The Idea [and] Story Without Words / Frans Masereel

Identifier:REF.AM.1815

Dimensions:1 v. : all ill. ; 17 cm.

Copyright dates:1986

Library of Congress Subject Headings:Masereel, Frans, 1889-1972. Idee, Artists' books, Wood carving, Graphic Arts Books

Description:Two wordless novels told in woodcuts. Story without words: Originally published as Geschichte ohne Worte. Munich : Kurt Wolff, 1924. - The idea: Originally published as Die Idee. Geneva : Kundig, 1920. Exemplary of German expressionism, these works by the flemish artist Frans Masereel are packed with evocative images published shortly after World War I. "All good stories conjure up images in our minds' eyes. But what happens when a story is told only with pictures? For the Belgian-born graphic artist Frans Masereel, the answer was simple: it is not words but ideas that open our minds' endless collection of thoughts and images.... Masereel who died in France in the early 1970s, instilled in these quirky and often bizarre stories a passionate sense of both the value and the inherent miseries of human existence. Evoking broad philosophical questions, they go far beyond the task of telling a good story. And that, above all, is their strength."—Dan Tranberg, The Plain Dealer "So compelling, so deeply felt, so rich in ideas, that one never tires of looking at them." —Thomas Mann