Favorite Foster
Hal Foster created one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight Prince Valiant Sunday pages in his lifetime, and they are all beautiful in various degrees. But my all time favorite Prince Valiant page was created as a limited edition print in a very small run:
wow.
ReplyDeleteWow, indeed. Every time I look at this image I am mesmerized and transported to Val's world. His world could be horribly cruel, but full of wonder and adventure. The sense of distance is so perfectly realized for an ink and watercolor drawing and the glimpse of the mountains in the distance hint of adventures to come.
ReplyDeleteThe dash of red of Val's cloak is magnificent.
How I do go on.
I really appreciate your blog --- so glad I discovered it. I'm teaching a Humanities course this semester (just started), and I'm going to share your blog during our discussion of the pictorial arts tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI would be real interested to hear from you on how that goes, as I'm tempted to develop this collection into a course.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know what you do and how it turns out.
Like you, this image has always left me breathless. It's an absolutely perfect piece.
ReplyDeleteIt's currently my PC wallpaper, too. Thanks for sharing. I'd never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteI like Hal Foster a lot, but maybe the strange mixture of his art should be mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThere is the historical background, the 5th century.
The knights are wearing armour of the 11th century, the castles are even a little later.
The style of the drawings is strong influenced by art nouveau. But especially the landscapes are typical for the Hudson River school.