Gustave Dore: One of My Three Favorite Artists

Gustave Dore is one of my three favorite artists; all of which died on my birthday. Albrecht Durer, Gustov Dore, and Salvador Dali will die on my birthday. Plus if you have not noticed, all of our last names start with D.   D as in Dowgin...

In fact the three of us have a sense for the macabre. Dore and Durer have the most in common with their engravings over us all though.

At the age of fifteen Doré began his career working as a caricaturist for the French paper Le Journal pour rire,^[1] and subsequently went on to win commissions to depict scenes from books by Rabelais, Balzac, Milton and Dante.

In 1853, Doré was asked to illustrate the works of Lord Byron.^[2] This commission was followed by additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated English Bible. In the 1860s he illustrated a French edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote, and his depictions of the knight and his squire, Sancho Panza, have become so famous that they have influenced subsequent readers, artists, and stage and film directors' ideas of the physical "look" of the two characters. His illustration of Baron Munchhausen was the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's character of the same name. Doré also illustrated an oversized edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", an endeavor that earned him 30,000 francs from publisher Harper & Brothers in 1883.^[6]

 
Doré's illustrations for the English Bible (1866) were a great success. Doré's later work included illustrations for new editions of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Milton's Paradise Lost, Tennyson's The Idylls of the King, The Works of Thomas Hood, and The Divine Comedy. Doré's work also appeared in the weekly newspaper The Illustrated London News.

Doré  continued illustrating books until his death in Paris following a short illness. The city's Père Lachaise Cemetery contains his grave.

Gallery

Gallery of Gustave Doré

The Deluge  Jacob wrestling with the angel - 1855  The Creation of Light  Jonah and the Whale  The Judgment of Solomon  The defenestration of Jezebel at Jezreel  Illustration: Orlando Furioso  Illustration: Orlando Furioso  Illustration: Orlando Furioso  Illustration: Paradise Lost  Depiction of Satan, the antagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost c. 1866  The Heavenly Hosts, c. 1866, illustration to Paradise Lost  Illustration: Death Depicted as the Grim Reaper on Top of the Moon from "The Raven"  Doré illustrated several fairy tales: Cendrillon (or Cinderella)  Don Quixote  Little Red Riding Hood  Camelot, an illustration for Idylls of the King  Merlin advising King Arthur, an illustration for Idylls of the King  Andromeda  Charon, from the Divine Comedy  Charon herds the sinners onto his boat, taking them to be judged, from the Divine Comedy  Mohammed, from the Divine Comedy  Illustration: Dante is accepted as an equal by the great Greek and Roman poets, from the Divine Comedy  The Tempest of Hell in the Divine Comedy  La Défense Nationale, bronze sculpture, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas  The first ascent of the Matterhorn  The fatal accident on the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865  Over London by Rail, c. 1870. From London: A Pilgrimage  Landscape in Scotland, ca. 1878, Walters Art Museum  The council of the rats  Death on the pale horse, Bible illustration

Works

Doré was a prolific artist; thus the following list of works, though extensive, is by no means comprehensive (e.g. it does not include his sculptures, paintings, nor many of his journal illustrations):

