The Post Golden Age of Illustration
IMAGINARIUM : An Alternate History of Art
Welcome to Imaginarium: an alternate history of art. A podcast where we delve in to the most obscure parts of art history.
Hello dear listeners, I’m your host Nadjah, and in this podcast, we try to shed light on less studied parts of the history of art and visual culture. Today is the final and last episode of this mini season on the Golden Age of Illustration, and I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far. Thank you for staying with me so far ! Once again, thank you so so much for listening, and I cannot begin to express how much it means to mean to me. This subject of the golden age is incredibly dear to me, so I have had a lot of fun diving into it and I hope you liked it as well and now… on with the show. Today’s episode will be a conclusion to it all, we’ll wrap everything with a tiny beautiful bow as we look into how the Golden Age of Illustration shaped the world of art and illustration well beyond the confines of the time period. And so… let’s begin my darlings.
The period that we know as the golden age of illustration ended around the 1920s, but the artists that were prominent during that era continued to work and draw, but their recognition was not as high as it was during the golden age. First of all, there were new trends and new illustrators. From J. C. Leyendecker who was one of the first of a whole new era of style of illustration that ushered the the mid-century style. The favored visual aesthetic in the 19th century and in the Edwardian era was no longer there. The world had changed and the world of art was extremely different from how it had been previously. After all, the 1920s were the beginning of a new medium getting the spotlight above all : Cinéma. And while illustrators were still incredibly important and will always continue to be, the world of visual art was undergoing rapid change. A lot of artists got new career in the world of Hollywood, as concept artists or art directors, were being hired by these new studios and the first steps of the start of animation were being made. It would only be a few years later during the 1930s that the first feature-length animation movie was created : Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
We talked about Kay Nielsen in a previous episode, episode 02 of this podcast, which if you haven’t listened to, I highly suggest doing so before continuing on with this episode. As we had said, Kay Nielsen, was one of the most well known illustrators of the golden age, he is definitely one of the representative artists of the fairy tales illustrations of this period, and with reason. His work stands on the same level as artists such as Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham, whom I have talked about previously. I have talked about him in episode 02, but I didn’t go as such into him as I wanted to because I really wanted to dive into this part of his career that involves fairytales and folktales now, and then delve into his later career as an art director for the studio of Disney in its early years and jump from there for the rest of the episode.
The other time, we talked mostly about his black and white work and the formal characteristics of his work, the way his style fit within the influence of the aesthetic movement and the way Aubrey Beardsley’s art style, as well as the symbolists influenced his artistic output. But it is finally time to dig more into his body of work, specifically into the role of fairy tales in his work, which would end up being the emblematic work of his long career. He illustrated several classic fairytales, starting by his first English commissioned work in the form of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s volume of re-adapted classic fairytales « In Powder and Crinoline » ok let me just gush for an instant because how romantic and adorable is this title ? And so are the illustrations, they are truly are all marvelous. I have a story about this particular book, is that I had bought a very affordable copy of this from an online secondhand book seller, but it got lost in the mail, and now all the copies of that book are extraordinarily expensive and genuinely I weep and mourn for that book everyday maybe. I mean it’s a slight exaggeration but the feeling is there. My two favorite illustrations of this compilation comes from the twelve dancing princesses. One where the twelve princesses are walking across the woods in their elaborate dresses, and another of a princess dancing with a prince who is wearing all black. I think Nielsen has a strong talent in portraying very vivid and highly stylized larger than life characters. They don’t seem realistic, but they do seem magical and otherworldly, he portrays queens and cursed princes, mysterious adventurers and magical beings. His art is escapist and full of wonder, and it is totally understandable why his art captured the eye of so many. He is now slightly forgotten I think, apart from those who hold an interest toward that era of illustration history, but I think his body of work is absolutely marvelous.
His representative work, arguably, though, is the series of illustrations he created for East of the sun, West of the moon : Old Tales from the Norse. These stories were new to the general english-speaking public, as this was where the golden age of illustration was happening. These tales were compiled by a Norwegian duo of folklorist who wanted to do the same process as the brothers Grimm to preserve and protect their regional heritage. East of the sun, west of the moon is one of my favorite tales, and it is one where the princess has a lot of agency in her own story, all the while keeping the very magical and ethereal atmosphere of a fairy tale. I highly recommend reading those northern stories if you do not know them. The illustrations for this compilation are beautiful and intricate, with a very nordic aesthetic and color palette. It was obviously influenced by the more cubic and geometrical tendencies of the era. His art is sitting somewhat squarely at the junction of the very streamlined trends of the 1920s and of the very ornate art of the 1910s.
