COVE

Caption :"For in a valley that is but a day's journey from this place have I hidden the mirror of wisdom."

This illustration depicts the Soul of the young Fisherman journeying across the valley to hide the mirror of wisdom, the effects of which are as follows: “they who possess this mirror know everything, nor is there anything hidden from them. And they who possess it not have not Wisdom” (Wilde). The full-page illustration with bold colors is eye-catching and fantastical. We can gather the scale of the Soul's journey by comparing his size to the scenery of the valley surrounding him. The bold colors and the extremely geometric and stylized crystals show influence from the Art Deco style, which is "a popular design style of the 1920s and ’30s characterized especially by sleek geometric or stylized forms" (Encyclopedia Britannica). It is interesting that Nedejen made this illustration less detailed in comparison to the rest of the full-page illustrations. They all depict humanoid forms that possess, at the very least, a suggestion of a face and clothes, but this seems to reflect the whimsical and nonspecific form of the Soul. I would like to know how Nedejen’s experience as a Ukrainian-American shaped his art style within the realm of art deco, and why he chose his color palette.

Work Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Art Deco". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/art/Art-Deco. Accessed 17 November 2023.

Wilde, Oscar. The Fisherman and his Soul. A House of Pomegranates ed., 1891. COVE Studio, https://studio.covecollective.org/anthologies/uwgb-hum200-300/documents/....