Date	Author	Work	Volumes / Format	Illustrations	Publisher	Ref
1854	Gustave Doré	Histoire pittoresque dramatique et caricaturale de la Sainte Russie, d'après les chroniqueurs et historiens Nestor Nikan Sylvestre Karamsin Ségur etc.	1 vol.	500	Paris: de Bry	[9]
1854	Rabelais	Oeuvres contenant la vie de Gargantua et celle de Pantagruel ...	1 vol. 4to.	Frontis. & 15	J.Bry Ainé, Paris	[10]
1855	Honoré de Balzac	Les Contes Drôlatiques		425	Société Générale de la Libraire, and in Le Journal pour Tous	[11]
1856		Fierabras d'Alexandrie, Légende Nationale traduite par Mary Lafon	1 vol in 8vo	123	Librairie Nouvelle	[12]
1856		Mémoires d'un Jeune Cadet, par Victor Percival		48		[12]
1856		La Légende du Juif Errant	1 vol. grand in folio	12 Image:Wandering jew title page.jpg	Michel Lévy	[12]
1857[13]	Dante Alighieri	L'Enfer		70[citation needed]		[14]
1857 autumn	Ed. de La Bédollière	Nouveau Paris, Histoire de ses 20 Arrondissements	1 vol in 4to	150	Barba	[15]
1857 autumn	Valéry Vernier	Aline, Journal d'un Jeune Homme,		one large page	Dentu	[15]
1860–1862	Thomas Mayne Reid	L'Habitation du Désert,	1 vol. in 16mo	60	Hachette	[15]
1860–1862	Ann S. Stevens	La Fille du Grand Chieftain	1 vol.	15		[15]
1860–1862	M. V. Victor	Flêche d'Or	1 vol.	13		[15]
1860–1862	E. S. Ellis	L'Ange des Frontières	1 vol.	10		[15]
1860–1862	N. W. Buxted	Les Vierges de la Forêt	1 vol.	10		[15]
1860	William Shakespeare	The Tempest	1 vol. in 4to		(London)	[15]
1861		Les Figures du Temps,	1 vol. in 12mo		(Paris)	[15]
1861	Plouvier and Vincent	Les Chansons d'Autrefois	in 12mo		Coulon and Pineau, Paris	[15]
1861	Edmond About[16]	Le Roi des Montagnes	1 vol. in 8vo	157	Hachette and Co., Paris	[15]
1862	Saintine	Les Mythologies du Rhin	1 vol. in 8vo	165	Hachette and Co., Paris	[15]
1862	L'Abbé Léon Godard	L'Espagne, Mœurs et Paysages,	2 vols in 8vo	4 Image:Moeurs et paysages title page.jpg	Alfred Mame et Fils, Tours Image:Moeurs et paysages title page.jpg or Paris[15]	[15]
1862	Malte-Brun[17]	Les États Unis et le Mexique	1 vol. in 4to		Brun, Paris	[15]
1862		Histoire aussi intéressante qu'invraisemblable de l'intrépide Capitaine Castagnette, neveu de l'Homme à la Tête de Bois	1 vol. in 4to	43	Hachette	[15]
1862	Charles Perrault	Les Contes de Perrault		11		[18]
1866		Aventures du Baron de Münchausen, traduction nouvelle par Théophile Gautier fils	1 vol.		(London)	[15]
1863	M. Épiné	Légende de Croquemitaine	1 vol. in 4to	177	Hachette	[15]
1863	Gastineau	La Chasse au Lion et à la Panthère	1 vol. in 8vo		Hachette and Co.	[15]
1863	Miguel de Cervantes	Don Quixote de la Mancha translation by Louis Viardot	2 vols. folio	370	Hachette and Co., Paris, and Cassell and Co., London	[15]
1863		Les Contes de Perrault or in Spanish Los Cuentos de Perrault		100+	Hetzels. in Spanish by Ledouse	[15]
1865	Gastineau	De Paris en Afrique	1 vol. in 12mo		(Paris)	[15]
1865	A. Masse	L'Histoire d'un Minute	1 vol., 12mo		(Paris)	[15]
1866	Victor Hugo	Travailleurs de la Mer			Sampson Low and Co., London	[15][19]
1865	E. Edgar	Cressy and Poictiers	1 vol. in 8vo	50+	(London)	[15]
1865	Thomas Moore	L'Épicurien (French translation)	in 8vo		(Paris)	[15]
1865	Tom Hood	Fairy Realm	in folio		(London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler)	[15]
1865	Quatrelles	Le Chevalier Beautemps	grand in 8vo		(Paris)	[20]
1865	Chateaubriand	Atala	2 vols, grand folio	80	Hachette Edition	[15]
1866	Théophile Gautier	Le Capitaine Fracasse	1 vol. grand in 8vo	60	Charpentier	[15]
1866	G. La Bédollière	Histoire de la Guerre en Mexique	in 4to		(Paris)	[15]
1866	Dante Alighieri	The Vision of Hell			London, Cassell, Petter, and Galpin	[15]
1867	Dante Alighieri	Il Purgatorio ed il Paradiso			Hachette and Co.	[15]
1866[21]	X. B. Saintine	Le Chemin des Écoliers	1 vol. in 8vo	450 Image:Le chemin des ecoliers title page.jpg(not all by Doré)	Hachette and Co.	[15]
1866		La Sainte Bible, according to the Vulgate, new translation	2 vols. grand in folio	200+	Mame, Tours; Cassell and Co., England	[15]
1866	John Milton	Paradise Lost		50 Plates	Cassell and Co.	[15]
1867	La Bédollière	La France et la Russie			(Paris)	[15]
1867		Les Fables de Lafontaine	2 vols. in folio	8 large and 250 small plates	Hachette and Co.	[15]
1867		Les Pays-bas et la Belgique	in 8vo		(Paris)	[15]
1870	Thomas Hood	(Poems)	2 vols. in folio	9 Plates	Ward and Lock, London	[15]
1870	Samuel Taylor Coleridge	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner[22]	grand in 4to	40 large and 3 small drawings		[15]
1873		New edition of Rabelais	2 vols. in folio		Paris : Garnier; London: Chatto and Windus	[15]
1876	Louis Énault	London	1 vol. in 4to	174 wood engravings	Hachette and Co.	[15]
1874	Baron Ch. Davilliers	L'Espagne	in 4to	309 wood-engravings	Hachette and Co.; London: Sampson Low and Co.	[15]
1875	Michaud	Histoire des Croisades	2 vol. medium folio	100 grand compositions	Paris: Hachette and Co.	[15]
	Alfred Tennyson	Idylls of the King				[15]
1877	Ariosto	Orlando Furioso		36 drawings	Hachette and Co. (London: Ward and Lock)	[15]
1884	Edgar Allan Poe	The Raven

 ~Chris

For more info on Chris please visit his  author page to see a complete listing of his books. Then check out his publisher's page at www.salemhousepress.com. Plus, play all the fun games at www.awalkthroughsalem.com !

