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ON RAVEN WINGS: THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE MARVELOUS

July 24, 2023

Written by John Howe

STORIES TOLD

STORIES TOLD

It’s all about the stories we tell. Mythology comes from a time before the world was a thing. As modern humans, we live in the era of “It”, where the workings of the world around us are explained scientifically. We do not need to know too many things; we can look them...

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PARIS, MAY 11, 2017

PARIS, MAY 11, 2017

First solo gallery show in what seems like ages... ten years to be exact. May 11th to July 8th, at the Galerie Arludik in Paris. All new work. The show will open on the evening of the 11th. More information to follow very shortly.

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BEST WISHES FOR 2017

BEST WISHES FOR 2017

A very short newsletter in lieu of a real one, to wish everyone a satisfying end to 2016 and the very best for 2017. I hope projects will come to fruition, and will be quickly forgotten in the prospect of new and even more exciting ones, that family and loved ones...

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WE ARE THE RAVEN-FED

WE ARE THE RAVEN-FED

Just what is it about the making of pictures? Endless pondering on the nature of image-making, of the desire and the need to make images, has left me no closer to that mirage despite all the assiduous musing. From where do images come – for they must have an origin –...

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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CTHULHU

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CTHULHU

Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make it sometimes a thousandfold more hideous. Science, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our...

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EVERYMAN IS AN ISLAND

EVERYMAN IS AN ISLAND

G. K. Chesterton is one of the most underrated modern authors of fantastical fiction. So, imagine my delight when a copy of “THE VENTURE: An Annual of Art and Literature” from 1903 (edited by none other than the unlikely duo of Laurence Housman[2] and W. Somerset...

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THE END OF THE WORLD: THE FAIRY TALE METHOD

THE END OF THE WORLD: THE FAIRY TALE METHOD

Warwick Goble (22 November 1862 – 22 January 1943) is undeniably one of the foremost figures of the Golden Age of illustration. Fairy tale, myth and legend, the grand classics of children’s literature, he seems to have turned his hand to most of them, from MacKenzie’s...

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A FEW WORDS ABOUT DRAGONS

A FEW WORDS ABOUT DRAGONS

The Dragons of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth   "I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighborhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful, at...

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JOURNEY INTO WILDERLAND

JOURNEY INTO WILDERLAND

It seems like ages ago that I wrote a short text for the introduction of The Hobbit Chronicles: The Battle of the Five Armies, and then lost track of the finished version.[1] Having run short of time recently to create original newsletters, I hope you'll forgive me...

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IF LOOKS COULD KILL

IF LOOKS COULD KILL

The Deadly Draconic Gaze: A closer look at Gorgons, Cockatrices & Basilisks "Man is a mis-shapen monster with his feet set for-ward and his face set back. He can make the future luxuriant and gigantic so long as he is thinking about the past… to-morrow is the...

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THE SPELL OF DISENCHANTMENT

THE SPELL OF DISENCHANTMENT

I HAVE desired, like every artist, to create a little world out of the beautiful, pleasant, and significant things of this marred and clumsy world, and to show in a vision something of the face of Ireland to any of my own people who would look where I bid them. I have...

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JUST BECAUSE…

JUST BECAUSE…

A legend is a fairy tale told to men when men were sane.  - G. K. Chesterton When I was small, I owned a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, illustrated by the author. I recall an oddly tense relationship with that book, due in large part to the illustrations,...

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STRANGE BOUGHS

STRANGE BOUGHS

THE UPAS AND OTHER UNUSUAL TREES OF DEATH AND EVIL At the annual British Institution exhibition of 1820, a singular...

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IN DEFENCE OF MEDEA

IN DEFENCE OF MEDEA

BUT, knowing now that they would have her speak, She threw her wet hair backward from her brow, Her hand close to her...

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