Art, Symbol & Imagination
Margaret beneath the Blade: Harry Clarke’s Faust
A cloaked figure lies face down beneath an enormous curved blade. A small head in the weapon’s ornament looks over the lowered body. The preceding dialogue gives Valentine’s dying condemnation of his sister, making the bowed form part of the tragedy’s social violence. Clarke expresses accusation through the scale of the weapon rather than a realistic duel. A narrow diagonal line presses into the cloak while the large arch surrounds it. The design is an interpretation of the passage, not a literal record of the injuries described in the play.
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Citation
Harry Clarke. "Margaret beneath the Blade: Harry Clarke’s Faust" [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 207. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/faust-clarke-206
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. Margaret beneath the Blade: Harry Clarke’s Faust. Faust. Scan leaf 207. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/faust-clarke-206