Clik here to view.
Whirlpools
This was a surprise. My first thought on seeing the cover for Ethel Archer’s “book of verse”, The Whirlpool, was that its swirling waters were borrowed from Harry Clarke’s typically astonishing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
John Austen’s Hamlet
The 1922 edition of Hamlet “decorated” by British artist John Austen (1886–1948) is a lot more visible today than it was a few years ago, thanks to a reprint by Dover Publications in their Calla...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 184
Gevatter Tod (Godfather Death, 1905) by Heinrich Lefler. Via Beautiful Century. An inevitable hangover from Halloween this week. At 50 Watts: A Modern Dance of Death (c. 1894) by Joseph Sattler, Harry...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RS Sherriffs’ Tamburlaine the Great
I would have posted this by now if it hadn’t been for the recent unpleasantness. Robert Stewart Sherriffs (1906-60) was a Scottish artist who I confess I hadn’t come across before until Nick H...
View ArticleClik here to view.
John Austen’s Little Ape
British illustrator John Austen (1886–1948) illustrated many classic works of fiction throughout the 1920s, one of which, Hamlet, was recently reprinted by Dover Publications. His other work isn’t so...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 245
First English-language edition of Hard to Be a God, 1973. Cover design by Alan Peckolick. A group of scientists is sent to the planet Arkanar to help the local civilization, which is in the Medieval...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Clarke’s Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
After posting John Austen’s Perrault illustrations I intended to follow-up with other versions but work has been non-stop lately so it’s taken most of this month to do so. Harry Clarke’s edition of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
John Yunge-Bateman’s King Lear
When Majesty turns to folly! John Yunge-Bateman (1897–1971), aka “Yunge”, is another British illustrator whose work I’d not noticed until now, possibly because this 1930 edition of King Lear is an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jo Daemen’s The Sacred Flame
Johanna Maria Hendrika Daemen (1891–1944), credited here as “Jo”, wrote and illustrated The Sacred Flame: The Fairy-Tale of Stefan Pártos (1927), a tribute to a Hungarian violinist who died young....
View ArticleClik here to view.
René Gockinga revisited
Presenting another guest post by Sander Bink concerning drawings by Dutch artists from the early decades of the 20th century, several of which show a distinct Beardsley influence. There’s also more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Copying Clarke
“On to the brocken the witches are flocking.” From Faust (1925) by Harry Clarke. Spotted earlier this week, a rather blatant swipe from Harry Clarke’s Faust by an unknown cover artist for the Avon...
View ArticleClik here to view.
After Beardsley by Ryan Cho
One of the posts last week concerned a swipe from Harry Clarke by an unknown illustrator. This Beardsley pastiche came to my attention shortly after the Clarke discovery, not a swipe but a deliberate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Clarke and others in The Studio
The Swing by Alan Odle. The University of Heidelberg has for some time now had several years of British art magazine The Studio in its archive but I’ve yet to delve fully into the later issues. These...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Excuse My Beauty
With perfect timing, considering the illustrational direction of the week, David Siferd was in touch to pass on these drawings by Jesse James Johnson for Goddess, David’s unisex streetwear label. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 332
Suspiria (2012) by Jessica Seamans. • Matthew Sperling on Tom Phillips’ “treated Victorian novel” A Humument, which he calls “a multimedia masterpiece”. Phillips’ sixth and final edition of the book...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Narraciones extraordinarias by Edgar Allan Poe
Berenice. Narraciones extraordinarias was the first commission that arrived from Spanish publisher Editorial Alma earlier this year but it’s the second one to be revealed here. (Copies of the pictures...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 460
Black Hole (1987) by Suzanne Treister. • “Most people who are considered heroes are always to be found messing about in someone else’s affairs, and I don’t think that’s very heroic.” Robert Altman...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 468
“The atom shall work for peace…” Soviet poster promoting the benefits of nuclear power. • RIP Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John Creaux, The Night Tripper. Dan Auerbach remembers the man whose return to funky...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 537
“The dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet.” The Masque of the Red Death illustrated by Harry Clarke, 1919. • 2020 is the year of enormous pink lady faces on book covers, apparently. As...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Clarke: His Graphic Art
In today’s post, the Ur-text of Harry Clarke studies by the late Nicola Gordon Bowe. The book was published by Ireland’s Dolmen Press in 1983, and is difficult to find in fine condition for under £50;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thomas Bodkin on Harry Clarke
Harry Clarke’s work appeared in the pages of The Studio magazine on several occasions, either in review or as here, a subject of a special feature. I linked to a later piece a few years ago but until...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Clarke record covers
Hector Berlioz: Highlights From La Damnation De Faust (1960); Paris Opera Orchestra And Chorus, André Cluytens. Artwork: “I wish you had something else to do than torment me when I’m quiet” from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Clarke online
The Devil’s Wife and her Eldest. A frontispiece for The Golden Hind, July, 1924, a magazine edited by Clifford Bax and Austin Osman Spare. I’ve seen this drawing referred to in print as “Goddem with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
David Britton, 1945–2020
Mister Rock’n’roll, 1969. David Britton, author, artist and publisher, died on 29th December. I wrote this for the Savoy Books news announcement: My closest artistic collaborator from 1989 to 1999,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Squirm: Drew Struzan versus Gustav Klimt
This poster by Drew Struzan turned up in my RSS feed courtesy of 70s Sci-Fi Art. So Struzan did the US poster for Squirm, thought I, …who knew? Wait a minute…are those Klimt figures?! Closer scrutiny...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Byam Shaw’s illustrated Poe
There’s always more Poe. Selected Tales of Mystery was published in 1909, and is one of several illustrated editions produced by British artist Byam Shaw (1872–1919), a painter like Frederick Simpson...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 653
The Snow Queen (1916) by Harry Clarke. • “…blogging remains my favourite format precisely because the writing so rarely feels like labour. Liberated from the need to pitch an idea or wield...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More Harry Clarke online
A while back I put together a list of links to freely-available online copies of Harry Clarke’s illustrated books. The list didn’t have any notable omissions but was unsatisfying if you’re like I am...
View ArticleClik here to view.
02024
The Devil’s Wife and her Eldest (1924) by Harry Clarke. Happy new year. 02024? Read this. L’Inhumaine poster (1924) by Georges Djo-Bourgeois. Counter-Composition V (1924) by Theo van Doesburg. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend links 711
Les Étrangers (1937) by Wolfgang Paalen. • “I was picturing Monty Python’s spoof Pasolini cricket film The Third Test Match, a man frantically rubbing his groin with a cricket ball.” Paul Gallagher...
View Article