History Of Press Graphics, 18191921,New

In todays world of instant snapshots, 24hour news, and roundtheclock connectivity, an illustrated press where the images are as important as the text has become an increasingly rare art form. This farreaching compendium celebrates the golden age of graphic journalism as a distinct and unique genre and a laboratory for developing avantgarde aesthetics.Spanning from 1819 to 1921, the collection covers a broad range of news graphics and political and satirical cartoons. Alongside the works of renowned artists such as Jean Cocteau, Juan Gris, and Kthe Kollwitz, the most famous illustrators of the time are also well represented. Thomas Nast, Honor Daumier, Gustave Dor, and the numerous relatively unknown press graphic artists, the socalled special artists, whose work is rediscovered here.Their rich and varied press work is considered not only in connection to the genre and the historical painting of the 19th century but also in its capacity as a pioneering influence on modern art. With striking examples of protocinematic narrative thinking, disruptions of the single image space, and daring forays into abstraction, this material is shown to have laid the groundwork for much of the avantgarde artistic expression that followed.The book also explores Vincent Van Gogh's careful attention to the illustrated press of his time. He was inspired not only by the artistic aspect of it but also by the spirit of social reform that it represented. An avid collector, he owned a large number of press graphics and went so far as to consider it a 'Bible for Artists'.