Emily

Another Goble illustration from a book of Chaucer poetical works.

Warwick Goble—Emily in the Garden

French Style

Annie French had a lovely style, creating delightful jewel-like pen and ink watercolors.

'A Fairy Tale'

'The Queen and the Gypsies'

Goble's Chaucer

Warwick Goble is one of my top most favorite fairy tale illustrators and I am delighted with the fairy tale sensibility that he brought to The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, my edition published in 1912. It is one of my favorite illustrated books ever, and I will be posting the illustrations one at a time, in order of appearance in the book. I will only be posting one every now and then, but really, it's worth the effort to collect them all.

Warwick Goble—Theseus Returning in Triumph

Happy Thanksgiving to All

St. Nicholas Magazine was a magical periodical for children, showcasing professional illustrators, such as Howard Pyle, as well as contributions from child and teen illustrators.

Thankgiving motifs from November, 1903:

Where to Begin

Speaking of magnificent, this is an early watercolor by Walter Crane. Can you imagine where to begin in visualizing and rendering such a powerful composition?

Walter Crane—The Chariot of the Hours—c 1887

Magnificense

Walter Crane was a magnificent book illustrator who also was a master in the decorative arts, collaborating now and then with William Morris. Here is a wall hanging that is pretty magnificent in its own right.

Art Bridge

Well, I found my book of Brunelleschi, but I'm on deadline and only have time for one of his paintings for now. This is one of his early works from 1905, seeming to bridge art nouveau to art deco.

Brunelleschi—Femme au Perroquet—c 1905

Matter of Life & Death

Life and Death are the same face of a tossed coin, depending on how it lands and how you look at it. At least so one might interpret while examining this intriguing bit of typographic design by C.E. Krausie.

Shown are the 180 degree views of the very same lovely device.

Umberto's Scheherazade

Received this image from lotusgreen in response to previous post of a similar drawing. It's a costume design for Scheherazade by Umberto Brunelleschi.

I will be posting more of Brunelleschi when I retrieve from storage.

Danseuse Orientale

Umberto Brunelleschi. Wonderful name. Full of wonder illustrator, of which a Paris critic wrote: 'His art has nothing realistic about it. He would not know how to evoke modern life with its huge factories and streets full of people. But the world of fiction, which is so much more beautiful than the world of men, that he makes real.'

Umberto Brunelleschi—Danseuse Orientale—c 1920

Golden Hollywood

Teenager Judy Garland was still a year away from stardom when she appeared in the family musical comedy Everybody Sing, in 1938. Artist Ted Ireland, as Vincentini, created this wholesome rendering of pre-Dorothy Judy for a 2 page trade promotion for the film. The text told of her discovery by the studio only months earlier and her quick rise to fame.

(above text paraphrased from a book caption)

Golden Hollywood 2

Ted Ireland, a k a Vincentini, was an MGM contract artist, creating spin images for actors and movies, as seen in pressbooks and other PR material.

The Thin Man—1936

Girl of the Golden West—1938

Libeled Lady—1936

Barbara Stanwyck & Robert Taylor—His Brother's Wife

Garbo—1935

The Sleeping Beast

A nice rendering by Stephen Fabian of The Sleeping Beast by A. Bertram Chandler.

Bring to Life

Joe Kubert was my comic book idol in the Silver and Bronze Ages. I collected everything he did, not matter how minor (read ads for toys and ads with Ed McMahon in 'em). He has been part of all the ages us geeks worship. Not all his stories were super wonderful, but his art made 'em seem that way. As he says in the promo directly below, he had the pleasure to bring cartoon characters to life.

Here he introduces Firehair in a couple of promos, and then below those is a short Firehair story from one of the Son of Tomahawk issues.

Bring to Life 2

Kelly Day Every Day

I know there are a lot of you who admire Walt Kelly and his work, but we don't seem to be finding you over at the new 'blog about Kelly art, where it's Kelly day every day. If'n we don't see more followers showing up, it may not be worth the time (which it takes a lot of) to be gathering up rare and lovely Kelly stuff. Please come over and 'follow' or comment or something to let us know you're out there. You can begin by clicking here.

A panel from the current story arc of Pogo Sundays.

Here Comes the Sun(dblom)

We're getting to that time of year when we expect to see Santa illustrations by Haddon Sundblom. But before we get there, how about a pin-up by Sundblom?

Wonderland

Ah, it snowed heavily last night, everything is a wonderland. I'm looking forward to going down to the pond. I'm sure it will look like this:

Skating — Georges Barbier — circa 1928

Porter's Pinocchio

Hank Porter really deserves a big book dedicated to the spectrum of his work.

Walt Disney referred to him as a one-man art studio. Porter's Disney work is supreme in portraying all the cast players at their very best, whether in wartime insignia cartoons, magazine covers, specialty art for a spectrum of uses, or in the Sunday comics, as here with Pinocchio, December 24, 1939 to April 7, 1940.

Porter was a fabulous talent, with a sub-set-of-Disney cult following.

Is there such a book, and if not, why not?

Porter's Pinocchio

Porter's Pinocchio

Porter's Pinocchio

Ink Masterpiece

Disney movies aren't always my cup of tea, but Disney artists, over the years, have created stunning artwork for all aspects of the Disney empire—hundreds of thousands of individual works of art. Out of all that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, there is one work, one drawing, that I can pinpoint that is beyond measure, MY FAVORITE work of Disney art.

It's an ink masterpiece from 1937, created by Disney artist Hank Porter. Not only is the technique superb, but the composition, characterization, atmosphere and detail are seductive, drawing the viewer into another world. I actually want to live in this part of the Disney universe. Porter is such a great stylist, having also drawn the newspaper Sunday version of Snow White that I posted at an earlier date.

Mr. Door Tree posted this drawing last year, that I believe he said was from a Russ Cochran auction printed catalogue. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. But today, on Russ Cochran's auction website, I saw it in high resolution, and it just bowls me over again.

It's up for auction again, with a starting bid of $20,000, up to $40,000 as of a few minutes ago. If I had the money, I would top any bid that came in, just to own-that-piece. I don't have the money, so I am content to admire the jpeg and admire and wish the best to whoever wins the bid in 27 days.

Look at it here, but go look at it better, read highest praise by Russ Cochran, and bid on it there. It deserves a really great home.

Birds Gotta Swim, Fish Gotta Fly

Here's an energetic work entitled Flying Fish by Herbert Draper, and below it, his study drawing.