Lamotte:- the identity of the creator is curious.
I am aware of the limitations of Search Engines, - which becomes clearer when you search for something you know exists and cannot find hide nor hair of it. - but this work is nothing like the work attributed to
Bernard Lamotte, And no direct reference to this work turns up except links to Prof's site.
The introduction [that we have here] to the work by
Jacques de Lacretelle tells nothing about the artist or the motivation for the work. And if we knew that, we could better interpret the work.
A fall down a staircase at age sixteen left him bedridden for two years, which he spent at his window, observing and recording the ever-changing atmosphere of the Rue du Faubourg St. Honor?. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, Lamotte?s physical limitation opened his vision
And this kind of street scene painting is what he is most known for.
https://www.vosegalleries.com/artists/bernard-lamotte Except,
he developed a keen memory and ability to evoke a story from the most commonplace scenes, assets which served him for the rest of his life.
And that accurately describes what we have here.
I wish we knew the story behind this work.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
by Edgar Allan Poe. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym who stows away aboard a whaling ship called Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures further south. Docking on land, they encounter hostile black-skinned natives before escaping back to the ocean.
https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/47/the-narrative-of-arthur-gordon-pym/ And thanks for that site Prof. I will be going back there.
But perhaps should perhaps more accurately be described as 'the only
incomplete novel' as it appears incomplete.
The novel ends abruptly as Pym and Peters continue towards the South Pole.
So lets look at the extract that Prof has provided a link for.
The handwriting on the splash panel, First page [9] subliminally underlines that this is a first person narrative.
Second page [10] we have four portraits, combining visual delineation of the verbal descriptions with elements fleshing out the description.
When you start to look at these seeming scribbles in detail, you suddenly see evidence of forethought and subtlety. The father isn't just holding an anchor, he is hugging it and with a sly look on his face which contradicts ' a respectable trader' - Mr Peterson, the miser has a window behind him in which we see the sun about to set, underlining that he can't see the world for money. Mr Rickets portrait is not flattering but not unkind and the only prop is the inkwell on the desk.
Mr E Ronald sits dominantly over his academy concerned only with reading- mastering knowledge?
There is consistent background sea/ship imagery, first panel page one, last panel page 2 and then dominantly on page 12 when it enters the verbal narrative.
Each 2 portraits are linked with a ship picture - for this and the next page. Those two pages are both part of one monologue/ paragraph and he has visually linked them this way.
Page 15 panel 2 - he is in bed but the unusual angles are all energy, you can feel his restlessness.
Page 16 - technically a very minimal drawing, but you can feel the wind and the cold.
And so it goes.
This thing is like fine wine, you need to put aside a time for it and to savour it.
When a visual artist adapts a verbal narrative, its too easy to just draw pictures to illustrate it, but a really creative artist will add something to it so that it becomes a new creative entity. That's what we have here I believe.
Not the kind of book I was expecting when I gave Prof a guest spot and that 's what I like about guest posters for the reading group, I learn so much more and I am enriched by the learning. I hope you are too.
I hope we have exposed a few more 'Lurkers' - and I can be a pro lurker myself - to Profs' site and work. and to
A.E. Poe, if they haven't been already.
What Profs work makes abundantly clear is just how evocative and powerful Poe's verbal imagery is and how inspirational his work has been [and is continuing to be] to many other creatives. In comics, books, film and music, other visual art.
Cheers!