Armorial Achievement: “Degenerante Genus Opprobrium,” from the series, Examples of Illumination and Heraldry, Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington State

Date1934 or 1935

Maker Theodora Harrison born Ireland, 1890; died Dublin, 1969. Active in Seattle, Washington, 1929-1951

Label TextThese exquisite illuminations are replicas of famous illuminated manuscript all created by Seattle artist Theodora Lawrenson Harrison, who was internationally renowned as both a scholar of medieval manuscript illumination and a master illuminator herself. The Irish-born Harrison was an eminent figure in Northwest Art, a president of Women Painters of Washington, and a founder of the art gallery at Frederick and Nelson department store. But she was also internationally renowned as an illuminator and creator of armorial design. Commissions came from such high places as the royal offices of Britain’s King George VI. Harrison was commissioned to create the Seattle Art Museum coat of arms in 1934. These were presented to SAM by the Federal Public Works of Art Project in 1934 or 1935. Subsidizing Harrison’s study and documentation of medieval manuscript illumination is the kind of work that the P.W.A.P. particularly valued—this effort is akin to the studies of artistic traditions that other renderers recorded for posterity as part of the P.W.A.P.’s monumental Index of American Design.

Object number2013.6.1

ProvenancePresented by Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington State, 1934 or 1935

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistoryBrooklyn, New York, Grant Galleries, [Women painters of Washington exhibition], November 1936 (Staten Island, New York, Staten Island Museum of Science and Art, April 1937). No catalogue. New York, Rockefeller Center, solo show within British Empire Exhibition, March 8-[22], 1937. No catalogue. Forgotten Stories: Northwest Public Art of the 1930s, February 22 – October 18, 2020, (did not travel to Willamette, Oregon, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette College, November 21, 2020 – March 28, 2021) Published References{New York Sun, November 1936 [review of Women Painters of Washington exhibition at Grant Galleries, Brooklyn]}. “Walk a Little Faster” column, Seattle Times, December 20, 1936: p. 26 [quotes New York Sun review of Women Painters of Washington exhibition]. “Walk a Little Faster” column, Seattle Times, March 7, 1937: p. 43 [announcement of “one-man” show of illuminations at Rockefeller Center].

Credit LineFederal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington State

Dimensionssheet size: 15 x 19 15/16 in. (38.1 x 50.6 cm) mount: 19 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 3/8 in. (49.5 x 59.7 x 1 cm)

MediumInk and watercolor on heavy weight light gray wove paper