Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Instant of Obsession
An elongated seated body bends beneath a tall pointed cap and an ornate dark collar. Faint heads and twisting forms drift across the pale upper field. The tension between the sharply drawn costume and the dissolving faces gives Spare’s named instant a concentrated, uneasy presence.
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Citation
Austin Osman Spare. "The Instant of Obsession" [editorial title]. In The Book of Pleasure, Austin Osman Spare. Complete historical pages of The Book of Pleasure (Self-Love): The Psychology of Ecstasy (1913), reproduced within From the Inferno to Zos, Volume1 (First Impressions,1993). Four preliminary pages and60historical pages, including Ernest H.R.Collings’s introduction and the original printer colophon. Supplied custom cover; not a direct scan of an established1913physical copy., 1993, First Impressions. Source scan leaf 44. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/gallery-20261108-0373-0044
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Descriptive title supplied for the visually reviewed historical illustration. The surrounding book presents the original author's interpretation.
Sources
From the book
The Book of PleasureAustin Osman Spare1993More from this book
The Death Posture: Spare’s Frontispiece
The Ascension of the Ego from Ecstasy to Ecstasy
Emanations of the EgoRelated illustrations
Cite this illustration
Austin Osman Spare. The Instant of Obsession. The Book of Pleasure. Scan leaf 44. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/gallery-20261108-0373-0044