Pirates 1919

Charles Dunn made this illustration of pirates on paper, sometime in the 20th century. Look at the confident way he's used flat colours and bold outlines, which give the whole piece a graphic, almost poster-like quality. It makes me think about how an artist's choices, like Dunn's here, can really change how we see a subject. I am really drawn to the way Dunn has rendered the cliff face, with these flowing lines. They almost look like the drapery in a Renaissance painting. It is such a funny contrast, between these quite high art stylings, and the subject matter, which feels like something from a pulp novel. I love how the details, like the pirate’s jaunty red headscarf, add to the sense of playful adventure. Dunn's work shares some of the same illustrative qualities as N.C. Wyeth, but with a more stylized edge. It is a good reminder that art is really a dialogue across time, where artists borrow, steal, and transform ideas in their own unique way.