The tales of the north are an example of how there was a desire not only for the fairy tales and folk tales that were familiar, but also to expand with foreign tales that were new and exotic, even if they are very much still part of the « western world », they still held that aura of foreign-ness and newness that was appealing. The movement of the Golden Age of illustration it itself is one that was fairly contained to the Western world, even though the tales from foreign countries were imported, such as arabic, african or Chinese tales, these were still illustrated by western artists. The further east that the golden age went was Russia with Ivan Bilibine. Ivan Bilibin is probably the most well known and recognized russian illustrators of the golden age of illustration, with his illustrations of the Russian tales, as well as taking part in the conception of ballets and operas. His art is magnificent truly and even though he is mostly known for the russian tales illustrations, which are incredibly intricate works of art, which blends magic, the supernatural and traditional russian motifs. His characters wore traditional russian outfits and clothing, and one of the distinct particularities of Bilibine’s work is the amount of patterns and repetitions, as well as the ornaments that frame the art. His work was incredibly colorful and vibrant, using mostly flat washes of color and not hesitating to use saturated color palettes, as well as softer ones. There seems to be a desire to capture the essence of the russian culture on paper through the folk tales that have been built through the years over and over.
Kay Nielsen was mostly active during the later years of the Golden Age of Illustration but is definitely one of the household name of the Golden Age of Illustration. Notably with the tales of the north, and illustrated Perrault. His art is. .. so very nordic, and has the remnants of the decadent art style, but also is still so very magical and ethereal. As with most artists of the golden Age, I find it extremely amazing how each of them were working with very similar artistic and historical references and influences, and yet, I feel that all of them had such a unique and distinguishable art style. I can always recognize Nielsen’s art when I see it and I genuinely think he is amazingly talented. He got hired by the studios of Disney in 1936, mostly to work on a specific sequence in Fantasia. He also created concept art for Disney for movies such as The Little Mermaid as early as the 1950s, and even though that art was never used. He did not work for the studio for a long time, after the second world war happened, he fell a bit on harder times financially, because his art was no longer fashionable for the era. The world had moved on. The mid-century aesthetic was painted, either to the style of the pulp-fiction book covers or to the wholesome americana aesthetic of Norman Rockwell, for example. I just think it is extremely unfortunate how sometimes certain art styles and aesthetic fall out of favor. It is sadly how it often goes with fashions and trends, and I think even more so before the advent of internet and social media, where trends were definitely more uniform and standardized. I think we’re at a time now where whileI think there are general trends, I don’t quite think we’re as governed by them as we used to be. And while Kay Nielsen’s career ended in the shadows, his work is being rediscovered and re-talked about in the past years, with reprinting of his illustrations and exhibits dedicated to his work.
Of course, it is impossible to talk about fairytales and how they exist both on a visual and cultural aspect in the post-golden-age era without talking about the animation studio that took inspiration from these stories and brought them to a whole new public and medium in the early 20th Century : Disney studios. In the early years of the Disney animated movies, there was a huge desire of wanting to legitimize the art form of animation as it was the first foray into making feature films only using the medium of animation. It was not something that was considered like a solid and safe venture, so there was a lot riding on this first feature. When it came to the visual conception of the early movies of the studio, a lot of artistic references from European sources and Disney, the man not the corporation, even tho at this point, is there really a distinction between the two of them, wanted this endeavor to be taken seriously by the public and by Hollywood, and hired established artists and illustrators such as Kay Nielsen as an art director, whom we’ve talked about, and a lot of others through the years.This brought an air of credibility associated with the use of European art, which is something that has lasted throughout the years, especially with the animated adaptations of those typically European tales.