Arkham and H.P. Lovecarft

 "What lay behind our joint love of shadows and marvels was, no doubt, the ancient,
mouldering, and subtly fearsome town in which we live - witch-cursed, legend-haunted
Arkham, whose huddled, sagging gambrel roofs and crumbling Georgian balustrades
brood out the centuries beside the darkly muttering Miskatonic." Thing on the Doorstep

Some of you might know already Lovecraft's strong connections to Salem. For those who do not know yet, let me fill you in.

Lovecraft first journey to Salem in April of 1923. Arkham is the home of Miskatonic University, which figures prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in both At the Mountains of Madness (1936) and The Shadow Out of Time (1936). Walter Gilman, of The Dreams in the Witch House (1933), attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in Arkham are the Arkham Historical Society and the Arkham Sanitarium. It is said in Herbert West—Reanimator, the town was devastated by a typhoid outbreak in 1905. Arkham’s most notable characteristics are its gambrel roofs and the dark legends that have surrounded the city for centuries.

Danvers State Hospital is the basis for his Arkham Sanitarium. Later the Batman universe will borrow that mythos and rename it Arkham Asylum. In 1992, the same year the old Salem Jail was closed, they shut their doors and sent the patients walking to Salem's homeless shelter. Both buildings are now luxury condos.... Only in Salem! In 2012 my friend Jon Archer actually took a cupola from the building and attached it to a new wing on his mansion. He also appropriated one of their lobotomy kits amidst many other architectural artifacts he incorporated in his new wing. Danvers State Hospital is said to have performed the first lobotomy.

Other Buildings and the quotes they are mentioned in from his stories....

Crowninshield-Bentley House

Asenath had bought the old Crowninshield place in the country at the end of High Street, and they proposed to settle there after a short trip to Innsmouth, whence three servants and some books and household goods were to be brought. (“The Thing on the Doorstep”)

The Derby House 

We discussed certain possible arrangements for his moving back into the Derby mansion, and I hoped that he would lose no time in making the change. He did not call the next evening, but I saw him frequently during the ensuing weeks. We talked as little as possible about strange and unpleasant things, but discussed the renovation of the old Derby house, and the travels which Edward promised to take with my son and me the following summer. (“The Thing on the Doorstep”)

 Charter Street Burial Ground, Salem
 
....you know Pickman comes of old Salem stock, and had a witch ancestor hanged in 1692. (“Pickman’s Model”)

Danvers State Hospital 

Before long I was pretty nearly a devotee, and would listen for hours like a schoolboy to art theories and philosophic speculations wild enough to qualify him for the Danvers asylum. (“Pickman’s Model”)

  I’ve heard personally of more’n one business or government man that’s disappeared there, and there’s loose talk of one who went crazy and is out at Danvers now. (“The Shadow Over Innsmouth”) 

So as you walk through the streets and dark corners of Salem, be careful. Be aware! You never know when one of his critters might be stalking up on you.....

 ~Chris

To find out more about Chris and his peculiar habits visit his page filled with fun games and animation. Then check out his publishers page to see a list of his books and the works of his friends at Salem House Press. Also check out the cool site dedicated to The Salem Trilogy!

Black Cat Magazine~Pulp Fiction from the Witch City

The Black Cat Magazine was started in 1895 in Boston  under the editorial eye of Herman Daniel (H.D.) Umbstaetter of  Salem , Massachusetts. It initially focused on strange fantasy stories and welcomed contributions from first-time writers. Science fiction writer Clark Ashton Smith first got his start in its pages. The most notable neophyte writer to launch his career in The Black Cat was Jack London, whose short story A Thousand Deaths was published in May 1899 and earned him $40.

In 1912 the Black Cat was moved to Salem as the city was transforming into the Witch City. What better timing. Umbstaetter died in 1913 and the editorial reigns passed through a few more hands before resting in those of Harold E. Bessom in 1915. At the start of 1919, Black Cat announced the beginning of the Black Cat Club. BCC membership allowed subscribers to submit critiques of stories that appeared in the magazine, and would pay one penny a word in return. The club folded by the end of the year.

Henry Miller first learned of this "club" when he happened to purchase a 15-cent copy of the January 1919 issue of The Black Cat.  Although Henry Miller did not write any stories for the magazine, he did have 5 critiques published. Upon payment of his first critique he was so happy he threw his hat in the air. It landed in traffic and that was the end of that hat....

