A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Black and white art
Macbeth.
“I’m a creative catch-all; a designer / illustrator / printer on a mission to cover the world with my hand drawn patterns and motifs,” says Johanna Basford. “I’m not a Vector Technician, but one of the dwindling number of creatives who still likes to put pen to paper.”
Beautiful, intricate work. Via ~Wunderkammer~ (again).
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Melchior Lechter, 1865–1937
• Cadavres Exquis
• Ronald Balfour’s Rubáiyát
I have a couple of books with examples of medieval capitals like these, each letter being an amalgam of people, animals or (in the case of the example below) duelling knights. These are from Gothische Alphabete (1897), a book by Jaro Springer at the excellent University of Heidelberg which has the whole volume available as a PDF or as scans of individual pages.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Letters and Lettering
Another chance find at the Internet Archive. This small book from 1913 is an appraisal of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes written by noted actress Ellen Terry and with illustrations—which Archive.org doesn’t mention—by Pamela Colman Smith, an artist whose Tarot designs are some of the most successful ever created yet who received little credit for her work while she was alive. It’s a shame that the Internet Archive perpetuates this state of affairs despite her name on the book’s title page. This is a fascinating set of ink sketches all of which are marked by the distinctive monogram familiar from her Tarot cards. One of the drawings in the book is also marked by an obscene doodle; I’ll leave it to the curious to discover which one.
Yet another Internet Archive discovery, examples from a small book collection from 1907 of ex libris plates by Art Nouveau illustrator Louis Rhead (1857–1926). Rhead’s brightly-coloured poster art is often represented in Art Nouveau design books, less visible is his black-and-white work, some of which, like the example below, owes a clear debt to Aubrey Beardsley.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Pratt Libraries Ex Libris Collection
• The Evil Orchid Bookplate Contest
• David Becket’s bookplates
• Louis Rhead’s peacocks
• More Arabian Nights
• Buccaneers #1
Continuing the delve into back issues of Jugend magazine, the German fin de siècle periodical of “art and life”, this post covers the year 1899. The earlier years of the magazine are replete with a variety of elegant and often bizarre graphics, as well as some classic examples of Art Nouveau graphic design. 1899 is the point in the magazine’s history that the variety (and, for me, the interest) begins to diminish. The covers lose their earlier inventiveness while the Art Nouveau stylings within are being replaced by drab illustrations of the German middle classes and patriotic depictions of country folk. There are still gems to be found, however, some of which follow below. As before, anyone wanting to see more of these graphics is advised to explore the bound volumes at the Heidelberg University archive. The two books for 1899 can be found here and here.
Otto Eckman (above) and Julius Diez (below) were heavily featured in the earlier years of the magazine and Diez in particular produces some of the best work in this year’s run.
