Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Le Corbeau




Another part of the Manet exhibition was the original illustrations (lithographs) for the French translation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"


Le Corbeau was first translated from English to French by Charles Baudelaire and later was re-written in 1875 by Stéphane Mallarmé.  Mallarmé felt that the true graveness and aura of Poe's poems could not be completely translated into French, so he hired Manet to provide his writings with illustrations.




There are five illustrations all together, but I could not find copies online and I was unable to photograph them in the museum.  Definitely worth tracking them down and seeing them at least once in your life.  If you know the poem at all, these illustrations will definitely pull at your creative heartstrings.  The link above has all three versions of the poem. (Poe, Baudelaire and Mallarmé)

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