The golden Age of Illustration was a hugely important source of inspiration for the studio, as well as the movements of Art Nouveau, Art Déco that we discussed earlier. in the mini season, just to show the very deep influence these movements have had on culture, even if we are not necessarily aware of it and it is not immediately obvious. A lot of the art that was influencing the artists was the art of the Romantics, which felt more appropriate to the subject of the story. It had this feeling of escape, magic and wonder, as well as the nostalgia and idealized rural European scenery, especially inspired by rural Germany, which can really be felt in the art of the first animation feature film : Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937. This early vibe of a very nostalgic and cosy aesthetic, as robin Allan says it in his essay « Disney’s European Sources » is a way to use realism to promote nostalgia for a romanticized past.Early movies that were full of layered visual influences, something that has definitely been lost to time when it comes tot the creation of movies by Disney. It was a mixture of a scholarly artistic culture, and training for the in-house artists, by giving them access to the books needed to achieve the art that they wanted. The visual influence of the golden age can definitely be felt for example by the inspiration from a Ludwig Richter illustration in which the young prince meets the princess who is wearing a tattered dress. From the vine covered tower to the outfits of the prince, a lot of elements from specific art pieces like this one by this German Artist of the golden age ended up in the movies.
When it comes to the visual identity of those eponymous fairytales, Disney created a whole new image of the fairytale universe that will definitely shape the way we imagine fairytale visually. The new blueprint of art when it comes to fairytale, the blue, red and yellow dress of snow white, the silver gown of cinderella, etc etc, those details are ingrained in the popular culture now and it is still to this day influences the way we imagine those fairytales, but how we also reimagine them. It is so strong, that even when people draw those characters, that have existed for centuries, it is from those iterations that they draw the most visual inspirations from. They are now the main way we even think about these characters, just to show how they have truly overtaken the general perception of fairytales and folklore. While there used to be a great amount of visual diversity in the illustration and depiction of fairytales and folktales, this has indeed has been codified into a very disney-inspired art and aesthetic. When it comes to the first outputs of the animation sutdio, there was a lot of early artists who worked in the Disney Studios that were European immigrants, as well as American artists, the early years of Disney Animation were full to the brim with the talent of several artists, to create what was then ground breaking cinema. If only they cared so much about art nowadays…. Anyway i will try not to rant too much on this subject, i have given myself the permission for One rant on this subject and this is not yet it.
When it comes to cinema, I will admit I have my own personal opinions about Disney as a company nowadays. While I can totally appreciate how much it did for the medium of animation and how they really changed the landscape in the world of animation. The animated fairytale movies for children that were created by this studio are iconic and an intrinsic part of the general pop culture in the 21st century. I mean I and several generations of people grew up with those movies, Snow white, Cinderella, the little mermaid, beauty and the beast and those are movies that defined the childhood of most of us, and still very much do for children still today, as parents will share these movies to their children as well. But this does not negate how movies have been commodified by the evil mouse corporation. The art of cinema has been commodified to a sort of mass produced way of making movies, just churning out remakes and reboots and sequels and prequels, one after the other, and only banking on the attraction of nostalgia to make people watch. And no matter how I feel about it, I guess it works, so even though I personally think it’s sad, I can understand that if it works, they’ll continue with this formula, because it is the easiest path in the end. I do think that if you want to adapt things so badly, there’s a whole entire world of books and media that hasn't been yet adapted to the cinematic medium that would be so interesting to see, why not take a chance on this ? I mean i know the answer, the answer is money, but it makes it so that the studios are only taking the ideas that are safe and are the common denominator when it comes to media, and I'm so bored of it all to be very honest.
This is not to say that cinema is totally dead, or anything. I don’t think a whole medium ever will be. There has been a fair few amazing movies this year, notably the amazing Green Knight by David lowery, French Dispatch by Wes Anderson which was incredibly joyful to watch, when you see a creator having so much fun doing exactly the movie they want to create. Last Night in Soho by Edgar wright starring Anya Taylor joy who has constantly been in very compelling projects over the past few years, and whom i legitimately thing is one of the great stars of our generation, as well as Nightmare Alley by Guillermo Del Toro, to name just a few. But these type of movies get overwhelmingly drowned by the constant deluge of blockbusters upon blockbusters and spin-offs of super-hero stories. I know that I can come out as slightly snobbish on this subject, I guess, but I cannot help but feel that we should want better from our media, that we should want better of the stories we consume, more imagination, more creativity, more complexity, more effort, and also most importantly.. .more heart !!!
