Frans Masereel
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Frans Masereel (31 July 1889 – 3 January 1972) was a Flemish painter and graphic artist who worked mainly in France. He is known especially for his woodcuts. His greatest work is generally said to be the wordless graphic novel Mon Livre d'Heures (Passionate Journey). He completed over 20 other wordless novels in his career. Masereel's woodcuts strongly influenced the work of Lynd Ward and later graphic artists such as Clifford Harper and Eric Drooker.
There is now a Frans Masereel Centre (Frans Masereel Centrum for Graphix) in the small village of Kasterlee in Belgium.
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Biography
Frans Masereel was born in the Belgian Blankenberge on 31 July 1889. He moved to Ghent in 1896, where he began to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in the class of Jean Delvin at the age of 18. In 1909 he went on trips to England and Germany, which inspired him to create his first etchings and woodcuts. From 1911 on Masereel settled in Paris for four years and then he emigrated to Switzerland, where he worked as a graphic artist for various journals and magazines. His woodcut series, mainly of sociocritical content and of expressionistic form concept, made Masereel internationally known. Among these were the so-called image novels Die Passion eines Menschen, Mein Stundenbuch, Die Sonne, Die Idee and Geschichte ohne Worte, all of which dated from c. 1920. At that time Masereel also drew illustrations for famous works of world literature by Thomas Mann, Émile Zola and Stefan Zweig. In 1921 Masereel returned to Paris, where he painted his famous street scenes, the Montmartre-paintings. He lived for a time in Berlin, where his closest creative friend was George Grosz. After 1925 he lived near Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he painted predominantly coast areas, harbour views, and portraits of sailors and fishermen. During the 1930s the number of illustrated books and single woodcuts decreased. In 1940 he fled from Paris and lived in several cities in Southern France.
At the end of World War II Masereel was able to resume his artistic work and produced woodcuts and paintings. After 1946 he worked for several years as a teacher at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar in Saarbrücken. In 1949 Masereel settled in Nice. In the following years until 1968 several series of woodcuts were published, which differ from his earlier "novels in picture'" in comprising variations of a subject instead of being a continuing narrative. He also designed decorations and costumes for numerous theatre productions. The artist was honoured in numerous exhibitions and became a member of several academies. Frans Masereel died in Avignon in 1972 and was entombed in Ghent. The cultural organization Masereelfonds was named after him.
Influence
The American graphic artist Lynd Ward was greatly influenced by Masereel in creating his novels in woodcuts. A number of cartoonists have cited Masereel as an influence on the development of the graphic novel: Art Spiegelman cited Mon Livre d'Heures as an early influence on his Maus,. Will Eisner cited Masereel as an influence on his work, as has scratchboard novelist Eric Drooker.
List of works
Graphic novels
Woodcut graphic novels
These woodcut collections form entire, seamless graphic novels with their own, independent narrative.
- 25 Images of a Man's Passion / The Passion of a Man (25 Images de la Passion d'un Homme / Die Passion Eines Menschen, 1918)
- Passionate Journey / My Book of Hours (Mon Livre d'Heures / Mein Stundenbuch, 1919) (Archive.org)
- The Sun (Le Soleil / Die Sonne, 1919)
- Political Drawings (Dessins Politiques / Politische Zeichnungen, 1920) (Archive.org)
- Story Without Words (Histoire Sans Paroles / Geschichte ohne Worte, 1920)
