Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe 1923

Harry Clarke made this drawing for Edgar Allan Poe’s "Tales of Mystery and Imagination". It's all about mark-making, a crazy black and white world built with the pen. The density is wild. He wasn't messing around! The lines create a feeling of deep texture and pattern across the image, giving it an almost haunted quality. Look at the figure’s mask, and the ribbons across their body. The ribbons look like a physical form, and create a strong sense of depth, as it contrasts with the flat background. It all contributes to this overwhelming feeling of dread and mystery. It's like the visual equivalent of Poe's writing, a translation into graphic form! I think Aubrey Beardsley would have dug this. Both artists embrace this idea of art as a playground for the imagination.