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I always admired Edward Gorey for his abilities to use the technique called 'crosshatching', using close parallel lines to create shading. I place Gorey at the top of the list of a group of modern children's book illustrators who rock this technique, including Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), and John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland). Each of these artists uses crosshatching to create amazing richness of form and the illusion of light and shadow. Grandfathers and masters to this technique are Rembrant and Durer who are the recognized masters for their control and use of crosshatching in religious etchings.
And then there was 'The Blue Aspic'.
In this illustrated childrens book by Edward Gorey, the author and illustrator uses the crosshatching technique to confound and confuse the eye in a way I have before seen.
Amazingly, the cross hatching seems to become a character all its own. At first the illustrations are standard Edward Gorey- amazing, intriguing, but standard. The plot opens with a man named Jasper Ankle, who is obsessed with an opera singer, Ortenzia Caviglia. The story progresses and the illustration style develops. Ortenzia undergoes a meteoric rise to fame. Jasper transforms from silent admirer to shifty stalker. The tale of unrequited love unfolds. And the crosshatching. Goes. Bananas. It literally starts to come forward off the page. As Jaspers reasoning becomes more and more clouded, the hatching visually begins to mask the socially neglected stalker from the other figures in the picture, heightening his isolation. As in Rembrandt's 'Crucifixion' states, Gorey uses hatching here to skillfully create atmosphere. The textured air blends seamlessly with the hatching on the Jasper's shabby coat for a delightful game of hide and seek. His meaningless existence is only questionable to the viewer. The author plays so many games with blocks of rich black ink to emphasize the blatant status of the portly paying opera attendees versus the slinking sneaker Jasper who gets hardly enough distinction to stand out from the page at all. For the best example of this, not pictured here, go to the bookstore and look for the example of Jasper trudging through the rain. Your imagination can already probably take you half way there.
Released in 1968, 'The Blue Aspic' is treasured as one of Gorey's iconic masterpieces.
John Tenneil's illustrations of 'Alice in Wonderland'
Rembrandt's 'Three Crucifixes'
Durer's 'Adam and Eve'
3 comments:
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The Blue Aspic is my favorite Gorey, no question. Even more than The Gashleycrumb Tinies.
thanks for that little lesson. sounds like a fascinating book.
I was read "Where the Wild Things Are" by my mother as a small child; as a bigger child I read "Alice in Wonderland." And then I saw Gorey's art come to life in the opening of the PBS "Mystery!" program. It made me adore Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and Herule Poirot. Whenever I see his work, I think that it is just for me. Thanks to my mother.
Plus, it is totally mind-blowing that he read Bram Stoker's "Dracula" at age 5. Cah-razy.
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