This should be a treat for the artists who come here: rare Dore illustrations from Chateaubriand's 19th Century novel "Atala." According to Wikipedia, the book was written to debunk the European idea that American indians were noble savages. Maybe it does...I haven't read it...but most of the illustrations I saw seem to say the opposite. Dore portrays America as a majestic Garden of Eden, and the indians as its ideal inhabitants.
Actually I'm glad that Dore added his own take to the story. Whatever the truth about native Americans, the portrayal of this country as an Earthly paradise is a useful one. This is nature the way we'd all like it to be. It's a partly Utopian vision that should spur us on to make it a reality.
American swamps (above) really are like this in places, except Dore neglected to mention bugs. In real life the two women sitting on the water's edge would be buried under a mound of army ants and mosquitoes.
Gee, this picture (above) fills me with memories of happy times around campfires at night. Fortunately places like this aren't that rare. You can find lots of places like this in America, some of them not far from cities and towns. Sometimes I wish it were against the law to build in or even near primeval forests. Maybe we shouldn't even build nature trails and roads there. We should just let it alone.
Or not. I'm always amazed that Yosemite and Seqouia National Park look so unspoiled, and that in spite of the kazillion plus tourists who go there every year. How does the park service manage to pull that off?
I wish I knew the story of Atala. This looks like two "Noble Savages" wearing togas, taking a swim in America's life-giving water. Geez, Dore was so sentimental.
Seeing these pictures reminds me of the way Africa used to be portrayed in the media. When I was a kid sub-Saharan Africa was portrayed as being mostly jungle, like the kind you see in Tarzan movies. But was it? The Africa I see on TV these days seems to be mostly grassland and scrub. What happened to the African trees?
I'm flabbergasted! The amount of detail in these are crazy
ReplyDeleteAlthough, when I think of Africa, I think of wide open Savannah, rather then dense Jungle. That's what I see in all the commercials, anyway
btw Eddie, not sure if you meant it to be this way but the first picture is actual size and runs off the side of the page!
I have a shirt I like to wear with an "all-over" print of a piece Dore did. Not sure what it is from, but it showed winged devils poking long spears over the edge of a cliff or pit. Paradise Lost? Divine Comedy? no clue, but it's damn cool looking.
ReplyDeleteThese illustrations are really nice. You really don't get to see this side of Africa on television too much, like on those nature shows that tend to show up on Animal Planet or National Geographic. It's always about the lions, giraffes, meerkats, and the shrubbery that exists in the African savanna. Occasionally, they throw in something about gorillas or lemurs, but for the most part, I definitely agree with your point.
ReplyDeleteHope I'm not wasting your time or anything, but lately, I've been struggling a lot with guilt and denial over things that just a year and a half ago, I wouldn't have payed too much attention to, like certain decisions I made, failure as a human being, events, etc. I don't know exactly why, but it's really starting to become an annoyance. I try to keep my mind occupied, but it's still hard not to think about. The words of Epictetus have helped me throughout all the bad stuff that I've had to go through this year, but I think this is something new that's been popping up. You don't need to respond at all if you don't want to or anything.
Roberto: IMHO we worry for good reason. We have anxiety about not accomplishing things because we actually haven't accomplished anything.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the answer is to accomplish something, and to do it every day. I mean something small and tangible that only takes less than a day to do. Something you can point to with pride, and has a clear, publicly visible result that everybody can see, eg., you clean your work area, you organize stuff, you get your bike or your car working. Small things like that might not contribute much to a career, but they're enough to keep depression away while you work on the bigger things.
Epictitus is very useful, but he himself said that his ideas are only for people in extreme situations. He said his philosphy was for the prisoner or for the slave about to be tortured.
Scrawney: Yeah, I sometimes go for big pictures that interfere with the sidebar. Sometimes small pictures just don't convey the excitement.
Archmage: When you think of how Dore influenced Hollywood, novels, fine art, set design and illustration, comics (he was one of the inventers of newspaper comics), editorial cartoons, etc., you realize that he was one of the most influential artists who ever lived. I'm not surprised to hear that his art even looks good on t-shirts.
You mentioned Dore influenced Hollywood. Just imagine Kong in one of those jungles and you can see where Willis O'Brien got his design.
ReplyDeleteNice to see these Eddie. Could Dore be likened to a brand, like Disney is today? I think I've read that the great wood engraving work was farmed out to unsung, forgotten artists (no wonder, considering his output!)
ReplyDeleteConsidering your interest in the wild west, Tonto, etc., you should do a post on the wood engravings of those days.
What does "Scanned for vintage views" mean exactly? Is it a legal thing like fair use--just wondering.
Bell wrote:
ReplyDeletehi im 13 and i want to be an actress im ok but not that great i was wondering if you people had any tips or anything because you seem to know alot about acting, if you do that would be really good coz i cant really find anywhere that helps :)
Bell: I'm no expert on acting, I'm just a fan. Even so, I can tell you what I'd do in your situation: I'd train my voice. Get a teacher, get a friend you can read lines with, try out for plays, hang out with people who have the same interest, watch the best old black and white movies on TCM, watch acting technique videos on YouTube, play your favorite scenes from library recordings over and over again, and imitate the acting. To me, voice training is extremely important. It's even more important than acting technique.
About books: read Cecily Berry (spelled right?) for vocal technique, and Michael Shurtleft's "Audition" for general advice. I'm reading Harold Guskin's "How to Stop Acting" right now. There's no technique in it, but it's a good confidence builder.
Last but not least, memorize a monologue that's one or two paragraphs long and practice it at odd moments or when you're walking down the street. Do it over and over til you come up with something you know is good.
Romans: I may never do a post on engravings per se, but I have in mind some ideas for posts that would require wood gravings to illustrate my point.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of engravings I often think of the terrific ones in the old 1890s "Police Gazzette" newspaper. I really think newspapers would be more competitive if they used speculative sketches to re-enact the crimes they're reporting on.