Stephen Kroninger

Alice In Wonderland

posted: March 10, 2010

Barry Moser

I've long been a fan of Lewis Carroll's ALICE books. I've also been a fan of the many intepretations of the work by illustrators over the years. Here are some of my favorites.

Barry Moser

Lewis Carroll

Kim Deitch

Julian Wehr

J. Otto Seibolt

Lisbeth Zwerger

Helen Oxenbury

Robert Sabuda

Greg Hildebrandt

Ralph Steadman

John Tenniel. This book also includes many of his PUNCH cartoons and illustrations.

"Dozens of artists, from all decades, all parts of the world, and all styles have illustrated Lewis Carroll's literary legend over the last 100 years. The Art of Alice in Wonderland is the definite work on the subject, bringing together this remarkable art for the first time, and illuminating a book that will forever influenced children's literature and adult imagination. With a stunning eight-page fold-out of artwork and 150 other delightful and important photographs and illustrations, this book is like a rich gallery of Alice art. Organized by character, the book takes the reader on a guided tour through the Wonderland of the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and the other beloved characters who have entered every child's and adult's imagination. All the while, the authoritative yet accessible text informs the reader about the fascinating symbolic meaning of this enduring tale."

Since I was a kid I've often considered creating my own images for Alice In Wonderland but still haven't gotten around to it. Maybe some day.

not a book but a brilliant intepretaton just the same, Czech animator Jan Svankmajer's ALICE. In this clip Alice enters the Court and meets the Queen of Hearts.

But enough about me

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Grosz in America

posted: March 2, 2010

Lower Manhattan/New York I, 1934, oil on canvas

I've long been a champion of George Grosz' New York work which I've always felt was too easily dismissed. One of my first Drawger posts was a collection of street scene watercolors he painted for a 1930s issue of Vanity Fair. Though his reputation will always rest on the Berlin work, if you look at his New York period with fresh eyes you may find much to admire.

I decided to do this post after stumbling across this catalog during a recent visit to a bookstore. I had no idea it existed. I completely missed the recent exhibit at David Nolan. Consider this an art consumer alert.
"The Dada caricaturist, draughtsman and painter George Grosz (1893-1959) spent more than half of his creative career--27 years--living and working in the United States. The effects of this emigration upon his art were once widely deemed to be wholly negative, since it seemingly marked a rejection of aggressively political satire: "I had simply lost all interest in human weaknesses and individual foibles," wrote Grosz in his autobiography, "and the further I drew away from them, the closer I felt to nature." Grosz was particularly passionate about the art of watercolor--so much so that shortly before his death in 1959 he began to write a book on watercolor technique--and his innovations in this area, alongside his caricatures of New York life and his more apocalyptic war paintings, have at last been retreived from the respective shadows of Grosz's own earlier work and of American Abstract Expressionism, which reigned supreme during Grosz's American years. This is the first book devoted to this crucial phase in his life."

photo: Stanley Kubrick

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R. Crumb Exhibit

posted: February 26, 2010

R. CRUMB
The Bible Illuminated
R. Crumb's Book of Genesis
March 4 through April 24, 2010

David Zwirner
519 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-727-2070

David Zwirner

But enough about me

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Stage After Dark

posted: February 18, 2010

Ed Wynn

Not illustration but I love these covers just the same. Not that there weren't illustrations in the magazine. There were plenty including work by George Grosz, Marcel Vertes, George Price, Otto Soglow, Ludwig Bemelmans, Ervine Metzl, James Thurber, Peggy Bacon and many others. Perhaps that's a post for another time.