Just Great

This post is dedicated to Annie Swann, great friend of this blog, whose great Art of Narrative blog has wonderful fanciful images, usually from the great Golden Age of Illustration. Annie is a great fan of great illustration, great faerie art, and through seeing some work on this blog, great Beatrice Stevens art.

In total candor, I found the original monotone state of this drawing a bit flat, though totally beautifully drawn. To me it cried out for some sort of tonal values to give it a bit of depth. So, I gave it a duotone treatment. And if you don't like that, for you purists I've included the original state below that.

This is a total side note, but it's an autobiographical blog, so I'm entitled. Before I was married, I dated a couple of young women, who as I got to know them more, revealed that they liked to color with crayons in coloring books, just for mindless relaxation. I found that to be charming and endearing and I never discouraged those sorts of 'hobbies', even though I had no desire to emulate.

Until now. With digital programs I find myself taking existing line art and having at it with colorizing techniques. I can justify that, I tell myself, thinking that I'm training myself to be a colorist for the comics industry, but in reality it is mindless relaxation.

Beatrice Stevens — The Faeries (modern color) — 1917

I love the individual attention each faerie got from Stevens, but especially the one just to the left of the little girl, emulating her pose. A girl and her dog, with a big book of fantasy in her lap — Annie, that's how I visualize you as a kid.

Beatrice Stevens — The Faeries (original state) — 1917

To Break a Poet's Dream

A very favorite obscure golden age illustrator—Beatrice Stevens.

Beatrice Stevens — Geoffry of Monmouth's Dream — 1906

Four Oaks

The female nude form dominates the history of art and decorative illustration, and apparently the posts of this blog. But there are some seemingly rare examples of using the decorative male nude form, such as this suite of drawings by Beatrice Stevens, from the 1920s—much in the spirit of Franklin Booth.

The drawing suite is entitled Four Oaks, with subtitles referring to the four movements of classical musical compositions—allegro, andante, scherzo, and allegro con brio.

Four Oaks — Allegro

Four Oaks — Andante

Four Oaks — Scherzo

Four Oaks — Allegro con brio

Enchanting

As I keep saying, books for children published in the early 1900s had a special magic, that are still enchanting over 100 years later. This book only had two illustrations in it, but they were pretty special, and it was lovely to have the picture titles on  tissue overlays, as shown below. Haven't heard much of Beatrice Stevens, but hopefully there is more of her work out there somewhere.

Above, frontis with tissue overlay. Below, without.