Laurence Housman, the illustrator

Among many of those whose illustrations grace these "pages", a good number of them at one point or another have taken up the the pen for words, as well as picture. Howard Pyle practiced both with great expertise. On the other side of the pond, one inker who has caught my attention more than once is Lawrence Housman. (1865-1959)

Housman is better remembered today for his writing, it occupied the latter two thirds of his working life. He began writing with poetry in the 1890s, and then literary tales, and plays. As for his art, his inking style was incredibly intricate, and by the time he was in his mid-thirties, his eyesight had begun to fail, and with that he turned more to writing.

For about a decade, 1890-1900, he did some very beautiful line work. His style had an organic kind of flow- it reminds me of the kinds of pattern and warp you might find in wood grain, or the foam on the water. It is this natural kind of texturing that really make his work distinct. The pieces and the tales he worked with were often fantastic, with a bit of the supernatural. In the latter half of that decade, Housman did some books that, like Pyle, he wrote and illustrated. I am not aware of any illustration work that Housman did in color, but if you know of some, please let us know.

If there is work of Housman's that you are familiar with, it is likely the work from Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market. Originally published in 1893, it has been reprinted frequently and has been in print until just recently. Housman's edition is full of illustrations and decorations, and has become the definitive illustrated version of the poem. The first two images are from his Goblin Market. If there is a piece of writing of Housman's out there that you are familiar with, it may very well be his version of the Arabian Nights, a version which is frequently used for any modern reprint. Originally, it was the edition that introduced us to the Arabian Nights illustrations of Edmund Dulac.

Other images here are from Jonas Lie's Weird Tales of Northern Seas- 1892, Scandinavian folk tales

Jane Barlow's The End of Elfintown, 1894

and
The Field of Clover, 1898, one of the four collections of literary fairy tales that he wrote.

Get Your Little People in Line

This week I have a new book that hit the Dover Site. This is a CD-ROM and Book collection; called Imps, Elves, Fairies and Goblins. For those of you unfamiliar with what exactly this is, I'll give you a short explanation—Dover publishes hundreds of books, that have an accompanying CD in the inside back cover. These "CD-ROM- Books" contain royalty-free images, everything from vintage fruit crate labels, to Victorian fashion photography, to, well, Imps, Elves, Fairies and Goblins. An average disc might contain 200 or more images, for use on whatever you can think of. The book gives you easy reference, and the disc gives you the convenience of having a digital file without having to scan the clip-art. Most of the work in this line of books comes from the public-domain, meaning that original copyrights have expired, leaving these images free to whoever wants to reproduce them.

The V I E W interest in this title is that the images in Imps, Elves, Fairies and Goblins are all from books from as early as Daniel Maclise's pieces, probably from the 1850's, and on through children's stories, folk, and fairy tales for the next half century and then some. This collection is all black and white line work, but there are some great drawings and characterizations here that may lead you elsewhere. Here are a few of my favorites:

Reginald (1879-1950)and Horace Knowles- from their edition of Norse Fairy Tales, 1910
H. J. Ford (1860-1940) -He did so much terrific line work—this scene is jammed with great characters—that goblin on the turtle looks as if it could have come straight from a modern fantasy role-playing book—
Walter Crane (1845-1915)-The animation of these figures and the clever design of this chapter head are a real statement to the depth this artist had to offer, far different from the often static scenes he is known for. From his adaptation of Grimm.
Laurence Housman, (1865-1959)— I cannot put my finger on what makes this guys work so compelling- something about the flow of his compositions—really outstanding stuff. It has been documented that he gave up illustration due to failing eyesight, understandable when you study his line work... These works are from his rendition of Rossetti's Goblin Market, which Dover published for years, though sadly, no more.

.....
In illustration today-
I wanted to comment that though I look deep into illustration's past here, I am an active and practicing illustrator currently— and thought I would share this with others of similar situation-
longtime friend and fellow illustrator Jeremy McHugh and his buddies at http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/ have put together an informative and entertaining podcast on the trials and tribulations of the profession today- with special regard to the fantasy and sci-fi markets, they cover everything from references to techniques; dealing with contracts, and book reviews. It has become weekly listening both in studio and on occaisional commutes.

See ya next week. Jeff