Bucolics in Pamphylia

Each text page of The Songs of Bilitis is a self-contained prose poem, ostensibly written by this ancient lass. To me they are touching, with simple profundity, evoking a heady reverie of the senses. Ultimately the nature of the book is lesbian in tone, but to me, sexuality aside, they are the musings of a sensitive and interesting person.

Pogany's header illustrations sometimes repeat themselves throughout the book, but they too are sensitive and profound. Amazing that two men constructed a work that is so positive in its classical feminine tone. I'm not going to show every poem, but over the next few posts, I will show a goodly number of ones that resonate with me, as well as the full pages of art by Pogany.

Enjoy the text as much as the images.

Living the Life Pastoral

Classical Greek mythology can be viewed from at least two angles. One that we are most accustomed to is from the viewpoint of the gods — the myth stories and fables. The other viewpoint is from the average person of ancient times, believing in, but not being witness to the great events of deities and spirits.

Living the life pastoral.

One of my favorite books ever, evokes the sensuality of those times. It is beautifully written, and beautifully illustrated. It is The Songs of Bilitis, by Pierre Louÿs, illustrated by Willy Pogany.

These scans are from a very limited artist's edition, printed in 1926, slightly different from the subscription limited edition.

Wikipedia describes the book thusly:

The Songs of Bilitis /bɪ’li:tis/ (Les Chansons de Bilitis; Paris, 1894) is a collection of erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925).

The book's sensual poems are in the manner of Sappho; the introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis, a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho, to whose 'life' Louÿs dedicated a small section of his book. On publication, the volume deceived even the most expert of scholars. Though the poems were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself, they are still considered important literature.

Louÿs claimed the 143 prose poems, excluding 3 epitaphs, were entirely the work of this ancient poet—a place where she poured both her most intimate thoughts and most public actions, from childhood innocence in Pamphylia to the loneliness and chagrin of her later years. Although for the most part The Songs of Bilitis is original work, many of the poems in the collection were reworked epigrams from the Palatine Anthology, and Louÿs even borrowed some verses from Sappho herself. The poems themselves are a blend of mellow sensuality and polished style in the manner of the Parnassian school, but underneath run subtle Gallic undertones which Louÿs could never escape. To give authenticity to the forgery, Louÿs listed some poems as "untranslated" in the index; he even craftily fabricated an entire section of his book called "The Life of Bilitis", crediting a certain fictional archaeologist Herr G. Heim ("Lord S. Ecret") as the discoverer of Bilitis' tomb. And though Louÿs displayed great knowledge of ancient Greek culture, ranging from children's games in "Tortie Tortue" to application of scents in "Perfumes", the poems were eventually exposed as a literary fraud. This did little to taint their literary value in the eyes of the readers, however, and Louÿs' open and sympathetic celebration of lesbian sexuality earned him sensation and historic significance.

endpapers

Signature is on a different paper stock—bound as a leaf

The book's main paper stock is a sensuous heavy vellum

Mars and Venus

One more mythological image for today, this a study of Mars and Venus by the sensualist artist Sir William Russell Flint.

A Mythological Gathering

Donn P. Crane

Paris in the Springtime

Ah, what I wouldn't give to be in the woodland wilds of Mt. Ida . . .

Princess Europa

A graceful depiction of Europa being carried away by Zeus, the original bully, so to speak.

Jason in Search of the Golden Fleece

Man, if it isn't one thing, it's something else, isn't it?

Theseus Deserts Ariadne

Quite a complex and mature theme for a children's text book. This from the 1930s.

Pandora

Now you know who to blame, that little bitch.

Over the Rainbow

Let's come back to Hercules for a nonce. He done did his labors and he be a free man.

In just a few square inches, the artist has been able to distill part of the huge notion below.

"Thereafter, Hercules, now at last his own master, wandered over the earth ridding the world of many a monstrous evil and doing mighty deeds for the good of all mankind. When the end of his earth journey came, he laid himself down on a funeral pyre and bade men set it aflame. Bright purifying flames sprang leaping up about him. All that could ever die they burned away.

Then the real Hercules, the immortal Hercules came out from the fire all shining and glorious. A rainbow appeared in the sky. Lo! It was Iris' bridge that led from earth to heaven. A moment after the clouds broke away; Iris in all her shimmering colors appeared and Mercury with his winged shoes. Over the rainbow bridge they led the immortal Hercules, as the maid of his dream had promised, to Mt. Olympus itself, there to live forever among the gods with all who are truly heroes."

Phaethon

In the spirit of Fantasia, let's keep looking at some mythological images created back in the golden age of illustration.

Donn Crane — The Story of Phaethon

Heracles

A. F. Gorguet — Heracles and the Hydra — 1920

Heracles, Hercules to the Romans, was the greatest of all the Greek heroes. Overcoming this nine-headed serpent was one of his epic twelve labors. Ah, but this labor didn't count, cuz he had help from his nephew. Being a hero is a lonely job.

Mythological Themes

I've got more great Fantasia stuff coming up and I promise I'll come back to it. But the art deco quality of the conceptual art has inspired me to cast around the collection to pull out other classic sources of mythological imagery.

Georges Barbier, one of my top favorite Art Deco illustrators, is identified primarily with fashion of the 1920s. But my top favorite images of his relate to ancient and mythological themes.

Georges Barbier — Phaedra and Hippolytus

Elysian Waters

Spirit of the Waterfall

Fantasia concept of the spirit of the waterfall.

