Mr. Beard's narration and the quiet piano sound track combined with the astounding art presented make this series one of the best gems on UA-cam. IMHO.
Thank you, Pete Beard, for this terrific idea, of following the illustrations for Aesop through the millennia - I particularly enjoyed those of the Fox and Grapes. The Chinese illustrations were not only surprising but utterly fetching. You've given us a tour through the more technical/resource details of the illustrators through the ages, and how something old becomes new again - and again -
‘Synergy’ can describe a situation where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. And this is exactly what you have achieved Pete. So, Bravo for creating an insightfully academic analysis, plus an interesting narrative delivered in an engagingly eloquent manner, with tasteful and appropriate background music. Education and entertainment, what more can anyone want!
Mark said it much better than I; but I’m astounded by the immense amount of knowledge as well as the wonderful illustrations! A fantastic job that I enjoyed so much…from your friend in Connecticut, Jane.
Thanks Pete, another excellent series. I was pleased to see Antonio Frasconi 's work. I had the pleasure of taking classes with him in the 70's, an excellent teacher and person.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I must admit I was previously unaware of Frasconi's work, but I was mightily impressed with these examples and I'll investigate further.
What a wonderful tour through the many interpretations of Aesop! We've talked earlier a bit about how a good illustrator will change his or her vision stylistically to fit the text. Here, you've shown us almost the reverse, how a single text can be interpreted in almost infinite ways and still remain true to the heart of the text. Thanks, as always, Pete, for your inspiration and history lessons.
Hi again and thanks again. I think it's because the tales are so basic and without embellishment it leaves the illustrator more free to add their own imaginative touches. Just a theory...
I think it says something significant that these simple stories about humankind's foibles were chosen to be printed up - with illustrations - so soon after the advent of the Gutenberg press. The bible being a hard act to follow though. I can't help but wonder however if artists keep illustrating the fables in hopes that the moral of the stories might somehow be better enlightened by their drawings especially, and that humanity will finally start to practice them! It appears to have been necessary back then to swiftly bring these to mainstream media (so to speak) and we certainly prove our continuing need for them today, if not more so. Then again, anything so lovingly and individually illustrated every round of new artist is a treasure in itself. Thank you for compiling these, Pete! I'll be viewing this a couple more times at least, there's so much to see. And yay for including Antonio Frasconi. I was hoping he'd be in there!
Hello again and my thanks as ever for your comment and insight into the subject at hand. And I admit I hadn't previously known about Frasconi until I started my research for this video. Great work.
Thanks Pete! Great timing on this today. I was very happy to see it. I'm going to watch it again and make some notes. There is lots of inspiration to be found in this one. (I've been drawing for 177 days now. :D and things are starting to get a little better.)
As per usual; adding to my list of inspiration. Thank you again for exposing me to so many fantastic illustrators that I had the previous misfortune if not knowing. Cheers!
Hello and thanks a lot. One of the best bits of making these videos is that I find plenty of illustrators I didnt know about beforehand. Lets hear it for lifelong learning!
Thanks for the mention, Pete! It made my day. You must have dug pretty deep to find our copy of Aesop's. All of our books are printed in-house and go straight to our customers, so they don't get a lot of attention. Thanks again! -Chris Lensch
Hello to you and if it throws a few customers your way I'll be delighted. I must say - and this isn't empty flattery - I thought your edition was a shining example of the value of graphic simplicity, and reminded me of the great Jim Flora's work. I wish you every success.
@@tubebloke Hello again and that's a generous offer, and if I had any grandkids I might well have taken you up on it, but your appreciation is reward enough for me.
This was fantastic 👏 I had no idea there were that many versions & illustrators. Hard to pick a favorite with that variety of styles, techniques & mediums. Your research is impeccable & much appreciated. I always learn from you Pete.
Pete, your beautifully presented history of the illustrations of the fables is a fitting tribute to the enduring quality of the original stories by the Ancient Greek Aesop. It's hard to think of another piece of writing that has provided inspiration for so many talented illustrators or so long a time period. Your many video presentations have achieved an impressive level of sophistication, combining informed scholarship with sensitive aesthetics. Do keep up the work.
Hello again and it's favourable comments such as yours which keep me motivated and convince me that I'm doing something farly useful with the channel. So thanks very much.
