I would like to know more about all of the artwork Clark Ashton Smith sent to Samuel Loveman; specifically, the 27 pieces for "The Hashish Eater" he sent Loveman in 1920, along with illustrations for Loveman's drama "The Sphinx". The Smith-Loveman correspondence was in private hands at the time of the monumental volume of Smith's art from the Centipede Press, and unfortunately there is more written therein about Smith's relatively insignificant drawings for Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear" and the latter's response to Smith's paintings than there is about Loveman's much greater importance in any assessment of Smith's artwork. Loveman received hundreds of Smith illustrations, and Smith mentions his personal favorites among the "Hashish Eater" paintings as numbers 17, 12, 13, 14 and 23, plus a couple "in black and white" (Born Under Saturn p.238). What happened to all of these?

jkh

Most of Smith's "Hashish-Eater" illustrations are collected in Centipede Press's In the Realms of Mystery and Wonder. But because I don't own a copy of this book, I can't say much about it. I used to own files of these paintings, sent to me by a friend, but unfortunately I've lost all of them. Two or three of them can be found online however, such as Smith's illustration of the alien krakens wearing galleys on their heads:

[www.comicartfans.com]

"I behold
The slowly-thronging corals that usurp
Some harbour of a million-masted sea,
And sun them on the league-long wharves of gold—
Bulks of enormous crimson, kraken-limbed
And kraken-headed, lifting up as crowns
The octiremes of perished emperors,
And galleys fraught with royal gems, that sailed
From a sea-fled haven."

Unfortunately, I don't know if there's any other way to view Smith's paintings of Loveman's The Sphinx, except to visit a library in California that possesses these pieces. It's been ages since I've read this information, so I don't remember where exactly they're kept, but if I can find the address I'll post it here later.

I remember speaking to a librarian over the phone regarding these paintings, and she said they were quite beautiful, especially Smith's illustration of the blue-eyed basilisk. Tell me, is Loveman's Sphinx poem worth a read?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 29 Jun 23 | 02:09PM by Hespire.

Hespire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most of Smith's "Hashish-Eater" illustrations are
> collected in Centipede Press's In the Realms of
> Mystery and Wonder. But because I don't own a copy
> of this book, I can't say much about it. I used to
> own files of these paintings, sent to me by a
> friend, but unfortunately I've lost all of them.
> Two or three of them can be found online however,
> such as Smith's illustration of the alien krakens
> wearing galleys on their heads:
>
> [www.comicartfans.com]
>
> Unfortunately, I don't know if there's any other
> way to view Smith's paintings of Loveman's The
> Sphinx, except to visit a library in California
> that possesses these pieces. It's been ages since
> I've read this information, so I don't remember
> where exactly they're kept, but if I can find the
> address I'll post it here later.
>
> I remember speaking to a librarian over the phone
> regarding these paintings, and she said they were
> quite beautiful, especially Smith's illustration
> of the blue-eyed basilisk. Tell me, is Loveman's
> Sphinx poem worth a read?ad


Definitely. Thanks Hespire, for the quotation from "The Hashish Eater" and especialy for sharing the librarian's priceless comment on Smiths paintings!
Samuel Loveman's "The Sphinx" is a drama, not a poem, and certainly a masterpiece of poetic imagination on a par with Smith. That said, you would need a classical dictionary to comprehend the sweeping tide of Loveman's interplay of imagery and allusions. The characterization of the Sphinx and her three supplicants, with their stories that explore erotic and romantic themes, is superb.

jkh

Well then I'll be glad to track down Loveman's "Sphinx", as well as Smith's illustrations next time I'm in California.

Speaking of which, here's exactly where the paintings are kept. If anyone can check these out for themselves, I'd love to hear about them:

[oac.cdlib.org]

There's even a list of the paintings' titles, no doubt explaining what scenes or characters from the poem are illustrated.

1. A priest of Byblis
2. The Cappadocian
3. The blue-eyed Basilisk
4. The sphinx and the leper
5. [Sphinx and three nude men]
6. The isle in the sea of [Tyme?]
7. The [illegible] in her labyrinth
8. The sphinx's dream
9. Ascheria
10. [Profilie of sphinx]
11. A tale which the Kings of of Edom sat in their scarlet chamber to hear
12. The mad king of the Laestrygonians.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2 Jul 23 | 05:31PM by Hespire.

Do readers feel that CAS could be classified as practitioner of naive art--sort of a folk artist of the supernatural?

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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As a folk artist, I feel compelled to answer this. I think CAS is more of a naive artist or more accurately, just has his own style which he did not want to develop into another style. Folk art is following a given tradition: bauernmalerei, hindelooper, rosemaling, mezen; they all have certain design elements and traditional colors. It is not at all do whatever you want.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2 Jul 23 | 10:02PM by weorcstan.

weorcstan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a folk artist, I feel compelled to answer this.
> I think CAS is more of a naive artist or more
> accurately, just has his own style which he did
> not want to develop into another style. Folk art
> is following a given tradition: bauernmalerei,
> hindelooper, rosemaling, mezen; they all have
> certain design elements and traditional colors. It
> is not at all do whatever you want.

I must have omitted the smiley.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, I read it as "a naive artist" or "a folk artist," so I thought it was a serious question. A lot of people do think folk art is just 'not fine art' as opposed to being the decorative art of a region.