PICTORI c.02
Hello. Welcome to Pictori. Stories from the History of Illustration.
I am Anton and I will lead you through this episode.
In our first chapter we heard, how the the word „Illustration“ transformed in the 19th century into the meaning we know today. We also now know that Illustrations could be seen for the first time in everyday life, because of illustrated newspapers and magazines. And they had a massive popularity.
Today we will have a look at the critics of this new medium in the early days. What the critics were about where they may come from and why they still have an influence on how Illustration is seen today.
Although the big popularity of illustrated print media starts around the 1830s there was criticism before - mostly towards book illustration. And there is a lot of indignation.
But before we dive into specific critics lets take a look back at the first pictori chapter and the reasons I mentioned. I keep it short and simple:
Illustrations were seen as trivial
Illustrations is a low art form and not intellectual
It is baby literature 1
Lets take a short look at number 1:
1. Illustration were seen as trivial or even silly.
Well there was some bias against visual representations throughout the 18th century. This might root in some religious movements, which wanted more pragmatic way of life or in even in the enlightenment. Jean Jacques Rousseau 2 really was no friend of culture in general.
Another reason might be the presence of caricatures. Which were most of the times ribald and bizarre.
But caricatures are a field on its own.
And of course from the 1830s on the newspaper and magazine illustrations, which were mostly sensational. Depicting catastrophes, war, robberies or even murder. 3
And this leads to our main part: the second point.
2. Because of these images in newspapers, Illustration was seen as to sensual - speaking to the feelings rather than the rationalism. It is not intellectual and is even falling short of being high art.
For the time written art was seen way above pictorial arts. And a combination has the consequence that the high art of writing is pulled down on the level of illustration. Or might even drown.
We will now look at some examples for this point to see why Illustration was not seen as art and what authors thought it might do with their poems or novels. But I want to prepend a small note: All named authors had authorized illustrated books. It might be easy to denounce them now. But well they had at least sometimes reasonable arguments.
In the case of German historian August Wilhelm Schlegel I am not quite sure if he has some.
In 1799 the wrote an essay about „drawings for poems“ 4 and why the British artist John Flaxman did an amazing job by contributing engravings to Dantes Divine Comedy and Homers Ilias.
But before he praises Flaxman, he critizes book illustration harshly. To say the least. He calls them „embryonic births“, which do not produce „mature content“. He then goes on that the format of a book page is not suitable for art and therefore there is no true relationship between image and text. But in favor for the artist he also states, that they rarely get high quality literature. 5
Furthermore there is the illustrator William Hogarth, who Schlegel despised. 6 He certifies him „artistic inabilities“ and that he is blind towards „beauty“. Anything else than kind.
So what did Hogarth do to annoy him so much?
Well Hogarth was famous for his moralizing and sociocritical art, which was often presented in a series of paintings, like the eight picture installment „The Rakes Progress“, in which Tom Rakewell, the son of a rich trader, spends all his money on luxury goods, prostitutes and gambling. He then ends insane in an mental asylum.
Where is the problem you may ask?
For someone like Schlegel, who saw greek art with his ideals as highest achievement in form and beauty, this was to much. So it should not surprise you, that these wicked depictions were not well received by him. 7
In his essay he then turns to Flaxmans drawings. You will now understand, why they are a good example of book illustration for Schlegel. Because Flaxman imitates and modifies the style of a greek vase. Outline drawings with gentle strokes. An aesthetic which was the criteria for beauty at the time. Schlegels conclusion and advice was, that everybody shall imitate this style. As we now know, he had not had the influence on book illustration to establish this style only. But he could pet himself on his shoulder 30 years later, because the Flaxman 8 engravings were highly popular all over Europe. Which was a proof for him, that he was right.
At least he only was not inclined to certain art styles. Others seem to have an aversion to all illustrations.
Namely Charles Lamb and his friend William Wordsworth. Both poets had quite an puritanical view on Illustrations in books. So our first point that illustrations are trivial plays a role here, too. Both wanted simpler books no odds and ends, just texts. And well, you can not argue with taste. But these views had their roots in prejudice.
What happened?
In 1833 Charles Lamb 9 got a book copy of poems by his friend Samuel Rogers. The book was illustrated. Lamb did not like that and wrote a flat denial towards the illustrations back.
