The Swing by Alan Odle.
The University of Heidelberg has for some time now had several years of British art magazine The Studio in its archive but I’ve yet to delve fully into the later issues. These illustrations are from two articles from the volumes covering the year 1925, both of which feature the exceptional Irish artist Harry Clarke. In the first piece Clarke is present along with two contemporaries, John Austen and Alan Odle; the second is a review by novelist Dorothy M. Richardson (Alan Odle’s wife) of Clarke’s illustrations for Goethe’s Faust. All three artists owed an artistic debt to Aubrey Beardsley, and an earlier number of The Studio features a drawing by John Austen of Scheherazade in his Beardsley-derived style. (Thanks to Nick for the tip!)
Columbine by Harry Clarke.
Atalanta in Calydon by John Austen.
One of the colour plates from Faust by Harry Clarke.
Scheherazade by John Austen.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Harry Clarke’s Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
• Harry Clarke in colour
• The Tinderbox
• Harry Clarke and the Elixir of Life
• Cardwell Higgins versus Harry Clarke
• Modern book illustrators, 1914
• Illustrating Poe #3: Harry Clarke
• Strangest Genius: The Stained Glass of Harry Clarke
• Harry Clarke’s stained glass
• Harry Clarke’s The Year’s at the Spring
• The art of Harry Clarke, 1889–1931
Fabulous artwork. It’s a great pity John Austen did not pursue his Beardsley style illustrations in book form apart from “Hamlet” and “The Little Ape” rather than a few magazines…
As for Alan Odle, surely it is time for a praiseworthy monograph?
Yes, Odle is the most neglected of the three, I’d like to see more of his work.
Great post John & eternal thanks Nick! THIS exhibit has been one of great interest to me for awhile and this is the first contemporary review I have seen of it. The one other Odle piece in the link & Austen & Clarke(Harry does Panto!) were all new to mine eyes.
Checked and re-checked one of my Nicola Bowe books on Clarke; there was a fourth artist in THIS 1925 exhibit that The Studio does not mention: Austin Osman Spare! Unless he was slated to show with them and eventually did not & that is the information that Bowe goes by…
AOS DID show at St. George’s at least once
>https://fulgur.co.uk/artists/austin-osman-spare/pictures-of-the-occult-by-a-psychical-artist/
They all were featured in Clifford Bax & Spare’s journal The Golden Hind previous to 1925–anyway! Beautiful work in that Studio link.
Ah, yes, Spare… Phil Baker’s excellent biography quotes reviews of Spare from The Studio, I’ll have to see if I can find them. I keep hoping someone might put The Golden Hind online eventually but we may have a long wait.