I was fortunate to belong to a very "keeping" family so I was able to see for myself the old children's books with their wonderful illustrations. I still love fairy tales and fables. Thank you for a heart warming ending to my very long day!🐈⬛🕊🦋
@@petebeard thank you Pete,,the reason I asked was because,as a young boy in Dublin, i lived close to the museum of modern art,where in which,a darkened room dedicated to Clarke's glass work was back lit, it's affect was mesmerizing and has stayed with me for over sixty years.
A wonderful collection and overview of the subject! Thanks Pete! This makes an excellent follow-up (or book-end) to your recent piece on Maurice Sendak. Seeing some of these illustrations made my mind flash back to the brilliant "Penrose Annuals" of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, which invariably featured a look at the year's supply of book illustration both in Britain and the Continent during those decades. So much variety!
Hello and my thanks for your appreciation of this video. If memory serves the 'artier' illustrators such as Agnes Miller Parker and Eric Fraser were featured in those Penrose annuals, which I remember (but only vaguely) from my days as a graphics student.
This is wonderful! I love the idea of following a book through the ages, and it is fascinating to see all the different creative approaches that artists took to these stories, each beautiful in it's own way. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the all work that you put into preparing these videos, but the quality is superb!
Fascinating!! How wonderful to see how so many different artists interpreted the same stories through the years. Once again your video inspires, informs, and delights! Thank You💙🙏🏽💙
Bravo! Pete Beard’s Aesop Fables chronological dance through illustrated history is truly arresting and beautifully balanced with a truly explosive minefield of knowledge from the characteristics of different illustrators pre and post colour printing. Aesop Fables has been a long fond favourite memory for me since the late 1950’s as a child obviously, and only recently I found myself pondering on the works of Aesop Fables and voila almost like a pre birthday (69th how do we do it?!) I have in front of me a veritable treasure chest and well researched work by the one and only host. Many thanks Pete for another beautiful cornerstone placed precisely what I dare say is a cornucopia of illustrator’s knowledge collectives to date.
Hello and I'm bowled over by the appreciation you lavish on this video and my production of it. Comments such as yours are a real shot in the arm for me, and remind me why I started making these videos in the first place. Many thanks to you.
@@petebeard Hahaha! One does but try. And as for Aesop..well one could say that this child of many moons ago adored the fables let alone the gorgeous characters so wonderfully illustrated by the many, and the few. You never know I might just have to start the Pete Beard appreciation society one day. Cheers!
Thank you for this; I was glad to see you included the Provensen's version. I have owned it since I was 5 or so and it is one of my favorite books from childhood.
Hello and thanks for your comment. I must admit that I'd never heard of the Provensens until I started making these videos, and their work was a revelation to me.
AEsop is one of those rare writers who are a never-ending fountain to illustrators. To see all these worthies, either taking advantage of the new techniques and styles of their time, or deliberately spurning them and going back to previous aesthetics, and still producing work viable and new!
Hello and I think it's the very unembellshed nature of the text that has allowed so many illustrators to apply their own visual imaginations to the fables.
Pete, is there a reading list, a bibliography, a “see also”? I’d love to dig into these versions (some known to me, some absolutely new to me-thanks to you).
Hello and I'm sorry to disappoint but no there isn't. I work in a fairly impulsive and (to the casual observer) chaotic way. The stuff I dig out all comes from the same basic search. In this case 'Illustrated editions of Aesop'. Some I already knew and certainly some of the illustrators have featured in other contexts. But all visuals came from the internet and the best suggestion I can make is to jump in with your own search for whichever aspect or illustrator you would like to know more about. I just scratched the surface.
Thank you, Pete, for this superb overview of illustrations for Aesop’s Fables. As with all your videos, your incredible wealth of knowledge about the illustrators, the techniques they used, the technology available to them for producing such illustrations, your ability to put things into historical and cultural context and your own observations and critiques make your videos stand out as the absolute best on the subject. Your beautiful voice is icing on the cake. One thing that jumped out at me was a similarity between the style of Takeo Takei’s illustration of the lion and Maurice Sendak’s illustrations of the monsters in “Where the Wild Things Are” and Takei’s illustration of the fox and the illustration style used by Sendak for some of his children’s books such as Chicken Soup with Rice. It makes me wonder if Takei was one of Sendak’s influences as an illustrator. Do you know if this was so?
Hello and to say I'm pleased by your favourable response to this video and the channel in general would be an immense understatement, so thanks very much and comments such as yours really do make my day and keep me motivated to keep making the videos. And that's an interesting connection regarding Takeo Takei and Sendak. What I've read about Sendak indicates he kept his influences very close to his chest (apart from a childhood love of Disney). So there's no evidence of a link, but who knows? And in case you haven't already seen it Takeo Takei features in more detail in unsung heroes 13.
