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In 1923 Mahlon Blaine burst upon the art scene with striking works of imagination and vision. Within a short time his work was published in everything ranging from children's books and mainstream magazines to erotic portfolios. The body of work he produced between 1926 and 1930 was nothing short of phenomenal but after 1931 his output became increasingly sporadic. Sadly like so many artists before him who have given us so much, Blaine died penniless and mostly forgotten in January of 1969. This volume samples Mahlon Blaine's unique artistic visions, from his grand emergence in the roaring 20's through his declining years in the swinging 60's. Click here to see some of what didn't make it into this volume!
Words of praise for this volume:
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INFINITELY GRACIOUS, radiantly beautiful, Aphrodite rose from the foam. All life loved and laughed, and begot new life in tender play. This is the first line of the poem Nova Venus. One of Mahlon Blaine's visual masterworks, Nova Venus is reprinted here in it's entirety for the first time. Click here to see some of what's inside this volume!
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He's pretty much an unknown, and yet... In two thousand drawings published between 1917 and 1967, illustrator Mahlon Blaine revealed his subjects – from Demons to Deities, Maylasians to Martians, Biology to Biography, Lasciviousness to Literature. He painted, but he is best known for pen and ink – an uncanny artistic master of Erotica and Exotica who lived for decades in cheap hotels and borrowed rooms, acutely observing humanity while wielding pens and brushes dipped in wit and wry. With everything from children's classic tales to cookbooks to treatises on witchcraft to mainstream fiction to literature (including Steinbeck, Hemingway and Voltaire), the publishing industry relied on Mahlon Blaine often. His best book productions feature twenty to a hundred illustrations each, and he garnered several awards for design and illustration. His personal life is obfuscated by a combination of time's grime and his own desire for privacy and outlandish cover stories. The author Roland Trenary has been collecting and researching the artist for almost 40 years, amassing the most comprehensive assemblage of information and artwork that one might imagine, given the elusive nature of the subject. The book includes a complete bibliography of published work and a biography that emphasizes the professional side of Blaine. Among the 350 illustrations herein are rare photographs and self-portraits of Blaine and, especially interesting, dozens of published and unpublished drawings and paintings that reveal a side of the artist previously unknown and unseen. This goes beyond either The Art of Mahlon Blaine (1982) or The Outlandish Art of Mahlon Blaine (2009) in presenting both rare published and unpublished examples of Blaine's unique artistic vision. And remember, unbelievably, he only had one eye! Bibliographically, here are 130 books and 70 magazines described and (mostly) pictured that held Blaine's public outpouring, as well as ephemera and posthumous publication listings - information not available anywhere else.
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A facsimile edition of the 1951 version of Dunninger's Magic Tricks, profusely illustrated by Mahlon Blaine. Don't let the kids on the cover fool you, if this were published today it would more likely be called Dunninger's Bar Bets. Click here to see some of what's inside this volume!
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This historical novel takes a rollicking ride through one-eyed Mahlon Blaine's adventures and experiences as an early 20th-Century illustrator. Exploring his friendships with the famous and infamous in bohemian San Francisco, pre-talkies Hollywood and other-worldly New York City, this (self)portrait paints the struggles and triumphs of an artist truly committed to his unique singular vision. Included are over 120 Blaine illustrations and photographs (most previously unpublished, unearthed from the vaults of collectors and friends). Ribald, risqué, bawdy, naughty, salacious – take your pick. Despite labels like these, Mahlon Blaine, 1920s book illustrator and pen-and-ink maestro, campaigned for “freedom of art” against “dysenteric hypocrites” who proclaimed “beauty is obscene.” He mixed his commercial success with an underground vocation of creating “playful drawings – sly dancing thoughts that would delight all men blest with the godly gift of laughter.” This bohemian Rabelaisian, with 2000 published illustrations ranging from children’s books to erotica, fought “for the beautiful and imaginative – conceptions beyond all limits of time and morality.” John Steinbeck was one of his best friends, and Blaine illustrated two of his early novels. The actor John Carradine knew Blaine during his Hollywood career, as did Tina Modotti. Infamous booksellers and art dealers like Jake Zeitlin, Jack Brussel, and Bernard Guerney promoted his work. He painted world-famous ballerina Lydia Lopovka, and God knows who else. Did he win a Caldecott Award? A Newbury? Maybe not, but there were rumors. Did he know Woody Guthrie, and was Bob Dylan an acquaintance? Perhaps. Was his "Venus Sardonica" folio the high point of 20th Century published erotica? It's been claimed so, by scholar G. Legman. Until now, no one knew what to believe. Maybe they still don't. This is his unauthorized autobiography.
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