{"id":20673,"date":"2021-06-25T16:36:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T15:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/?p=20673"},"modified":"2021-06-25T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T15:36:11","slug":"george-barbiers-imaginary-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/2021\/06\/25\/george-barbiers-imaginary-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"George Barbier’s Imaginary Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"barbier-schwob01.jpg\"<\/p>\n

It’s always satisfying when one perennial subject here connects to another. Imaginary Lives<\/em> is a story collection by Symbolist writer Marcel Schwob that George Barbier lavishly illustrated<\/a> in a new edition published in 1929. Wikipedia has a pr\u00e9cis which conveniently explains the connection:<\/p>\n

Imaginary Lives<\/em> (original French title: Vies imaginaires<\/em>) is a collection of twenty-two semi-biographical short stories by Marcel Schwob, first published in book form in 1896. Mixing known and fantastical elements, it was one of the first works in the genre of biographical fiction. The book is an acknowledged influence in Jorge Luis Borges’s first book A Universal History of Infamy<\/em> (1935). Borges also translated the last story “Burke and Hare, Assassins” into Spanish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"barbier-schwob02.jpg\"<\/p>\n

This is one of the best of Barbier’s illustrated editions, and the only one which allows him to combine his favoured references to the graphic styles of the ancient world with those of later centuries. The nude figures are also more explicitly detailed than in his earlier drawings, something only seen previously in his illustrations for an overtly erotic title, Les Chansons de Bilitis<\/em> by Pierre Lou\u00ffs. The final full-page illustration is a further departure for the generally light-hearted Barbier, a drawing that so closely resembles something from Edgar Allan Poe it makes me wish he might have attempted a Poe edition of his own.<\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob03.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob04.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Empedocles, Supposed God.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob05.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Erostate, Incendiary.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob06.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Crates, Cynic.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob07.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Septima, Enchantress.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob08.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Lucretius, Poet.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob09.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Clodia, Immodest Matron.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob10.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Petronius, Novelist.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob11.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Sufrah, Geomancer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob12.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Fra Dolcino, Heretic.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob13.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Cecco Angiolieri, Hateful Poet.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob14.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Paolo Uccello, Painter.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob15.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Nicolas Loyseleur, Judge.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob16.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Katherine the Lacemaker, Girl of the Streets.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob17.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Alain the Gentle, Soldier.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob18.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Gabriel Spenser, Actor.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob19.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Pocahontas, Princess.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob20.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Cyril Tourneur, Tragic Poet.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob21.jpg\"<\/p>\n

William Phips, Treasure Hunter.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob22.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Captain Kidd, Pirate.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob23.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Walter Kennedy, Illiterate Pirate.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob24.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Major Stede Bonnet, Pirate by Fancy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"barbier-schwob25.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Mr. Burke and Mr. Hare, Assassins.<\/em><\/p>\n

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
\n\u2022 The illustrators archive<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously on { feuilleton }
\n\u2022 Dessinateurs et humoristes: George Barbier<\/a>
\n\u2022 The Romance of Perfume<\/a>
\n\u2022 George Barbier\u2019s Le Bonheur du Jour<\/a>
\n\u2022 George Barbier\u2019s Mirages<\/a>
\n\u2022 Tamara Karsavina\u2019s Salom\u00e9<\/a>
\n\u2022 George Barbier\u2019s Nijinsky<\/a>
\n\u2022 George Barbier\u2019s Falbalas et Fanfreluches<\/a>
\n\u2022 The art of George Barbier, 1882\u20131932<\/a>
\n\u2022 The Decorative Age<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s always satisfying when one perennial subject here connects to another. Imaginary Lives is a story collection by Symbolist writer Marcel Schwob that George Barbier lavishly illustrated in a new edition published in 1929. Wikipedia has a pr\u00e9cis which conveniently explains the connection: Imaginary Lives (original French title: Vies imaginaires) is a collection of twenty-two … Continue reading “George Barbier’s Imaginary Lives”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New blog post: George Barbier's Imaginary Lives","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,42,21,48],"tags":[93,695,1483,4739,697],"class_list":["post-20673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-books","category-fantasy","category-illustrators","tag-edgar-allan-poe","tag-george-barbier","tag-jorge-luis-borges","tag-marcel-schwob","tag-pierre-louys"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-5nr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}