- The Idea (L'Idée / Die Idee, 1920)
- The City (La Ville / Die Stadt, 1925) (Archive.org)
- The Industrial Baron (Die Industriebaron, 1925)
- Figures and Grimaces (Figures et Grimaces / Gesichter und Fratzen, 1926)
- The Work (L’œuvre, Das Werk, 1928)
- Landscapes and Voices (Landschaften und Stimmungen, 1929) (Archive.org)
- The Mermaid (La Sirène, 1932)
- From Black to White (Du Noir au Blanc / Von Schwarz zu Weiss, 1939)
- Dance of Death (Danse Macabre, 1941)
- June '40 (Juin 40, 1942)
- Destinies 1939-1940-1941-1942 (Destins 1939-1940-1941-1942, 1943)
- Earth under the sign of Saturn (La Terre sous le signe de Saturne, 1944)
- Remember! (1946)
- Angel (Engel, 1947)
- Phenomena (Erscheinungen, 1947)
- Ages of life (Les Âges de la Vie, 1948)
- Youth (Jeunesse, 1948)
- Ecce Homo (1949)
- Key to Dreams (Clef des songes, 1950)
- Our Times (Notre Temps, 1952)
- The apocalypse of our time (Die Apokalypse unserer Zeit, 1953)
- Why? (Pour quoi?, 1954)
- My book of images (Mon livre d'images, 1956)
- My country (Mon Pais, 1956)
- Night Adventure (Aventure nocturne, 1958)
- Night and his Daughters (La Nuit et ses Filles, 1959)
- China Memories (Erinnerungen an China, 1961)
- Stations (É'talges, 1961)
- From Decay to Triumph (Vom Verfall zum Triumph, 1961)
- Poets (Poètes, 1963)
- The face of Hamburg (Das Gesicht Hamburgs / Le visage de Hambourg, 1964)
- The road of men (Der weg der menschen, Route des hommes, 1964)
- Couples (1965)
- My home (Meine Heimat, 1965)
- Antwerp (Antwerpen, 1968)
- Hands (Mains, 1968)
- Vice and passion (Laster und Leidenschaft, 1968)
- I love black and white (Ik houd van zwart en wit, 1970)
- Pictures against the war (Bilder gegen den Krieg, 1981)
- Woodcuts against the war (Holzschnitte gegen den Krieg, 1989)
Brush and ink graphic novels
- Grotesque Film (Groteskfilm, 1921)
- Pictures of the Big City (Bilder der Grossstadt / Images de la grande ville, 1926)
- Capital (Capitale, 1935)
- Wrath (La Colère, 1946)
Illustrator
- The Days of the Curse (Die Tage des Fluches), by Marcel Martinet (1914-1916)
- Hôtel-Dieu, Récits d'Hôpital (Hôtel-Dieu, Hospital Stories) by Pierre Jean Jouve (1915)
- Quinze Poemes (Fifteen Poems) by Émile Verhaeren (1917)
- Pierre und Luce (Pierre and Luce; sometimes translated as Peter and Luce) by Romain Rolland (1918)
- Calamus: Poèmes (Calamus: Poems, a section from Leaves of Grass), by Walt Whitman (1919)
- Die Mutter (The Mother) by Leonhard Frank (1919)
- Heures (Hours) by Pierre Jean Jouve (1919)
- Bübü vom Montparnasse (Bubu of Montparnasse) by Charles-Louis Philippe (1920) (Archive.org)
- Das Gemeinsame (The Common) by René Arcos (1920)
- Les Poètes contre la Guerre (The Poets Against War) by Romain Rolland, Georges Duhamel, Charles Vildrac and Pierre Jean Jouve (1920)
- The Eternal Jew (Der Ewige Jude, 1921) (Archive.org) by August Vermeylen
- Le Travailleur étrange et autres récits (The Strange Worker and Other Stories) by Émile Verhaeren (1921)
- Peter und Lutz (Peter and Lutz) by Romain Rolland (1921) (Archive.org)
- La révolte des machines, ou la Pensée Déchainée (The Revolt of Machines or the Mind Unbound, republished in 1947 as in Dutch as De opstand der machines, of Het losgebroken intellect) by Romain Rolland (1921) (Archive.org)
- Quelque Coins du Coeur by Henri Barbusse (1921)
- The good Madeleine and the poor Marie (Die gute Madeleine und die arme Marie), by Charles-Louis Philippe (1922)
- Fairfax by Carl Sternheim (1922)
- Cygne de Rabindranath Tagore (Swan of Rabindranath Tagore) by Kâlidâs Nâg and Pierre Jean Jouve (1923)
- Fünf Erzählungen (Five Tales) by Émile Verhaeren (1924) (Archive.org)
- Liluli by Romain Rolland (1924)
- Prière (Pray) by Pierre Jean Jouve (1924)
- Jean-Christophe (Johann Christof) by Romain Rolland (1925)
- Thyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster (1926)
