Live Auction 7891Victorian & British Impressionist Pictures Including Drawings and Watercolours
Harry Clarke, R.H.A. (1889-1931)
Lot 33

Harry Clarke, R.H.A. (1889-1931)

Message Found in a Bottle for 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1949)

Closed15 December 2010

Price Realised

GBP 20,000

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Harry Clarke, R.H.A. (1889-1931)
Message Found in a Bottle for 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1949)
signed and dated 'HARRY CLARKE '19' (lower left, within cartouche) and signed again (on the reverse) and inscribed 'Poes Tales/"M.S. found in a bottle"/Tales of Mystery & Imagination/by E.A. Poe. Harrap.1918' (on the reverse, date crossed out)
pencil, pen and black ink, on vellum
8¼ x 6¼ in. (21 x 15.8 cm.)

Specialist note

Harry Clarke, a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement, studied stained glass at Dublin School of Art before moving to London to seek employment as a book illustrator. The current drawing was made for one of his earliest completed commissions, a series of monotone illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a commission which made his reputation as a book illustrator. Clarke's work can be compared to that of Aubrey Beardsley, Kay Nielsen, and Edmund Dulac.