Engraver, painter and illustrator, Frans Masereel was a tireless witness
to the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century, a militant
artist, close to libertarian ideals. In 1918, Frans Masereel published
25 images of a man's passion. He had already published Standing the Dead
and The Dead Speak. ---- He conceptualized stories without words. His
work is prolific: My Book of Hours (1919), The Sun (1919), Idée. His
birth, his life, his death (1920), History without words (1920), The
City, started in 1918 and finished in 1925. His initial idea: a story, a
narration without text, based solely on engravings.
The Belgian artist had just invented the wordless novel. In turn, the
capitalists, the gun sellers, the dehumanized world that affects the
European proletariat, the war and the resulting chaos are denounced and
torn to pieces.
Other engraving artists from the interwar period took up this mode of
sequential narration with strong political and social connotations.
Masereel's novels in engravings are wordless but not without story. They
narrate life, the daily life of the proletariat, dreams of escape, love.
If the whole prints dark, dark stories, this is as much due to the
technique used as to the artist's outlook or the subject observed.
This work, the result of in-depth research, invites us into the very
particular universe of Frans Masereel, full of revolts and poetry. The
different chapters that structure this book help to understand this
atmosphere, both fascinating and disconcerting, of an artist with
multiple artistic production, of an artist engaged in the struggles of
his time.
His influence goes beyond the field of wood engraving. Some attribute to
it a connection with the art of comics. Its graphics are powerful,
realistic, magical and social. Under these features, this skillfully
maintained tension expresses his disgust for injustice and the
aspiration for an egalitarian society. His work is crossed by his
anti-capitalism and his anti-militarism.
Final tribute, the quote from Stefan Zweig: "Everything could perish:
all the books, monuments, photographs and documents, if the xylographs
that Frans Masereel created during these ten years remained, through
them alone our contemporary world could be reconstructed , and what's
more, nothing but these sheets would give us an insight into the
dangerous spirit, the genius and the psychic turmoil of our time.» A
committed witness to his time, he was one of those artists with a
libertarian streak. He marked his era and well beyond. A small regret,
the size of the 150 illustrations takes away from the power of the line.
Frans-Masereel Foundation : Masereel.org/work/gegen-den-krieg/
Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)
Samuel Dégardin, Stories without words. The novels in engravings of
Frans Masereel, The escape / The people of the book, 320 pages, 150
illustrations, 24 euros
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_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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to the upheavals of the first half of the 20th century, a militant
artist, close to libertarian ideals. In 1918, Frans Masereel published
25 images of a man's passion. He had already published Standing the Dead
and The Dead Speak. ---- He conceptualized stories without words. His
work is prolific: My Book of Hours (1919), The Sun (1919), Idée. His
birth, his life, his death (1920), History without words (1920), The
City, started in 1918 and finished in 1925. His initial idea: a story, a
narration without text, based solely on engravings.
The Belgian artist had just invented the wordless novel. In turn, the
capitalists, the gun sellers, the dehumanized world that affects the
European proletariat, the war and the resulting chaos are denounced and
torn to pieces.
Other engraving artists from the interwar period took up this mode of
sequential narration with strong political and social connotations.
Masereel's novels in engravings are wordless but not without story. They
narrate life, the daily life of the proletariat, dreams of escape, love.
If the whole prints dark, dark stories, this is as much due to the
technique used as to the artist's outlook or the subject observed.
This work, the result of in-depth research, invites us into the very
particular universe of Frans Masereel, full of revolts and poetry. The
different chapters that structure this book help to understand this
atmosphere, both fascinating and disconcerting, of an artist with
multiple artistic production, of an artist engaged in the struggles of
his time.
His influence goes beyond the field of wood engraving. Some attribute to
it a connection with the art of comics. Its graphics are powerful,
realistic, magical and social. Under these features, this skillfully
maintained tension expresses his disgust for injustice and the
aspiration for an egalitarian society. His work is crossed by his
anti-capitalism and his anti-militarism.
Final tribute, the quote from Stefan Zweig: "Everything could perish:
all the books, monuments, photographs and documents, if the xylographs
that Frans Masereel created during these ten years remained, through
them alone our contemporary world could be reconstructed , and what's
more, nothing but these sheets would give us an insight into the
dangerous spirit, the genius and the psychic turmoil of our time.» A
committed witness to his time, he was one of those artists with a
libertarian streak. He marked his era and well beyond. A small regret,
the size of the 150 illustrations takes away from the power of the line.
Frans-Masereel Foundation : Masereel.org/work/gegen-den-krieg/
Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)
Samuel Dégardin, Stories without words. The novels in engravings of
Frans Masereel, The escape / The people of the book, 320 pages, 150
illustrations, 24 euros
maildiasporafacebookprintertumblrtwitter
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Samuel-Degardin-Romans-en-gravures-Histoires-sans-paroles-mais-pas-sans
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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