- Kerstwake by Stijn Streuvels (1928)
- Swane (Swans) by Emmanuel De Bom (1928)
- Der Zwang. Phantastische Nacht (The Force. Fantastic night) by Stefan Zweig (1929)
- Im Strom der Zeit: Gedichte (In the Stream of Time: Poems) by Ernst Preczang (1929)
- Das Bein der Tiennette und andere Erzählungen (Tiennette's leg and other stories) by Charles-Louis Philippe (1929)
- De man zonder lijf (The Man Without a Body) by Herman Teirlinck (1937)
- Ode a la France Meurtrie (Ode to the Dead France) by Louis Piérard (1940)
- Jugement (Judgment) by Agrippa d'Aubigné (1941)
- La légende d’Ulenspiegel (The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegl) by Charles de Coster (1943)
- Die Nacht (The Night) by Rudolf Hagelstange (1955)
- Vater Perdrix by Charles-Louis Philippe (1960)
- Du bist für alle Zeit geliebt. Gedichte (You're Loved Forever. Poems) by Johannes R. Becher (1960)
- Vom Verfall zum Triumph (From Decline to Triumph) by Johannes R. Becher (1961)
- Moriae Encomium: Or The Praise Of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus (1965)
- Dolle Dinsdag (Crazy Tuesday) by Theun de Vries (1967)
- Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire (1977)
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde (1978)
Animation
- The Idea (L'Idée) (1932) : collaboration with Berthold Bartosch on an animated adaptation.
Works published in journals
- Woodcuts in Demain (1916) and Les Tablettes (1916-1919).
- Drawings in La Feuille (1917-1920).
Art collections
These woodcut collections cover various aspects of their subject material.
Solo collections
- Arise Ye Dead: The Infernal Resurrection (Debout les Morts: Résurrection infernale, 1917) -- A collection of 10, anti-war woodcuts.
- The Dead Speak (Les Morts Parlent, 1917) -- A collection of 7, anti-war woodcuts.
Mixed collections
- 1925: An Almanac for Art and Poetry (1925: Ein Almanach für Kunst und Dichtung), published by Kurt Wolff Verlag
Linking in in 2023
25 Images of a Man's Passion, 25th Venice Biennale, A Contract with God, Abrie Fourie, Alberto Assa, Alfred Döblin, Apocalypse (Dürer), Art Is... The Permanent Revolution, Art Spiegelman, Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, Baal (EP), Belfius Art Collection, Belgian comics, Berthold Bartosch, Blankenberge, Ça Ira (review), Campo Santo, Ghent, Caspar Walter Rauh, Clifford Harper, Comic book, Dav (journal), De vlaschaard, Destiny (wordless novel), Elza Severin, Emil Szittya, Eric Drooker, Flemish Expressionism, Frans, George Walker (printmaker), Gods' Man, Graphic novel, He Done Her Wrong, Heinrich Ehmsen, Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová, Henri Barbusse, Henry Gowa, Herbert Sandberg, Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar, Jacques Mesnil, Jan Vanriet, Jean Delvin, Joris Minne, Jozef Cantré, Jules De Bruycker, Kestnergesellschaft, Klingspor Museum, Laurence Hyde (artist), List of Belgian painters, List of printmakers, List of Venice Biennale exhibitions, Luc Durtain, Lucien Scheler, Lynd Ward, Madman's Drum, Masereel (redirect page), Masereelfonds, Maus, Musée Géo-Charles, Nicolae Tonitza, Nicolas Eekman, Otto Nückel, Passionate Journey, Peter Van Gheluwe, Philip Aguirre y Otegui, Prelude to a Million Years, Printmaking, Redstone Press, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), Rudolf Warnecke, Silent comics, Song Without Words, Southern Cross (wordless novel), Story Without Words, Terry Acebo Davis, The City (wordless novel), The Dial, The Idea (1932 film), The Idea (wordless novel), The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, The Life and Times of Conrad Black, The Sun (wordless novel), Torsten Billman, Ulenspiegel (magazine), Une semaine de bonté, Vertigo (wordless novel), Víctor Rebuffo, Wild Pilgrimage, Woodcut, Woodcut, Wordless novel