Thursday, June 30, 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Mahlon Blaine ... illustrator... Nova Venus

from another favourite illustrator, a few images from the stunning illustrated poem Nova Venus...



INFINITELY GRACIOUS, radiantly beautiful,
Aphrodite rose from the foam. 
All life loved and laughed, and begot new life in tender play....
 



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In 1923 Mahlon Blaine burst upon the art scene with striking works of imagination and vision. Within a short time his work was published in everything ranging from children's books and mainstream magazines to erotic portfolios. The body of work he produced between 1926 and 1930 was nothing short of phenomenal but after 1931 his output became increasingly sporadic. Sadly like so many artists before him who have given us so much, Blaine died penniless and mostly forgotten in January of 1969.

 More wonders >  HERE and HERE





Ex libris... Arpadvon Ratsay 1925...



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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Prospero Fontana (1512–1597) ... Symbolic Questions... 1574





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Prospero Fontana's designs are often obscure in their iconography, their significance as reflections of quattrocento symbols and hieroglyphics have been analysed by Edgar Wind in several sections of Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance. These striking illustrations have been shown to have influenced Blake and Samuel Palmer after two centuries of neglect.


Achille Bocchi's Symbolicarum Quaestionum, the full book of wonders
with more of Fontanas illustrations  here





R Delvaux...etching...1800's



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Saturday, June 4, 2011

W Blecher... print ...1967



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The Albatross

Often, to amuse themselves, the men of the crew
Catch those great birds of the seas, the albatrosses,
lazy companions of the voyage, who follow
The ship that slips through bitter gulfs.

Hardly have they put them on the deck,
Than these kings of the skies, awkward and ashamed,
Piteously let their great white wings
Draggle like oars beside them.

This winged traveler, how weak he becomes and slack!
He who of late was so beautiful, how comical and ugly!
Someone teases his beak with a branding iron,
Another mimics, limping, the crippled flyer!

The Poet is like the prince of the clouds,
Haunting the tempest and laughing at the archer;
Exiled on earth amongst the shouting people,
His giant's wings hinder him from walking.
 
Flowers of Evil - Charles Baudelaire 1857