Rogers himself was not the most beloved poet 10 around that time and he had problems to sell his books. But he was wealthy and could easily effort a fine and pleasant book with illustrations, because that sells, despite its lack of quality.
The comic historian Brian M. Kane 11 wrote a great in depth look at where the origins of prejudice towards illustration and comic books lie. I will link that in the sources. He points out, that Lamb did not like this cheap money trick to sell books. But instead of telling his friend Rogers the truth - that this is a move he does not like - „a cheap trick“ - Lamb blamed the illustrators. And if you then hear that one of them was William Turner, you will understand that Lamb was not pleased with Rogers publishing strategy rather than his taste in including illustrations.
As I said, read Brian M. Kane. He also provides an interesting view on how the prejudice came out of misogyny. Because the written word was seen as superior and male, pictorial art instead was female. As I said a wonderful and revealing Dissertation about Graphic Novels by him.
Now back to Lamb.
Criticizing Illustration was not new to Lamb: 30 years prior 12 to this situation he attacked the Boydells Shakespeare Gallery. 13 John Boydell begann to work on the Gallery in 1789 and it was finished in 1803. Boydell commissioned great artists of the time to engrave or paint scenes from Shakespeare plays. By the end he had around 170 paintings (unfortunately most of the artworks disappered).
Lamb visited this Gallery and oh dear he was not amused. The reason? It was an insult to his imagination. It seems like an outcry of a fanboy who sees his favorite book turning into a movie.
But he was not alone, another Shakespeare connoisseur the German poet Ludwig Tieck, 14 wrote an critical essay about the Gallery, too.
A friend of Tieck was Johann von Goethe. Who also had issues with illustrations. 15 He wrote a letter to his publisher, 16 that he does not want illustrations for his Faust. Goethe does not only want the Figure of Heinrich Faust depicted, he also adds that, the images shall correspond closely with the text and build a harmony. And Goethe doubts that an artist can do justice to the task.
Goethes relation to Illustration is complicated. He does not want his Faust to be illustrated. „It is to poetic“ he said and shall not restrict the readers imagination. But after the release of the book, several artist did drawings of it. And Goethe liked a few.
The French Gustave Flaubert followed a similar path. 17 He did not want illustrations in any of his books, because it goes against the imagination.
A question which arose around the time was, to what extent illustration can be seen as visual art. The invention, the idea and the concept was the main criteria in fine arts, but illustration was not included. Because Illustration takes its themes from a text source. The accusation was, that the Illustrator did not create something on its own. 18
The Foreign Quaterly Review summed it up as following in 1833: „Illustrations are insipid, prosy, unimaginative Things, seemingly manufactured for the purpose of bringing down the works of a popular author on the level of the lowest taste“. 19
All that did not stop the rise of the Penny Magazine and the massive London Illustrated News. And the latter have clearly recognized a movement, which cannot be stoped. In the first issue from 1842 it says: „Art has, in fact, become the bright of literature“ 20 and that we have watched the admiration and progress of illustrative art. The newspaper praised illustration all over. And who can hold it against them, it was a guarantee for success.
Well William Wordsworth sure can. The name speaks for itself Wordsworth, the worth of words. Sorry for that one.
In 1846 he wrote a poem simply called „Illustrated Books and Newspapers“. 21 For him Illustration is „dumb art“ and it is „infantile“.
We can intervene the third point of criticism here:
3. That it turns back to a babyish reception. Because children need pictures, but not grown ups.
Wordsworth claims that Britain is returning to a primitive state, 22 because of the influence of illustration. wow.
Despite this harsh words Wordsworth was attracted by illustration in the past. He did not want to get rid of illustration. So what does he want?
To put it simply he did not wanted to be dictated by especially low quality visual art. 23
The London Illustrated News was sensationalism. And subordinated the texts under the image. Wordsworth had a complex relationship 24 with visual art and he wanted to point out that words and visual arts shall co-operate and not compete.
You have to keep in mind that everything was quite new for all involved here. Therefore I would take conservatism in the sense of „resisting change“, 25 into the discussion too.
This low appreciation made itself felt, especially in art history. Illustration has not been given equal treatment, as paintings or sculptures. It was more seen as arts and crafts.