The last issue of the Black Cat was published in 1922 in NYC. Although this is not the end of clever short stories with gripping illustrations. In Oct 2013 Salem House Press published Arkham: Tales from the Flipside . Pulp fiction covering sci-fi, horror, humorous narrative, and fantasy. They are offering emagazine subscriptions on their website. On their page they also give offer a free audio cast of stories by Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and more.

 ~Chris

To find out more about Chris and his peculiar habits visit his page filled with fun games and animation. Then check out his publishers page to see a list of his books and the works of his friends at Salem House Press. Also check out the cool site dedicated to The Salem Trilogy!

The Dancing Fool and Happiness!

Hello everyone,
For those who know me they will not be surprised to see me burst out in dance anywhere good music is! I almost lost a girlfriend who ran away from me when I started dancing in the local mall while and Irish band played in the corridor... Oh well! I should of let her keep running and kept dancing and smiling! My next girlfriend understood and she found this amazing book about dancing and happiness!

I Hope You Dance 

(http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31315.I_Hope_You_Dance_With_I_Hope_You_Dance_CD_)

OK, for those who do not know me, here is a sneak peak....

 Crazy Legs at The Lowell Folk Festival

Now you will understand why I am going to share the video below. Pharell Williams has put together 24 hrs of people dance as happy as I do! The first video will give you a taste what it is like to dance and be happy! If you are hooked, you might want to watch the 4 hour video. If you become an addict, you might go for the full 24 hrs. Imagine that! If you can watch the full 24 hrs you truly have danced your way to happiness! Enjoy!

4 Min Video

4 Hour Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_75VGPxUPI

24 Hour Video
http://24hoursofhappy.com/

Pass it around!

 ~Chris

To find out more about Chris and his peculiar habits visit his page filled with fun games and animation. Then check out his publishers page to see a list of his books and the works of his friends at Salem House Press. Also check out the cool site dedicated to The Salem Trilogy!

New Book Available: Max Teller's Amazing Adventure.

Hello,
Here is another tale from the warped side of my brain...

Every child dreams about flying, but when have we ever gotten the chance to do so... Max did though. Max Teller is a precocious boy who was left in a precarious predicament one fine afternoon. Can you even imagine what soup this child got himself into? Alas not, then I will tell you.

Have you not desired that one day you could be brave enough to fly? Of course you have, we all have been children. Some people like myself in an advanced age remain one to this day. My envy for Mr. Teller can not be rivaled, for he indeed flew! Oh he did not start off so brave, nor was it a journey he asked for, but one that called him!

Read our tale today and find out if Max what happens to Max!

The Print version will not be available till March, but you can buy the Kindle version on Amazon Today!
Go for it!


 ~Chris

To find out more about Chris and his peculiar habits visit his page filled with fun games and animation. Then check out his publishers page to see a list of his books and the works of his friends at Salem House Press. Also check out the cool site dedicated to The Salem Trilogy!

Fairies!

Arthur Rackham created the world of fairies, elves, gnomes and the other woodland creatures. He influenced Alan Lee and Brian Froud. His critters filled children's head for nearly a century now!

Arthur Rackham

Arthur Rackham is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators from the 'Golden Age' of British book illustration which encompassed the years from 1900 until the start of the First World War. During that period, there was a strong market for high quality illustrated books that typically were given as Christmas gifts. Many of Rackham's books were produced in a de luxe limited edition, often vellum bound and sometimes signed, as well as a larger, less ornately bound quarto 'trade' edition. This was often followed by a more modestly presented octavo edition in subsequent years for particularly popular books. The onset of the war in 1914 curtailed the market for such quality books, and the public's taste for fantasy and fairies also declined in the 1920s.
Arthur Rackham's works have become very popular since his death, both in North America and Britain. His images have been widely used by the greeting card industry and many of his books are still in print or have been recently available in both paperback and hardback editions. His original drawings and paintings are keenly sought at the major international art auction houses.

Technique

Rackham invented his own unique technique which resembled photographic reproduction; he would first sketch an outline of his drawing, then lightly block in shapes and details. Afterwards he would add lines in pen and India ink, removing the pencil traces after it had dried. With colour pictures, he would then apply multiple washes of colour until translucent tints were created. He would also go on to expand the use of silhouette cuts in illustration work, particularly in the period after the First World War, as exemplified by his Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.^[4]
Typically, Rackham contributed both colour and monotone illustrations towards the works incorporating his images - and in the case of Hawthorne's Wonder Book, he also provided a number of part-coloured block images similar in style to Meiji era Japanese woodblocks.
Rackham's work is often described as a fusion of a northern European 'Nordic' style strongly influenced by the Japanese woodblock tradition of the 19th century.