A lot of movies I adore, i’m thinking a lot about « chick-flicks » type movies which i think are phenomenal, legally blonde, mean girls, clueless, Michele and romy’s high school reunion, these movies are amazing and entertaining and full of soul and heart. I’m thinking also of the 90s slacker films about people who don’t quite know what they’re doing in life and aren’t doing much, and nothing much happens in the movie but it once again is full of heart, or maybe just simple slice of life movies, like what I'm saying is not that every movie needs to be the next masterpiece cult classic of its generation, sometimes it can just be an entertaining movie full of heart. I think in the end, I just wish that not every second movie was a Disney or mcu remake, reboot or sequel or prequel or whatever genuinely i don't really care about it at this point, i just wish that not every second movie was an obvious cash grab to appeal to the common lowest denominator and thus will simply not take any risks, I'm so tired of the fake and performative representation « first [insert whatever] superhero » here but then when it comes down to it, it does nothing. it changes nothing. All of it is so hollow and it’s disheartening as someone who loves movies. It’s empty. It’s soulless. Cinema is dead and the mouse is standing over its rotten corpse. I know i have quite of a strong position on this, and people are welcome to agree to disagree, but I just think we should have better movies in general, and a monopoly on it is not good for any of us in the long term. Anyway, I am sorry for this rant, I just have a lot of feelings about this subject, obviously, as someone who immensely loves the art of cinema.
Let’s go back to the world of illustration of fairytales and the world of wonders and enchantment post the golden age, post the early stage of disney animated movies. No matter what, those old illustrations had a huge visual impact on the artists who came after them. Kinuko Y. Craft is a Japanese and American artists who has illustrated many of the classic fairytales such as snow white, the beauty and the beast and etc, as well as various fantasy stories that are partly inspired by fairytales. Such as the works of Patricia A. McKillip, which by the way I hugely recommend these books for the fans of classic fantasy melded with the wonder of fairytales, it is very magnificent. Craft puts her own spin on things. Golden and warm. intricate art. Her art is genuinely… magnificent. She has been introduced to me a few years back now by a friend who knew of my interest for fairytales and their illustrations, and I have genuinely fallen in love with her art. She is more inspired by the romantic nature of fairytales, of the colors of art nouveau, of the pre-rapahelites and medieval art. A way of painting fairy tales that are inspired by concepts of art history while still making something new and beautiful. I appreciate deeply that even while she illustrates those fairy tales we are so familiar with, she tends to deviate from the Disney inspired depictions and really creates something that is hers. The art she creates is often using a golden color palette as if she spun gold out of her pencil. She is one of those artists that brings the magical feeling of the golden age in the modern fairytales, while still making it attractive to a younger audience.
Michel ocelot is a french animator who also created amazingly beautiful animated fairytales in the 1990s and 2000s, notably the magnificent Kirikou and the sorceress in 1998 and which I and most french-speakers have grown up with. But I want to focus on his more whimsical and fairytale like movies and body of work. Unlike the tendency of going with the 3D animation that started to become trendy and that privileges the optics of accurate likeness and of realism, he instead opts to use 2D animation to bring a more classical feeling to the stories. To make it enchanting. Ocelot uses paper cut silhouettes and objects to create his scenes, and has obvious historical inspirations from the 18th century mostly. Movies like Princes and Princesses in 2000 which was created by cutout animation and black silhouettes for the characters inspired by the theatre of shadow puppets, but also from an appreciation for the innocence and magic of childhood. With using this technique of animation, he keeps the artifice of representation in the open, and allows the viewer to suspend their disbelief, and brings them with him in a world of magic and wonder.
The girl from the other side by Nagabe is a recently completed a manga series, that is extremely inspired by fairytales and folklore. The visual inspirations are drawn from an era of a fantasy europe, a bit inspired from the 19th century, but also from the medieval era. Just a time set somewhere in the past, there’s no precise date, which gives it once again that eerie feeling of a tale being told. Once upon a time indeed. It uses the tropes and conventions of traditional folktales, but also subverts them in such a unique way. Nagabe has such a beautiful and lovely way to depict his story that is very simple and influenced by simplicity in japanese art, but also draws on artistic references from the past. I highly recommend this manga by the way if anyone is looking for something to read, this is legitimately marvelous on so many levels, from the story, the characters to the art that is simply mind blowing, to the incredibly tense and yet cozy atmosphere that is being set by the artist through the images. It is a very mysterious and you can see the inspiration from the golden age of illustration, even if it’s drawn from the very childlike storybooks, such as the Arthur Rackham illustrations of Alice in Wonderland.
