Frans Masereel: l'empreinte du monde = der Abdruck der Welt

Uittreksel

This monograph devoted to the work of Frans Masereel (1889-1972), engraved wood master and forerunner of the modern graphic novel, is the first published in the world for over 40 years, but also the largest ever published. Some of the engravings reproduced in this book are part of the heritage of art history. They have been reproduced many times on book covers, posters and postcards. Others are rarer or unknown to the public and have never been published or exhibited to date. They have been found in funds all over Europe, museums or private collections, mainly in Germany, Belgium and France. The reader will also be able to discover an exceptional new text, interviews Frans Masereel with his publisher Pierre Vorms in which the artist precisely evokes the genesis of his work and in particular the creation of his novels in images, such as My Book of Hours ( 1919), Le Soleil (1919), Idée (1920) and La Ville (1925), which made him famous all over the world. With his novels without words, Frans Masereel is today considered the inventor of the novel in modern images. Soon enough, Masereel's influence will cross the borders of Europe and will win major American writers such as Lynd Ward (Wild Pilgrimage, 1932). Then, with the revival of comics, it is rediscovered by the precursors of the graphic novel such as Art Spiegelman (Maus, 1986) or Eric Drooker (Flood !, 1992) who signs the preface of this monograph. An essay by Samuel Degardin offers a vision of Masereel's "work in the dark", from his novels in pictures, to large boards, to his work as an illustrator in the service of the pacifist cause. ----LDS Magazine.