Hi again and thanks for the favourable comment. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. For reasons I've never managed to work out this kind of collective video never does as well as the solo spots.
Dear Sir, Thanks for another excellent video! Whilst i know to be virtualy impossible to cover all illustrators that worked on Aesop's fables, i happen to have in me hand a Brazilian edition, illustrated by a Brazilian (he studied in Reading, UK): Eduardo Berliner. His work is a little too modern for me taste, but may be of academic interest to you. Cheers from Brazil!
Hello again and many thanks for the comment. Yes I left out more illustrators than I included in this video and the selection process was particularly difficult. I hadn't ptrviously seen Eduardo Berliner's take on the fables so thanks for that too.
Hello and nany thanks for your comment. I'm working on a video hisory of wildlife illustration, but it's still in the planning stages so it may well take some time before it's complete.
Nice and detailed exposition on a singular topic to which most of child and adult mankind can relate and appreciate. Thank U. Quite a tour de force of research and revelation. Merci! Gregg Oreo
Hello and thanks for your comments, as usual. Tis is a favourite video of mine, which hasn't fared all that well in terms of viewing figures. Regarding the Provensens I'm not sure I understand your point but if you mean it's not typical of their output there are some other examples alongside the more formally structured ones. Looks about 40/60 to me.
@@petebeard you, Sir "a master of words " [as well as a master of the drawn image] you have deciphered my weak attempt to MEAN Exactly what I originally meant it to MEAN but seemingly I had structured it in an oblique way with obtuse language to convey the heart of the matter. That said: I, as an illustrator from my child days to teens/ youth/ middle and latter age, I have this to be true of my present day artist friends, historical giants of depictions(in their letters and diaries) and you, in your brilliant dissertations. It seems to me, "The elegant painter/ painted well with WORDS just as adept with images. The pen AND the paint brush: faired and flourished equally well whether writ by tongue or composed by eye (even as I am showing-off now). Simply for the reason, we artists want to get across our points as clearly and, maybe even, as Formidably as possible. We who are blessed with talents to depict with pictographs seem to deduce well with paragraphs with apt results. It wouldn't surprise me Shakespeare found time to sketch, although we have no record of that, it wouldn't surprise me to find eloquence in the letters of Jean Louis David. It seems to me, as you prove over and over in your beautifully narrated scripts, that he/she who is blessed to design well also writes well. Horrible as the image is: well, let's just say, "a dog bites twice as deep when the dog has two heads"! Horrors at the gates of Hades. And. On that hot topic, I will leave you until the next installment is available. Sincerely and respectfully yours, Gregg Oreo long Beach Ca Etats Unis
Hello. I am thoroughly enjoying your videos. I have watched many of your Unsung Heroes of Illustration series but, have yet to catch up all of them. I notice many of your Thumbnails with art depicting horses. I am wondering if you might have covered American illustrator Sam Savitt yet?
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment. And I'm aware of Sam Savitt's work but he was born too late to qualify for the unsung series (1910 is the cut-off year). But on a more positive note I'm working - slowly - on a history of wildlife illustration, and he will fearure in that when I finally get it finished. So much to do, so little time...
Thanks a lot. And the answer to your question - in brief - is a lifetime's interest in the subject and a collection of books, to some extent. But mostly it comes from the internet. Some is easy to find via google. Other stuff is a bit harder to dig out but it's in there if you are persistent with searches.
Although *Benjamin Rabier* is the more famous one in France (5:41), i always had a thing for *Boutet de Monvel* 4:04 : i'm still fascinated by his sense of naturalism, counterbalanced with the great economy with which he drew human's faces. And his overall sense movement, or the suggestion thereof.
Hello and thanks a lot for your comments and appreciation of this video. In case you haven't seen it Boutet de Monvel is featured in unsung heroes 50, and his son will be appearing in a future instalment too.
Hello again and I suppose he got near with his rendition of Renard the Fox. Maybe I should make another video titled 'Illustrators who should have illustrated Aesop'. Don't get me started...
@@petebeard You're right, Kley's Reynard the Fox comes pretty darn close. Guess, Aesop's Fables doesn't have dancing elephants and crocodiles. (Aside from hearing an occasional story from the Fables never read any. Same for Grimm's Fairy Tales.) Perhaps, "A Child's Illustrated Guide to Machiavelli"?
