Crocheted Art? What exactly do I have here?

I just bought two of these yesterday. They seemed pretty old and I hadn't seen anything quite like them before. There is one other piece of similar style that I did not photograph but don't mind doing so if it would help. So what exactly are they called and how do you go about dating and identifying them? I haven't taken the frame apart yet but I see no indication of an artist, studio, or manufacturer. Thanks!

 

Difficult to see from your (partial) photograph but item appears to be embroidered, not crocheted.

Debora

 

It looks to me to be based on a 19th C illustration from some fashion magazine.

 

Yep embroidered is the right word. Terminology is everything. Going to add a couple pictures to try and help.

 

Not art. Craft. Some woman's handiwork. Do an internet image search for "vintage crinoline lady embroidery" and see what comes up.

Debora

 

Thanks! Noting the vast majority of images that show up aren't painted. Do you think the needlework was done on a pre-painted/stained cloth?

 

Yep. Late 40s/into the 1950s. Craft kits like this were popular. Women would sit by the radio, and later television, and stitch.

 

They look preprinted, with sewn highlights in white here & there. From the quality of the work, I am guessing the sewing was done by quite a young girl learning her stitches. They may have been intended for use in this way, or some ambitious miss decided to embellish the decorations in her room. If more areas had been worked using other types of stitch, I would say it was a sort of sampler. Maybe these were saved & framed as Susan's first sewing by Susan't proud mother or grandmother.

 

My discernment needs some work. Well, maybe someone out there sees value in it. I thought they were kinda cool but I agree, the needlework is definitely... amateur.

 

Certainly looks like some little miss was working without supervision. For future pieces... helpful to know that the best evaluation of needlework quality is done from the back.

Debora

 

Search Godey's lady embroidered. There is one currently listed and two sold.
Godey's was a lady's fashion magazine from the mid 1800's. I think kits were available with these prints perhaps until at least the mid 1900's.
One of the sold items is unframed and signed on the reverse with the name and dated 1944.

 

That sounds about right. Printed cross stitch was popular at about the same time.

 

Thanks Sandra, that's it exactly! I just opened up one of the frames and that particular piece was called "Hiawatha" from Godey's Fashions 1848. I'm not sure what exactly the date means... maybe the date of the magazine from which the picture was taken to make the needlepoint blank? Didn't see any writing on the back as to who may have done it. I'll open the other tonight as well. If anyone is curious I can post another photo. Thanks for all the help!

Edit: Never mind. "Hiawatha" must have been a needlepoint company. The other said the same thing.

 

You are on the right track to assume "the date of the magazine from which...". I don't know how long these pre-printed canvases were available, we can't even assume 1944, as the one with that date may have been given to a young girl by a grandma, who just never got around to working on the kit.
This is just my opinion, but if I had a choice between yours and a perfectly executed example, and the investment wasn't great, I would choose yours for the naive charm of it and the images it conjures of a young girl (or boy) learning their stitches with grandma's guidance.

 

An Internet search for 'hiawatha embroidery (or needlepoint) kit' produces a ton of results.

Wiki does not mention the Hiawatha Company but does give a general discussion of how the canvases were made:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needlepoint#Patterns

 

I agree... Leslie