Flex Mentallo

CHARLES ROBINSON 'The rich making merry in their beautiful houses while beggars were sitting at the gate' Original watercolour for The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (Duckworth, 1913) linky: http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=223

SIDNEY SIME 'The sudden discovery of that infamous den, that renowned and impregnable stronghold, the fear and envy of universal wizardry, not only drowned my memory of the quest - it involved me in perilous side issues. The malevolence underlying the Pophofgf's hospitable greeting passed unheeded by me, absorbed as I was, for how long I know not, in a profound and fatal curiosity.' Original drawing for The Fantasy of Life, a series of drawings to unknown tales. For The Tatler, 28th August, 1901

SIDNEY SIME 'The Tomb of the Morning Zai' for The Protector of the Secret. From Time and the Gods by Lord Dunsany (E.J.M.D. Plunkett), with illustrations in photogravure (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922) linky: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/sime.htm

RICHARD DOYLE 'Asleep in the moonlight. The dancing elves have all gone to rest; the King and Queen are evidently friends again, and, let us hope, live happily ever afterwards' linky: http://www.artmagick.com/pictures/artist.aspx?artist=richard-doyle

RICHARD DOYLE 'Triumphal march of the Elf King. This important personage, nearly related to the Goblin family, is conspicuous for the length of his hair, which on state occasions it requires four pages to support. Fairies in waiting strew flowers in his path, and in his train are many of the most distinguished Trolls, Kobolds, Nixies, Pixies, Wood-Sprites, birds, butterflies, and other inhabitants of the kingdom.' From In Fairyland, a poem by William Allingham with a series of pictures from the Elf-World (Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer, 1870).

WILLIAM STRANG Illustration to Death & the Ploughman's Wife, a ballad made and etched by Strang (Lawrence & Bullen, 1894) linky: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/strang_william.html

AUBREY BEARDSLEY "How King Arthur saw the Questing Beast" , frontispiece for Vol. I, The Birth, Life and Acts of King Arthur, by Thomas Mallory (Dent 1894) linky: http://beardsley.artpassions.net/

GUSTAVE DORE Illustration for title page to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S.T. Coleridge (Hamilton Adams, and the Dore gallery, 1876)

GUSTAVE DORE 'Baron Munchausen's second, but accidental visit to the moon - "It looked round and shining like a glittering island." ' From The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (Cassel, Petter and Galpin, 1866) linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9

A. BOYD HOUGHTON "The african magician commands Aladdin to give him the lamp" from Dalziel's Illustrated Arabian Nights, revised by H.W. Dulcken (Ward, Lock & Tyler, 1863-65) linky: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=278&page=1

J. NOEL PATON The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice; "The game is done! I've won, I've won!" Quoth she, and whistles thrice. From part the seventh, Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Art Union 1863) linky: http://www.leicestergalleries.com/19th-20th-century-paintings/d/mors-janua-vitae-the-gateway-of-life/13510

Much of the fantasy illustration I love stems from traditions that through the medium of 19th Century painting echo earlier times. JESSIE M. KING Illustration to King Arthur's Tomb from Defense of Guinevere and other poems by William Morris (John Lane 1904) linky: http://textualities.net/max-begg/jessie-m-king/

Had he lived 70 years later, he would arguably have earned a living painting pulp covers like St John. Conversely had St John lived earlier, he might have been justly celebrated - and Norm Saunders would have been the american counterpart of Delacroix! Life in the harem: An intercepted correspondence:

Of the orientalist painters of the nineteenth century, my favourite is John Frederick Lewis, who spent 10 years living and working in Cairo. Like many Victorian genre painters, he was admired during his lifetime but largely forgotten after his death until "rediscovered" in the 1960's. His work now sells for millions of dollars. The coffee bearer: Liliam auratum:

Baba Yaga The flying carpet

Here are more of Vasnetsov: Birds of joy and sorrow Kaschev the immortal

Repin: Easter Procession at Kursk Repin: Cossacks

Vasnetsov: Sleeping Tsarina Vasnetsov: Elegy

Repin: Dancing Gopak Vasnetsov: Knight at the Crossroads

Vasnetsov: The Magic Carpet Vasnetsov: The Snow Maiden

And this is "Sadko", by Ilya Repin, a fairy tale which was also the subject of an opera by Rimsky Korsakov Sadko, a poor but spirited minstrel, wagers his head against the wealth of the Novgorod merchants that he will catch golden fish in the neighbouring Lake Ilmen. Aided by the Sea-King's daughter he wins, and embarks upon a voyage on one of the fleet of ships that have become his. Overtaken by storm, it is decided by the ship's company that one of their number must be offered as a sacrifice to the Sea-King. Lots are drawn, with the result that Sadko finds himself on a plank in mid-ocean. Entering the Sea-King's domain, he plays upon his gusli with such goodwill that the monarch and his court are soon engaged in a frenzied dance. A fierce gale ensues. St. Nicholas, intervening on behalf of seafarers above, dashes the gusli to the ground, orders Sadko home, and transforms the Sea-King's daughter, who has offered herself to the already married minstrel, into the river Volkhov, on which Novgorod now stands.

Then there were the Russian Revivalist painters of the late 19th Century, who often turned to fairy tales for inspiration. Victor Vasnetsov: Ivan Tsarevich Riding the Grey Wolf

As a young student, symbolism fascinated me for its intensity - Böcklin: The Isle of the Dead ..and the Pre-Raphaelites for their mystical romanticism John William Waterhouse: The Lady of Shalot Alexandre Cabanel: Ophelia

I became an art student. I fell in love with art and illustration that embodied my dreams of adventure, of exotic climes. I looked at great art, looked at my mediocre talent, and found myself wanting. But still… I posted some of the images that have inspired me here, in Bangzoom’s thread, a year or two back. Here they are again, as a Christmas entertainment. And at the end, I will turn back to serendipity, and spin you a yarn about meaningful coincidences….

Mystery in Space #57 and other comics furnished me with the desire to become an artist. It made me yearn for strange, exotic places, high romance, for a life less ordinary. Sometimes movies did the same. Some ten years later aged now 17 I switched on the television late one night and saw for the first time a film I had never heard of. It was called “Pather Panchali”, literally “Song of the Little Road”. It told the story of a young boy named Apu growing up in a poor Bengali village. The style was very much cinema vérité, very simple, straightforward and immediate. And no movie, before or since, has captured the authenticity of childhood with such depth and compassion. It won the Palm d’Or and brought its Bengali director Satyajit Ray - and Indian cinema - to world attention. Yet he made the movie on a shoestring, with a cast comprised mostly of amateurs. And he made it in segments, and whenever he had money, he would buy film, summon the cast, and they’d all troop out of Calcutta into the villages and paddyfields, and film another chapter. Most vividly of all, I recall the house where Apu lived – there was a ruined courtyard, and in the courtyard was a dry stone fountain.It felt so real that I could imagine being in it. The movie was unlike anything I’d seen before. Echoing Mystery in Space, zeta beams, Alpha Centauri, the movie gave me the burning desire to go to India, - which without a handy zeta beam, I resigned myself to accepting was as out of reach as Ranagar on the planet Rann. And yet hope lingered on…