THE THREE SISTERS BATHED IN MOONLIGHT- Framed

Original White Gold Cyanotype. Cyanotype, cotton rag handmade paper, 6-carat white gold

Handmade recycled cotton rag paper:
320gsm / 100% Cotton Rag / Recycled / Acid Free / Medium Rough

Inspiration
This artwork was inspired by the beloved Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Together they took literary conventions of the Victorian period and radically reshaped them, pushing back at the limits of the world. These subversive sisters' stories transcend their time and still resonate with modern audiences of all ages. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were sisters of great literary skill whose works have become well-loved classics. Their insightful novels explore the intricacy of human nature and the effect one person can have on others. They showed readers both the light and the dark present in human nature. They explore the balance needed through their characters, allowing readers to learn about their own nature through the experience of others, encompassing some of the most
exquisite examples of the beauty, strength, wonder and depth of the human spirit.

The symbolism of the piece explained:
1.The Three Figures-
The three figures represent the sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne- all interlinked, arms connecting their bodies, showing their close sisterly bond. Their lives were so intertwined, acknowledged as literary geniuses, were close in age and with few exceptions, preferred one another's company above anyone else's. Against a backdrop of incredible personal tragedy, three modest, Victorian women from Yorkshire would forever change the face of English literature. Their backs and faces are turned away from the viewer conveying their shyness, they are deep in thought and connected in their shared secrets of their earlier incognito author selves (penning their work using male pseudonyms) and their shared sibling secrets of their childhood invented, imaginary worlds.
2. The dual face in the centre symbolises a number of things-
It represents their mother Maria and their two older sisters (unknown to most people as they died so young). It also represents their use of male pseudonyms. Tragedy started early for the Brontës. In 1821, when Charlotte was five, Emily was three and Anne was not yet two, the deaths of first their mother, and then of their two older sisters marked them profoundly and influenced their writing, as did the relative isolation in which they were raised. The grieving children developed a close bond, "The sisters were all very close indeed,
because their interests were so similar and they were all so pathologically shy, creating imaginative play, in which they would escape into fantastical lands. The Brontës encompass some of the most exquisite examples of the beauty, strength, wonder and depth of the human spirit. The dual face also symbolises their achievements as female literary agents in a male dominated society. They were among a number of pivotal female writers, whose persistence in the face of prejudice contributed to "the age of female novelists". The Brontës' writings can be seen as early feminist works, with heroines struggling for independence in a patriarchal society. The Brontës burst onto the literary scene using masculine pseudonyms, like many contemporary female writers of the time, they were forced to use male pen names in order to be published. They used the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, each keeping their initial from their first names and using the surname Bell to ensure their privacy and to eschew celebrity.The pseudonyms served them well as the storm of Victorian outrage shook the country over the 'Bell Brothers' novels. The Brontës wrote as men because their novels examined subject matter which was "unfeminine" for their early Victorian readers: sexual passion, slang, alcoholism, domestic abuse and violence. This raises important questions about how we read and value women's writing and authorship.
3.The circular marbled earth like structure behind the sisters-
Symbolises again their unbreakable bond, a complete life cycle. Made up of antique microscopic slides of TB cell structures combined with hand printed photograms of moss, this directly links their family home and upbringing on the Yorkshire Moors and their untimely
deaths. They were together in life and also in death- all sisters died of the same disease- TB. Tuberculosis, which afflicted Maria and Elizabeth (their two lesser known older sisters) in 1825, was the eventual cause of death of three of the surviving Brontës: Branwell in September 1848, Emily in December 1848, and finally, Anne five months later in May 1849. Charlotte (who managed to last until 1855 when she too succumbed to tuberculosis). Moss from the moors- Their home was Haworth Parsonage, standing at the high point of the
village looking out over the vast swathes of dramatic moorland. Exposed to the elements on it's hilltop setting, bitter wind would howl and whistle through its grey stone walls. Despite its bleak nature, the Brontes adored their home and would become physically unwell with homesickness when they went away.

Technique
The Three Sisters Bathed In Moonlight was created by constructing a hand-cut collage of female photographic portraiture and photograms from an antique microscopic slide of TB cells and moss from the Yorkshire Moors, combined with surface textures of chemigrams. After coating the handmade paper with light-sensitive chemistry, it is left to dry in a dark room. The large-scale negative is contact printed onto the paper by exposure to daylight (UV rays). The print is then processed by thoroughly washing in water to remove any unexposed solution. It can then be hung to dry, developing to full density Prussian blue after 24 hours before hand finishing
with 6-carat white gold leaf.

Signed by the Artist.

'Own Art' Option Available - Contact the gallery for further information.