” Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 1905.)
Jessie Newbery, Belt. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Red Velvet Collar. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Gray Velvet Belt. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Fawn Silk Belt. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Dark Blue Velvet Belt. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Dark Blue Velvet Collar Yoke. Collection of Mrs. M. N. Sturrock.
Jessie Newbery, Dark Blue Velvet Cuff. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Tunic Dress. National Museums of Scotland.
Jessie Newbery, Pale Green Linen Collar. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Blue Velvet Collar. Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery.
Jessie Newbery, Maternity Dress for Lady Mary Murray. Platt Hall, Manchester City Gallery 1952.233.
Richard Riemerschmid, Theatre dress of raspberry voile, white silk, and silk and cotton embroidery floss designed for his wife, executed by C.M. Rosipal, 1901. Munich, Stadtmuseum. (Sketches of the design are available at Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and a Nymphenberger Porcelain doll produced as a series of dolls of prominent in Munich Society women for the 1908 Munchner Kunstverin exhibition wears a replica of the dress. The doll is in the collection of the Stadtmuseum, Munich.)
Paul Schultze-Naumburg, Bridal Gown, 1902. Vienna, Historisches Museum der Stadt. (A photograph of this dress appeared in Dekorative Kunst 77, I, 1903.)
So-called “Pre-Raphaelite Dress,” Metallic embroidery over crème crepe de chine with golden chiffon, Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe.
Henry van de Velde, Collar and Hemline Decoration from a Dress designed for Maria van de Velde while she resided in Uccle, 1896-1898. Brown velvet with brown, yellow, and light green soutache, Zurich, Museum für Gestaltung.
Henry van de Velde, Cuffs from a Dress designed for Maria van de Velde while she resided in Uccle, 1896-1898. Tan silk fabric with beige-coloured chenille appliqué stiched with salmon-colored silk and on beige-coloured taffeta silk, Zurich, Museum für Gestaltung.
Henry van de Velde, Artistic Hemline, 1896-1898. Light yellow silk fabric with pink silk appliqué applied with salmon-colored silk -colored silk and on beige-coloured taffeta silk, Zurich, Museum für Gestaltung.
Henry van de Velde, Cuffs and Neckline from a Dress designed for Maria van de Velde while she resided in Uccle, 1896-1898. Tan and brown soutache on black velvet. Zurich, Bellerive Museum. These appear to be the decorated elements from the housedress that appears in Maria van de Velde, Album moderner, nach Künstler-Entwerfen ausgeührter Damenkleider, 1900.
Henry van de Velde, Collar for a Dress, 1896-1898. Salmon, pink, and grey-green soutache over dark velvet, Bellerive Museum, Zurich.
Henry van de Velde, Ornaments for a Dress, n.d. Golden-colored soutache over tan velvet, Bellerive Museum, Zurich.
Erika Veil-Neander, Society dress shown in the 1912 Bayerischen Landesgewerbeschau, Munich, Stadtmuseum. (The museum dates the dress to 1911, but a photograph of the dress was printed in the January 1909 issue of Die Neue Frauenkleidung. The caption beneath the dress links it to the Munich 1908 exhibition.)
Atelier Geschwester Waldschläger, Jugendstilkleid/Festkleid for Gertrud Kroppenberg, worn at Ülzener Club Winterfest-Kostumeball, 1900. Cologne, Museum für Angewandte Kunst.
Agathe Wegerif (?), Batiked velvet dicky, c. 1901-04. The Hague, Gemeente-museum.**Public collections also house at least three recreations of van de Velde’s Artistic Dresses. Two are at the Deutsches Textilmuseum. They were made in the 1980s for the Westdeutsches Impuls exhibition held at Krefeld’s Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in 1984. The colors of these not the original. There is also a copy of a van de Velde gown at the Musée des arts decoratifs, Ghent.