Harry Clarke - Poe Illustrations 2

To go with the previous post (here) on Harry Clarke's monotone illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe' Tales of Mystery and Imagination, here are the eight colour illustrations. They are, like the others, so beautiful! I am especially fond of the picture for The Tell-tale Heart, for that is my favourite of Poe's stories; Clarke's illustration is just as I imagined the scene to look, yet actually slightly creepier! The murderer's toes are rather scary. I have seen a copy of Poe's book with the 24 monotone illustrations, and what a lovely book!, but never one with the coloured plates as well. That would be wonderful but I assume quite expensive. And also, the beautiful pictures wouldn't be seen - I would rather put the pictures up on my wall. I might just do that... with some nice gold frames.

Harry Clarke - Poe Illustrations

Being a massive fan of Edgar Allan Poe for years, I was very pleased to discover the wonderful illustrations of Harry Clarke, 1889-1931. Clarke, an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator, is surprisingly little known these days, despite being a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and a general amazing artist. I think this a great shame, for his work is really beautiful, similar to Aubrey Beardsley but still unique. For this post I wish to share Clarke's illustrations for Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. These are only the 24 monotone illustrations, I will post the 8 colour plates tomorrow. I really love these works; really dark and gothic, perfectly illustrating Poe's short stories. I love the contrasts between solid black and white and exquisite detail.  I wonder what Edgar Allan Poe himself would think of Harry Clarke's imaginings of his stories... I for one think they perfectly embody the masterful and amazing stories of Poe.

Hope you have enjoyed these stunning illustrations as much as I do!

Best Wishes