The art of Maxwell Armfield, 1881–1972
De Profundis.
I’ve known Maxwell Armfield’s work in the past mainly for the appearance of his paintings in books of late Victorian or even Pre-Raphaelite art. His depiction of Faustine (1904), which illustrates a Swinburne poem, is probably the most popular of these, with a subject resembling Rossetti’s portraits of Jane Morris. So it’s a surprise to find his illustration work using a very different, more open style based on Ancient Greek art and (possibly) Classical enthusiasts such as John Flaxman. Among the online examples, the redoubtable Archive.org has a few book downloads available including a volume of Armfield’s rather tepid poetry, The Hanging Garden, and other verse (1914), which nonetheless includes the fine illustrations shown here. In addition there’s a curious fable by Vernon Lee, The Ballet of the Nations; a Present-day Morality (1915) in which Death stages a ballet (aka another war) to decimate humanity, and a short book Rhythmic Shape; A Text-book of Design (1920), Armfield’s guide to art and design theory.
“Out of the East he came.”
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The illustrators archive
2 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by anne sharpe
Oct 30th, 2009
I have what seems like a very old book “Stories from Hans Chrisian Andersen” published by The Temple Press, Printers, Letchworth,( no date), translated by Mrs E Lucas and illustrated by Maxwell Armfield. The illustrations are delightful! I wondered if you could assist in advising me as to whether the book is worth any money, and even if not, what should I do with it? I live in South Africa, but travel to the UK quite often. Thanks
#2 posted by John
Oct 30th, 2009
Hi Anne. I only write about things I like, I’m not a book dealer. If you want to know the going rate of a book I’d advise browsing Abebooks. I doubt that you’ll find anyone online interested in buying a book unless they can see the volume in person, photos don’t show you the overall condition, whether pages are missing/damaged, etc.
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