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Beardsley, Dulac and their Contemporaries 1890-1930 A telegraph.co.uk Slide Show
(Watercolor by Edmund Dulac, from Cinderella in The Sleeping Beauty and other Tales, 1910)

In Nov. of 2007, the Dulwich Picture Gallery exhibited a survey of the Golden Age of Book Illustration. THE AGE OF ENCHANTMENT is also a gorgeous book by the curator of this exhibition, Rodney Engen. Beginning with work of Aubrey Beardsley, it includes 165 color illustrations by Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, and the Detmold Twins, to name just a few. Examining a time when the "beautiful decadence" of Beardsley "softened to delight rather than to shock," Mr. Engen supplies the details. He describes a time when trade with Japan and China influenced Western artists, and he provides a context for understanding a cultural shift of spirit and style.

This is the kind of luxurious book that should be read slowly. The historical perspective can be sampled a little at a time. (The biographical information is fascinating and often sad.) And the pictures, without any words at all, can pull you into their fantastic stories.

I forgot all about this last week, but it would have fit right in to the Summer Vacation challenge. A few years ago an illustrator pal asked if I wouldn't mind contributing a sketch to another illustrator's ( or animator's - I forget ) sketchbook that was being passed around. I said yes, but was on a deadline so I adapted a recent illo I had done for a kid's mag and came up with this scene featuring some of Hanna Barbara's 60's and 70's stars taking a summer hiatus package tour plane trip. I added the very quick tones at some point later.
Not sure why Jeannie doesn't just blink that package of peanuts open!

Ok! So I have not posted nor commented on anyones art in a couple of weeks... My apologies!
I know that I am squeezing my SFG Challenge picture at the very last minute, but I had to submit one of my favorite illustrations. Please note that my character does not hang out with Nicole Ritchie nor has any eating disorder, she just happens to have a high metabolism. Enjoy!