Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Devil in Despair: Harry Clarke’s Faust Ornament
A long patterned creature curves over a smaller bowed figure, crossing the body in a loop. Spiny contours and circular ends make the ornament almost a living knot. The verse immediately above mocks a devil who has fallen into despair. Clarke gives that reversal a shape whose large head seems to bear down on its own entanglement. The pale paper keeps the intersecting limbs legible against their patterned surfaces. This decoration follows the Forest and Cavern passage, and its title refers to the printed theme without turning the grotesque form into a zoological creature.
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Citation
Harry Clarke. "The Devil in Despair: Harry Clarke’s Faust Ornament" [editorial title]. In Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; translated by Bayard Taylor; illustrations by Harry Clarke. Undated Arden Book Company edition; Faust Part One, Bayard Taylor translation, Harry Clarke illustrations, undated edition, Arden Book Company. Source scan leaf 185. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/faust-clarke-184
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Complete source design inspected individually. Editorial title; surrounding paper and unrelated text cropped away, integrated ornament retained. No tonal alteration.
Sources
From the book
FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe; translated by Bayard Taylor; illustrations by Harry ClarkeUndated editionMore from this book
The Haloed Mother and the Candle: Clarke’s Faust
The Giant Figure and the Candle: Clarke’s Faust
Faust and His Dark Companion: Harry Clarke’s PlateRelated illustrations
Cite this illustration
Harry Clarke. The Devil in Despair: Harry Clarke’s Faust Ornament. Faust. Scan leaf 185. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/faust-clarke-184