Another striking design found by chance. Symbolist artist Jean Delville (1867–1953) created this sheet music title page for Promethée by Scriabin in 1912, and the pair are well-matched given their shared predilection for mysticism (Theosophy in Delville’s case). Delville had also dealt with Prometheus in a typically dramatic, if sexless, picture a few years earlier (below). Once again it’s unfortunate that one of the really great artists of the Symbolist period is so poorly-served by the web that one has to discover his work by accident. There’s a dedicated site here but the gallery pages are only harvesting what’s already scattered around. Delville had a long and consistently high-quality career; he deserves better.
Prometheus (1907).
Update: Dave C reminds us of another Delville site with a better selection of pictures including a photo of the artist at work.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The faces of Parsifal
• Masonic fonts and the designer’s dark materials
• Angels 4: Fallen angels
Hear, hear! I’ve been a fan of Delville for longer than I care to remember, but as you say, he remains so obscure it’s ridiculous. I was lucky enough to see his Portrait of Mrs Merrill at the fabulous Fernand Khnopff exhibition in Brussells a few years ago. What is never indicated in all the reproductions of this picture is its wonderful (Margaret) Mackintosh style frame which adds a great deal to an already superb image.
Aside from the links on wikipedia this site has a few more pics and some interesting details:
http://www.jeandelville.org/Paintings/index.htm
The only one I’ve seen up close is his huge Plato’s School in the Musée d’Orsay. Nice white peacock and lots of oddly-proportioned nude men swooning around a Plato who looks more like a Christ figure than a Greek philosopher. The d’Orsay has a couple of room of Symbolist art.
I think I’ve seen that frame for Mrs Merrill although I’d have to go hunting through a load of books to find out where. And thanks for the site tip, should have linked to that place earlier. Good to see The Angel of Splendour there, the painting I put on the back of Savoy’s edition of A Voyage to Arcturus.
Wow, I’d no idea some of these were Delville’s. He’s even better than I thought.
Always loved Delville. That top image would be a great tattoo. Hmm…
If you do get a tattoo, make sure you send me a photo of it!
Very small collection here, but it includes his amazing Medusa, which I hadn’t seen before.
http://www.angelfire.com/celeb/sgrayesq/delville.html