I think, what really sticks to mind for me, is this blending of gothic and horror with childlike innocence and fairy tale aesthetics, something that is inherent in the original fairytales. After all Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro also uses those ways of communicating and, of using the archetypes of fairytales in his movies. Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie i adore, and one i have seen probably way too early and was a formative influence for me when it came to developing my taste. It is very atmospherical and intricate, and is also a callback to the why folktales and fairytales were used before, when they were a cautionary tales for children about the ways of the world, but also about the horrors of the world. There is a fine line between horror and wonder, and Del Toro threads it finely in Pan’s Labyrinth. Del Toro’s book « Pan’s Labyrinth : Inside the creation of a modern fairytale » acknowledges those inspirations and goes very much in depth into both the literary and cinematic inspirations, but also the artistic and visual inspiration that helped him create the production design for this movie. For Del Toro, horror and monsters are an essential parts of fairytales and as he says it and it’s a bit of a longer quote, and I do not have the habit to pad my scripts with over long quotes but i do still apologize, this quote felt to me like it really explains the way he sees the insertion of the monstrous in the wondrous. So, as he says :
« “In fairy tales, monsters exist to be a manifestation of something that we need to understand, not only a problem we need to overcome, but also they need to represent, much like angels represent the beautiful, pure, eternal side of the human spirit, monsters need to represent a more tangible, more mortal side of being human: aging, decay, darkness and so forth. And I believe that monsters originally, when we were cavemen and you know, sitting around a fire, we needed to explain the birth of the sun and the death of the moon and the phases of the moon and rain and thunder. And we invented creatures that made sense of the world: a serpent that ate the sun, a creature that ate the moon, a man in the moon living there, things like that. And as we became more and more sophisticated and created sort of a social structure, the real enigmas started not to be outside. The rain and the thunder were logical now. But the real enigmas became social. All those impulses that we were repressing: cannibalism, murder, these things needed an explanation. The sex drive, the need to hunt, the need to kill, these things then became personified in monsters. Werewolves, vampires, ogres, this and that. I feel that monsters are here in our world to help us understand it. They are an essential part of a fable.” »
So for Del Toro, portraying fairytales within the horror genre works as par for the course, and the golden age of illustration, of course, is a prominent influence on the way Pan’s Labyrinth ultimately was created artistically, because of the references to classical fairytale stories on a visual level. The era of the golden age is one that was extremely rich in art, magic and wonder, from child-friendly tales to the dark and gothic illustrations that accompanied Edgar Allan Poe’s storie, it is an era that I adore exploring and diving into, simply because of how wonderful the illustrations are. But also, because of the complex stories behind it, and how they can still matter today, and how, even without our knowledge, they are still a huge influence on the art that is created today and our visual understanding of fairytales and folklore. These illustrations live in a world of mystery and enchantment and looking at them, at the complex details and the stories they accompany, reminds me of my childhood, but also of complex stories that are built and constructed overt the decades and centuries. This subject is one that was important to me to discuss and explore, and so, I want to take the time to thank every one for being part of this journey with me. Thank you so much for sticking with me during this whole mini-season, it was an amazingly fun and extensive research project for me, and I do hope you enjoyed it and it was both fun and you learned something new, and if you got this far, thank you again for being on this journey with me. I will once again take a small break for a few months, to give me the time to write and prepare the next step, but i hope you will stay with me as we move forward to the next season, which will be a regular imaginarium podcast, with ten episodes and various subjects to explore which should be very fun. I’m highly excited of the subjects i have picked to talk about next time, from Mohamed Racim to food in art, to orientalism in fashion, I hope i can give a well rounded and interesting dive into the lesser known and studied subjects in art history and visual culture.
Before we go, I put a bunch of relevant resources on today’s subject in the show notes, you have some books as well as some theses and articles that you can read if you maybe want to further your knowledge and read more on the subject. As always, all the relevant images will also be on all of our social platforms @ imaginarium_pod on instagram as well as on twitter. This podcast was written, narrated and produced, by yours truly, Nadjah, If you want to support this podcast, you can do so on patreon.com-nadjah , n a d j a h . I want to take this opportunity to thank my patrons : may leigh, vilja sala, Trung-Le Nguyen Cappecci, Jak, Sam Hirst, Jenny, Jameson Gregg as well as Nathalie, thank you so much for making the work i do with this podcast possible.