Alfred Kubin

Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (1877-1959) was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism and is noted for dark, spectral, symbolic fantasies, often assembled into thematic series of drawings. Originally published in 1950 this work covers his viewpoint on art, the method of his work, and his creative process, with over 100 black and white illustrations from his career as an illustrator. The artist's memoirs recount his troubled youth, which was shadowed by his hatred for his estranged father, his attempted suicide at the grave of his beloved mother, and his mental breakdown during military service. Upon his 1899 enrollment at the Munich Academy, Kubin discovered a world of inspiration in the works of Odilon Redon, Edvard Munch, James Ensor, and Max Klinger, and he vowed to dedicate his life to the creation of similarly imaginative art. The pen-and-ink drawings featured in this compilation include grotesques from his "Dance of Death" sequence, which employs a Renaissance theme to reflect the artist's interpretation of modern society and its rapid changes, as well as illustrations from various works of Edgar Allen Poe. Alfred Kubin is renowned as one of the all-time finest illustrators of fantastic themes, Kubin illustrated more than 70 books, including the works of Dostoyevsky and Poe as well as his own fiction.