The sweet and touching tale of Fleur and Blanchefleur 1922

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale’s drawing of ‘The sweet and touching tale of Fleur and Blanchefleur’ is all about simple bold line, and blocks of color, but it’s really about the telling of a story. I love to imagine the artist's thinking as she laid down those lines. How does a story get told through images? What are the conventions to signify royalty, movement, and all the elements she needed to communicate the narrative of Fleur and Blanchefleur? It’s a medieval tale. I want to be transported. I find myself thinking about illuminated manuscripts and the flatness of the picture plane, which reminds me of the work of painters like Chris Ofili, or even medieval tapestries. All these painters and artists are connected through time. Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale makes me think about the possibilities of storytelling in art, where the narrative emerges through the conversation of line, color, and form. It opens up a space of imagination and wonder.