Idyllic

Idyllic art for idyllic concepts.

Crazy Idea

This is a beautiful book I just saw up for bid over at Heritage Auctions, published in 1940. I'm sure it's entirely wishful thinking on my part, but I have this crazy idea that the cover could maybe have been illustrated by . . . wait for it . . . Walt Kelly.

It's just the kind of parade of characters he would do; he worked on Fantasia, the film, especially that roly-poly god of the grape there in the middle; the cherubs and fauns are somewhat of his style—and what isn't in his style (such as the Fred Moore centaurette) may just have been his emulating the rest of the film's characters; and Kelly has made mention that he was an illustrator-for-hire before doing comic books. It was published by Simon and Shuster, Kelly's publisher for all his "three foot shelf of books".

Aaa, if you know differently, please let me know. It's really a nice cover, isn't it?

Fauntasia

Speaking of fauns and lyrebirds, a Fantasia concept drawing:

Fantasia Long Shot

A Fantasia concept long shot for panning, from grotto to far meadows and beyond. All these lovely ladies are "centaurettes". The lyre birds are lovely too.

If I can't live in this mythological world, I can certainly see it in my imagination.

Reminiscent

Fantasia concept drawing of water nixies, looking very reminiscent of a Waterhouse painting.

A Place Spirit

Fantasia Fauns and Nixies

Fauns are place spirits of untamed woodland and Nixies are the feminine spirits of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.

Mystery and Decadence

Fantasia's pastoral conceptual artists developed a sense of mythological mystery and beauty and decadence that was scrubbed clean in production. I understand somewhat, because of the times and the intended audience, that caution had to be exercised. But still, to think of what might have been created in some alternate universe where maturity of theme is tolerated and appreciated by the masses.

Mythology to Muse Upon

This is one of my favorite concept production sketches of all time. This is mythology to muse upon. This is the world I want to be in. This is Fantasia as it could have been.

Spirit of the Mountain Waterfall

Let's Dive Right In

I'm just gonna dive right in (so to speak), with no particular order, to pull up some of the pre-production art for various segments of Disney's Fantasia that I find amazing and inspirational.

The Pastoral Symphony sequence, based on Beethoven's masterpiece, was/is my favorite. With its mythological subjects and locale, its a time and a land I would like to visit—but even more so if the film had been more loyal to the prep drawings such as the one above.

Fantasia

When I was a young collector of images (yes, before Tumblr, before the internet, even before computers [can you imagine such a time]), I would come across various stills from Disney's 1940 Fantasia and I would be mesmerized, haunted by the desire to see this film. Remember too, this was before DVDs or even videos, I mean this was the stone age.

Then it was re-released in '69, and when I first saw it in the big theater by myself, I was electrified by the uniqueness of its concepts. I enjoyed it so much I went back half a dozen more times, each time taking a different date, gauging how much I liked the girl by how much she liked the film. The last segment, the Ave Maria scene, always put me to sleep. But so much of the rest was watchable again and again.

Now, years later, I have the DVD and have watched it a couple of times and have seen the flaws and it's all grown a bit stale. But now we all have access to so much of the pre-production material, and how exciting that stuff is. If only the film had followed the concept artists' visions more closely, it would have been an immortal masterpiece, instead of a dated so-so masterpiece.

But STILL. What an accomplishment for that day and age.

The Pastoral Symphony sequence caught my fancy over all the others, and the pre-production art is fascinating. Over the next number of posts I'm going to show some of those, one at a time, as they have been a source of inspiration for me, and may be for some of you who have not yet seen them.

Fairy Tale-ish

More of Warwick Goble's fairy-tale-ish illustrations for the 1912 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Griselda Robed in Cloth of Gold

January Helping May into the Tree

Canacee and the Falcon

Dorigen Pledging Aurelius

The Angel Presenting the Crowns to Cecily and Valerian

A Favorite Bust

In France, for two centuries now, the revolution of 1789 and its goals of liberty, equality and fraternity have been summed up in one woman's name: Marianne, the mythical heroine who carried the flag at the storming of the Bastille.

But a 20th/21st century woman of France also embodies ideals of the nation: BB: Brigitte Bardot.

Put the two together and voilà! A nation's favorite bust!

Golden Age Faerie

A simple, but lovely faerie, from the golden age of illustration.

Now That We Can Tell Time...

Where it all started, and what I'm under right now.

Cheney

Chill Winter Eve

A 1910 painting by Guy Rose, entitled Nude Figure by Firelight. The color palette, the textural palette — both very warming on a chill winter eve.

Visual Poetry

A beautiful piece of visual poetry by Lena Liu, entitled Fireside Solitude. The color palette, the textural palette — both very soothing on a winter morn.

Parcel of Tearsheets

Just one more parcel of Stephen Fabian tearsheets in celebration of my finding em amidst so many files.

I know Fabian started out emulating the early pulp artists, but personally I like his work better than most of the work of Finlay and the others.

Flash and Dale or John and Dejah?

From Cugel's Saga by Jack Vance — 1983

I don't know the title, but it sure looks like a Death Rider

The Wallad Blonde

Sight of Proteus

Alien Flesh

Fabian's work was sensual for more than the obvious reasons.

Alien Flesh

The Man Who Came Back

(and boy, that man looks like Werner von Braun)

No record of which Fantasy Newsletter this was from

From Fantasy Newletter #28

The Black Flame