Goethe said about Daniel Chodowiecki, one of the most famous illustrators of the 18th century, that „Chodowiecki, the artist, who we admire, eats meagre meals, but the craftsman, who illustrates a mess, is getting paid.“ 26 And William Blake added, that „Where there is money there is no art“. 27
Still, despite all this, Illustrations became the dominant media in the 19th century. And of course Illustration includes entertainment and visual pleasure, but so much more, too. Several artist, even Avantgarde, contributed illustrations to magazines and newspapers or books. And as Richard Maxwell wrote it:
„All arts in Britain during that time, yearned to achieve the condition of illustration“. 28
Many of the new media had the same starts: Comic books, animation or video games. The reputation of illustration suffered very long under the prejudice of these early days. But as I stated in the first episode it is changing.
And I like to say thank you to all pioneers and current illustrators, historians and everyone, who finds joy in illustration.
All there is to say is have a nice day!
SOURCES:
see Episode 1 for all Sources
Artes - Pro und Kontra VII: Untersuchungen zum gesellschaftlichen Diskurs zu Kunst, Wissenschaft und Technik, Vilmos Dr Czikkely, tredition, 2015, point 1.3.1.3.
Zur Umrisszeichnung in der Illustration, Max Kunze, In: Marginalien. Zeitschrift für Buchkunst und Bibliophilie 92, 1983, p.40-52
same see p.41 f
same see p.42
same see p.42 f
same see p.46f
Illustration Tourism Photography, Gillen D’Arcy Wood, IN: The Shock of the Real, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2001, p. 171 f
Brian M Kanes Dissertation Blog, see here Adapting the Graphic Novel Format for Undergraduate-Level Textbooks, Brian M Kane, Ohio State, 2013
see above
Mail Tribune: It's Shakespeare ... but is it art? by Philip Kennicott
see Wikipedia: Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
Zeichnung im Dienste der Literaturvermittlung: Moritz Retzschs Illustrationen als Ausdruck bürgerlichen Kunstverstehens, Viola Hildebrand-Schat, Königshausen & Neumann, 2004, p.223
Goethe-Handbuch Supplemente: Band 3: Kunst, Gabriele Busch-Salmen, Manfred Wenzel, Andreas Beyer, Ernst Osterkamp (Publisher), Springer-Verlag, 2011, p.252
Resümee: Katalysatoren der Einbildungskraft? Kupfer in der Kritik, Anna ChristinaSchütz, IN: Charakterbilder und Projektionsfiguren, Wallstein Verlag, 2019, p.317
Nineteenth-Century Illustration and the Digital: Studies in Word and Image, Julia Thomas, Springer, 201, p.54
Zeichnung im Dienste der Literaturvermittlung: Moritz Retzschs Illustrationen als Ausdruck bürgerlichen Kunstverstehens, Viola Hildebrand-Schat, Königshausen & Neumann, 2004, p.378
same see. 379
Picture World: Image, Aesthetics, and Victorian New Media, Rachel Teukolsky, Oxford University Press, 2020, p.152
Wordsworth’s “Illustrated Books and Newspapers” and Media of the City, Peter J. Manning, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2011, p.223 f
Illustration Tourism Photography, Gillen D’Arcy Wood, IN: The Shock of the Real, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2001, p. 172
Wordsworth and Word-Preserving Arts: Typographic Inscription, Ekphrasis and Posterity in the Later Work, Peter Simonsen, Springer, 2007, p.31
same see p.30 f
i took this from Jaleen Groves: But is it art? : the construction and valuation of illustration in Victoria 's Island Illustrators Society, 2006, p.4
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Brief an Johann Friedrich Krafft. 4/844, 9. September 1779
Daniel Chodowiecki (1726-1801): Kupferstecher, Illustrator, Kaufmann, Ernst Hinrichs, Klaus Zernack, Walter de Gruyter, 2012, p.11
Picture World: Image, Aesthetics, and Victorian New Media, Rachel Teukolsky, Oxford University Press, 2020, p.152
or
The Victorian Illustrated Book, Richard Maxwell, University of Virginia Press, 2002, xxi-xxx; xxii
Also see Poetry and Illustration “Amicable Strife”, Sophie Thomas, IN: A Companion to Romantic Poetry, Charles Mahoney, John Wiley & Sons, 2010
For A Rakes Progress see here and here
August Schlegels work you can read here