Saturday, January 7, 2012

Harry Clarke - the Irish illustrator

 
Henry Patrick (Harry) Clarke (March 17, 1889 – January 6, 1931) was an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator, born in Dublin.  Clarke's illustrated work is too unfairly compared to Beardsley, but it was as a stained glass designer and artisan that he devoted the most of his life.
 
Books illustrated: Andersen, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, The Year's at the Spring, Fairy Tales of Perrault, Faust, and Selected Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne featured both pen and ink and pen and wash drawings and/or more advanced color work.
 
Ill-health plagued him for most of his life. He worked at a feverish pace creating glass and book illustrations. He died in early 1931 of tuberculosis, while trying to recuperate from his efforts. He was 41.

Harry Clarke - Tales of mistery and imagination illustrations



A tell-tale heart
 
Poe's stories have a unique haunting character, and with the aid of these pictures imagination will never fail to convey the description behind the words and the stories will stay thus forever imprinted in the mind. When Poe uses the word unnerve in his stories you can be sure it is not an understatement. He creates an atmosphere with  this word, a state of mind  felt through all bodily pores. Harry Clarke has followed this thread to a tooth in his drawings. One gets nervous only by looking at them.

Harry Clarke - illustrations for Andersen fairy tales

 

Harry Clarke - The Year's at the Spring illustrations

 

Harry Clarke - Fairy Tales of Perrault illustrations

 

Harry Clark - Faust illustrations

 

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