Both of these artists make me want to learn printmaking-- the only kind I know how to do is linoleum block printing, which won't allow for the detail my current project needs. I have a little experience silk-screening and hope to get some practice with that and I'd also really like to try intaglio. Maybe my next project (Spring 2012) can take the form of prints. Printing would complement my interest in bookmaking (which I will also need technical help with.)
Aubrey Beardsley
I'm drawn to Beardsley's style and his political efficacy. He critiqued the decadence of the Victorian society in which he lived with shocking and humorous caricatures of the world around him. Like Aristophanes, he used sexy humor to convey his political message in a form which attracts audiences timelessly.
After typing the paragraph above, I realized Beardsley illustrated a version of Lysistrata! Gotta find a copy of that.
Like me, Morris was an author-artist who was conscious of the balance the beauty and legibility of text, and he appropriated Medieval layout/calligraphy to integrate text and image:
I began printing books with the hope of producing some which would have a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be easy to read and should not dazzle the eye, or trouble the intellect of the reader by eccentricity of form in the letters. I have always been a great admirer of the calligraphy of the Middle Ages...It was the essence of my undertaking to produce books which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing and arrangement of type.
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