DOI Heft:
No. 323 (February 1920)
DOI Artikel:Fletcher, John Gould: The drawings of Jean de Bosschère
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21359#0203
THE DRAWINGS OF JEAN DE BOSSCHERE
“ THE BIRD AND THE CARDBOARD
DOLL/' BY JEAN DE BOSSCHERE
From “ The City Curious ”)
perfectly understood and followed. The
only form of illustrated book, he declares,
is that in which the text and the illustrations
form a complete whole, one being comple-
mentary to the other; and this can only be
achieved by the use of line-blocks or wood-
cuts. To these aims, as set forth in his essay,
he has been faithful; and the concessions
to popular taste in the matter of colour
illustration, which he has made in some
of his recent books, only prove how great
an artistic self-sacrifice he has imposed
upon himself in order to keep each of his
books a single and separate unity. 0 0
His artistic history begins, as I have
stated, with “ Beale-Gryne ” and “ Dolo-
rine et les Ombres/' In the illustrations
to these two books he is still a follower
of the black-and-white tradition founded
by Beardsley. But these illustrations re-
veal a technique which, though founded
upon Beardsley, displays a more delicate,
morbid beauty, a more classic, I might say
Gallic, grace. The strain of coarse Anglo-
Saxonism that pervades much of Beards-
ley's later work is replaced by a frail
melancholy symbolism, somewhat akin
to the better work of Khnopff. If
there is one Beardsley drawing more than
any other which these early works recall,
it is the picture illustrating Chopin,
showing a lady on a prancing horse;
the one experiment, be it remembered,
of Beardsley with colour.* And it is pre-
cisely in this direction of the union of black
and white with harmonious colour that
Bosschere's technique has developed from
“ Beale-Gryne " and Beardsley. 0 0
It would exhaust too much space, and
would be interesting only to a limited number
of readers, to follow the successive stages in
this development, through “ Metiers di-
vins"and “ Twelve Occupations,” to its final
solution in u The Closed Door,” 44 Beasts
and Men,” and “ The City Curious.” f
* Reproduced in The Studio, May 1898.
f v The City Curious.” Written and illustrated by
Jean de Bosschere. (In preparation, Heinemann.)
197
“ THE BIRD AND THE CARDBOARD
DOLL/' BY JEAN DE BOSSCHERE
From “ The City Curious ”)
perfectly understood and followed. The
only form of illustrated book, he declares,
is that in which the text and the illustrations
form a complete whole, one being comple-
mentary to the other; and this can only be
achieved by the use of line-blocks or wood-
cuts. To these aims, as set forth in his essay,
he has been faithful; and the concessions
to popular taste in the matter of colour
illustration, which he has made in some
of his recent books, only prove how great
an artistic self-sacrifice he has imposed
upon himself in order to keep each of his
books a single and separate unity. 0 0
His artistic history begins, as I have
stated, with “ Beale-Gryne ” and “ Dolo-
rine et les Ombres/' In the illustrations
to these two books he is still a follower
of the black-and-white tradition founded
by Beardsley. But these illustrations re-
veal a technique which, though founded
upon Beardsley, displays a more delicate,
morbid beauty, a more classic, I might say
Gallic, grace. The strain of coarse Anglo-
Saxonism that pervades much of Beards-
ley's later work is replaced by a frail
melancholy symbolism, somewhat akin
to the better work of Khnopff. If
there is one Beardsley drawing more than
any other which these early works recall,
it is the picture illustrating Chopin,
showing a lady on a prancing horse;
the one experiment, be it remembered,
of Beardsley with colour.* And it is pre-
cisely in this direction of the union of black
and white with harmonious colour that
Bosschere's technique has developed from
“ Beale-Gryne " and Beardsley. 0 0
It would exhaust too much space, and
would be interesting only to a limited number
of readers, to follow the successive stages in
this development, through “ Metiers di-
vins"and “ Twelve Occupations,” to its final
solution in u The Closed Door,” 44 Beasts
and Men,” and “ The City Curious.” f
* Reproduced in The Studio, May 1898.
f v The City Curious.” Written and illustrated by
Jean de Bosschere. (In preparation, Heinemann.)
197