Fine Lines and Solid Blacks, Vol. V

It has come to my attention that sometimes in discussing the more interesting facets of an illustrator, some of the "basics" can be overlooked. Take Harry Clarke (1890-1931) for example. Harry Clarke is one of my favorites of the period. Over the past few years there has been a VIEW post on some really hard-to-find Clarke works, and he was mentioned again in reference to a collected work, more recently. To not offer a look at why I think he's worth some more study, is just, well, wrong. So let's fix that.

In the small amount of time that Clarke had to share his genius with the world, he managed to explore a few creative avenues. Stained glass design may be what he applied most of his time and talent to, and in his native Ireland there still exist many examples of his fine glass work. I found Harry Clarke while in my teens, during an after-Christmas book sale, when a reprint of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination came into my possession. Like many designer/illustrators of the Golden Age, Clarke had the opportunity to do a number of gift books, his were from 1915-1925. The Poe volume is his best known, and easiest to obtain a reprint of. (It was one of the first selected for the Calla reprint program, as well) Clarke's others are not as easy to find, though a reprint of his Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault will be available this Fall. Another of Clarke's prizes is his Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. All of the works shown here come from that volume. I'm looking at Clarke in a Fine Lines and Solid Blacks segment because I think his ink work is exceptional in his use of pattern and understanding of value—value here meaning the transition(s) between blacks, grays, and whites, and how their relative placement on the picture plane affects the composition. A viewer can observe these images at a glance, or choose to dig deeper and deeper into them, where a single plate can tell its own story. Clarke's color illustration doesn't present with the same intensity through simplicity—black and white—and loses something in the printing, according to some who have seen his originals.


There has been a kind of scholarly-reawakening in regards to Clarke in the last five years, but it does look to his glass work primarily.

You can keep up with that here—
and as mentioned in that earlier VIEW blog, here's the link to Jim Vadeboncouer's page on Clarke.


Back shortly. Jeff

Fine Lines and Solid black, Vol. IV, A History Lesson

Bump in the road, but I'm here now.

A few things on the list, but it's been quite a while since I posted a Fine Lines, so I'm going to go there today. It's also good because a Dover book I've been waiting for (to mention here) is now available, so should you thirst for more, 'tis but a few clicks away.

Last Fall when I was putting together a syllabus for my History of Animation and Illustration class, I came to an area for required reading. All of the books I'd like to require for such a class, are out of print. I recommended a few, but I couldn't require any. But next Fall, I have one for the list.

500 Years of Illustration: From Albrecht Durer to Rockwell Kent, by Howard Simon. Originally published in 1942 (That's important, because when Simon speaks of modern work, he's talking about the late '30s and early '40's.)

A tome full of great line art and graphics, this lengthy history starts with Albrecht Durer's woodcut prints, hits William Hogarth, William Blake, and mid-nineteenth century masters, meanders through Victorian era early-illustrators, and wraps up with an international tour of some of the best line illustrators from the early 20th century. If you like your illustration art with a more graphic quality—where it's about the drawing—this is your book.

While it contains no color, the drawings and prints it contains (over 400!) and the range of the artists that it samples—make it a great add to the shelf, both as reference and for inspiration. Some of the pieces and styles to get lost in—character designs by W. Heath Robinson, up top, followed by Walter Crane designing pages for William Morris, Edmund J. Sullivan's image from
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam... the source of all of
those Grateful Dead stickers.  Harry Clarke,
fantastically creepy as always, and Franklin Booth,
getting more value out of ink line than anyone else.
Cover image is by Aubrey Beardsley.

Some scarce Harry Clarke

If the name Harry Clarke (1890-1931) triggers any visual memories for you, it is likely that the images are a bit on the disturbing side. While Clarke did a number of projects in his short career that are worth recalling, there is one that stands head and shoulders among the rest. Clarke did an amazing illustrated edition of Tales of Mystery and Imagination, by Edgar Allan Poe, in 1919. It sold so well that the original publisher released an expanded edition with even more art by Clarke just a few years later. (The top image is from this second run at Poe) It has become the measuring stick against which all other illustrated versions of Poe are measured. It is also Clarke's biggest claim to fame. Not that he didn't do other great work. His primary interest in his creative career was stained glass design, and his work is greatly prized by many locations in his native Ireland where it can still be found today. One look at the large flat areas in his ink work will lead an educated viewer to an understanding of why.

The work of Clarke's that remains largely accessible, however, is his book illustration. Clarke also did a Faust, a Hans Christian Andersen's Tales, and a Fairy Tales of Perrault. Most of these are scarce at best, with only his Poe seeing a reprint edition now and again. Unless you happen to live in the United Kingdom, it is pretty unlikely that you have seen any of his glass design. (*see below) Then I found this article—In a 1920 edition of The Studio—Not a very large text, but it did offer a look at three color panels of Clarke's glass work. The color is not great, but I can't pass up a chance to share these-The third and fourth images are from smaller, private glass commissions, and the last is a line drawing from The Playboy of the Western World. (Very last being a close up of the figures on top—just look at that patterning!) The oval piece is especially nice. Alas, like Poe himself, (and eerily, so many other brilliant creatives) Clarke would not live long into his 40's, dying of tuberculosis in 1931.

Find a bit more here-
http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/clarke.htm

The only authoritative work on Clarke-
http://www.irishacademicusa.com/acatalog/info_IAP025.html

* And keep an eye on this!-
http://www.harryclarke.net/glass/

Back soon-

Jeff