My last post about Alice in Wonderland has made me realize that part of my appreciation for art as an adult is derived from my love of children's book illustrations as a child.
While searching for Arthur Rackham drawings (he did a wonderful version of Alice), I found many great examples of his work that I loved. Some reminded me a little bit of Mucha, while many reminded me of the free line style used in Klimt and Schiele's drawings and paintings. These artists have made some of my favorite pieces (aside from Mucha, he's a bit too focused on femininity for me).
As a child, my favorite illustrated book was 'Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark'. The stories were not so scary, even for a 6 year old, but the drawings were terrifying!
In my preteen years, my taste in art began to change dramatically. I fell in love with Charles Renee Mackintosh's water color paintings, and more specifically, his design. It was quite a departure from Stephen Gammell's illustrations; as Mackintosh was not fond of chaos. His work was meticulously planned and organized. He designed Glasgow's School of the Arts (which I will be visiting in less than a week!!)
A logical connection; Egon Schiele. His work is an amazing middle ground, as he displays a controlled chaos:
and Klimt, who shares a similar freedom:
And, contemporary artists Jonsi and Alex from Riceboy Sleeps:
Lastly, a strange coincidence:
(photo by Keith Carter)
(photo by Keith Carter)
When I was little, I loved looking at the illustrations in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"...I thought the illustrations were really dark and I felt a little weird looking at them. I can't find the specific one that I was obsessed with, but I believe it was called "Mr. Hyde's fancy" and it almost looked like a disembodied figure. The artists name is Barry Moser, and they are all wood etchings. They're really cool and I'm pretty sure I still haven't returned the book to the library. :X Don't tell your Mom!
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That's amazing! He's great, I had never seen any of his work before! Thank you.
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