Wharton Esherick's Illuminated and Illustrated Song of the Broad-Axe

Download or read book Wharton Esherick's Illuminated and Illustrated Song of the Broad-Axe written by The Wharton Esherick Museum and published by Schiffer Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harold Mason, owner of the Centaur Bookshop in Philadelphia asked Wharton Esherick to illustrate Walt Whitman's "Song of the broad-axe", which Mason published in a limited edtion in 1924. Esherick created a hand-bound prototype book of Whitman's poem, using prints made directly from his blocks and hand-lettering it in Esherick's own calligraphic style. Illuminated letters were used to begin paragraphs, and spaces at the end of lines were filled with blue and yellow drawings that reflect the content of the verses. The result was a work of art, 17 x 12 inches, with pages of handmade paper, folded and uncut. This book is a reproduction of Esherick's prototype, authorized by the Wharton Esherick Museum in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Though this edition is smaller than the prototype book, the original was carefully scanned and printed to provide as true a reproduction as possible. It faithfully captures the artist's vision and skill and, for the first time, makes this work available to the general public.