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Deirdre by Pamela Colman Smith


Type: Gallery Image | Not Vetted


A framed and coloured image showing Deirdre and Naisi Embracing on threshold as Birds of Doom fly above them

This image by Pamela Colman Smith illustrates Act II of "Deirdre: A Drama in Three Acts," by A.E. (George Russell), published as a supplement in Smith's magazine The Green Sheaf, no. 7 (1903).  The image shows Deirdre and Naisi in exile in Scotland at the moment that Deirdre receives a message portending their coming doom in a vision of the Birds of Angus just as Fergus arrives to escort them back to Ireland (AE, Green Sheaf no. 7l, 1903, Supplemnt, p., 7). The couple is positioned embracing on a threshold; the brown frame of the picture doubles as the wood-engraved door frame. Behind them is a landscape of green hills and blue water; above the couple's heads, seven white birds fly in a yellow sky. Smith's use of a  bounding line and solid masses of colour is reminiscent of both Pre-Raphaelite paintings and Japanese prints. Early in her career, Smith developed a method of hand-colouring her printed artwork through a stencil technique; she used this method throughout The Green Sheaf, as well as in some of her book illustrations.  The style of Smith's Deirdre illustration looks forward to her designs for the Waite Tarot Cards. 

Featured in Exhibit


Little Magazine Gallery

Date


1903

Artist


Pamela Colman Smith


Copyright
©1903

Vetted?
No
Submitted by Lorraine Kooistra on Tue, 05/05/2020 - 14:38

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