Robert Brandon's introduction to the 1935 edition of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales describes Joyce Mercer's style as 'inimitable and peculiarly individualistic; her treatment exemplary. Children cannot fail to be interested in the marvellous colour drawings and the subtle humour of the black and white; and grown ups will appreciate them also.'
The craft of the line in these illustrations is extremely elegant and calligraphic - and, graphically, extremely satisfying, particularly in the vignettes, with their sense of balance and consistency in the character and concentration of line work. They would look quite at home next to a treble clef. Unfortunately, these 1992 prints of the illustrations do not do justice to the precision and sharpness of the original drawings. The colour illustrations have a 'stained glass' look to them and use flowing black lines to contain some areas of colour, while other colours bleed into each other to create a marble effect.
4 comments:
My mother had this book (The complete edition of Anderson and Grimm) and as a child I loved it and the illustrations, which are so beautifully formed. I have just inherited her book, thanks for posting the illustrations for other people to enjoy.
Rachael
Thank you for sharing these most glorious illustrations!! I was so inamoured I stayed for a long while. Are they all public domain?^
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post these. I had just had Mercer mentioned to me as reminiscent of some of James McCracken's work in a 1930 edition of "A Child's Garden of Verses" by RLS published by Whitman Co. And now I can see some similarities!
I have this much loved book, had it read to me as a child and delighted in the illustrations, as have my children and now my grandchildren. It was these illustrations that led to my love of art and design.
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