Pete, I absolutely love your channel. As an artist, I've been deeply influenced by the great illustrators of the past. Charles Santore's Aesop's Fables in hardcover was one of my absolute favourite posessions as a kid (it was originally published in '88). I loved LOVED his illustration style, and copied pictures from his book as a kid in an effort to learn how to draw. Likewise, I see from this video that he was in all likelihood influenced by the classical illustrators that preceeded him! Have you done a video on Charles Santore yet? He did some absolutely amazing work, I only wish there was more of it for me to collect. You've introduced me to a couple other fantastic illustrators in this video alone, I may have to collect more editions of Aesop's Fables! Cheers from Australia!
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation of the channel and its content. It is most welcome. And I haven't done an actual video about Santore's work, mainly because I thought he was still with us but I see he left in 2019. (To feature as a solo illustrator you have to be dead - otherwise the story is arguably incomplete). But now I know he qualifies I will take a serious look at how much material I can find. I should warn you though not to hold your breath - he would be joining a very long queue of others patiently waiting in line that I must complete before I too fall off my perch.
the Dore engravings were the first Aesops images I saw as a kid, thought they were amazing! 😀 its so interesting seeing how different people interpreted the tales
Damn, Pete, you've done it again! Great video. What a feast for the eyes. Not exactly unsung, but would you ever consider a video on Doré? Seeing his work in this video has given me a hankering.
Hello and thanks. Actually Doré has been on my 'to do' list for quite some time, and he has popped up on several occasions in other contexts, but I keep leapfrogging over him with lesser known illustrators. But he will get a video all to himself - eventually.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I hope tgis one fares better than Don Quixote - I must admit to being a bit crestfallen at it's relatively low number of views.
Lovely work all around! Thank you for all of your work in researching and producing these videos. Is there a place online where we can support your good work?
Hello and many thanks fot the comment. And many thanks for the offer of support, but the only support I need is the positive reponses of viewers, shares and subscriptions. The revenue from youtube's dreadful ads pays for the monthly wine bill, and as I'm comfortably retired that'll do for me.
Pete, when I was very young in the early 50’s I had a children’s book with one image that I have always remembered although I remember none of the rest of the book. In the background is a house on a hill with a road running right up the center of the illustration (probably double truck). There are two more-or-less clothed anthropomorphic animals in the foreground at the bottom of the page(s) about to walk up the hill. They are walking on their hind legs as people walk. The figure on the left is a jackass wearing a suit jacket or blazer. The jacket is a middle brown with thin yellow plaid stripes if my memory is accurate. He is wearing a hat as I recall. He is talking animatedly to a large pig on his right. The pig is wearing a white jacket with black plaid stripes and a small black hat iirc. I have tried to identify the illustrator for many decades. I found anthropomorphic-character illustrators but I’ve never found the particular illustration or the book.
Hello and it's very frustrating when you can't scratch the itch of a memory. In this instance I wouldn't know where to begin looking, and despite the remarkable detail you provide unfortunately it doesn't ring any bells with me.
@@petebeard Thanks for replying. We are of an age and I thought that at this point it was worth a shot. One of your viewers might even have the book. Thanks also for your continued work, it is always appreciated.
TS 11:37 I did my own tribute acrylic/watercolor for this same tale *Crow & the water Jug* TS 12:25 I luv that cutie whittle patchwork turtle shell *THX Pete*
6:59 ... speaking of animation, the best "rewriting" of Aesop came in the early '60's with "Aesop and Son," a segment from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show featuring Aesop relating a story to his son who would interject comic remarks and concluded with a satiric "moral" often a pun! 😆
Hello, and I remember it well from my own childhood. I always thought it was the best part of the show, and following your prompt to my memory just watched some on youtube. Still looks good.
Hello and that's a very interesting question. Disney began his career as a cartoonist/illustrator and then collaborated with his brother Roy and Ub Iwerks to create animation. The jury is out as to whether Disney himself ever actually animated anything. So in the early days he was more of a character designer and writer. But as soon as Oswald the Rabbit and then Mickey took off he was essentially a film producer, and to the best of my knowledge relied on the drawn skills of those he employed. There is certainly no body of illustrated work we can say is actually his so in the final analysis I'd say no, he can't be considered an illustrator.
Hello and thanks for your comments about thr channel. I'm sorry to have left Imam Baksh Lahori out of the Aesop's video but my research didn't reveal him. A great pity.
The only thing missing here is the animated series done by the folks who did Bullwinkle. I think the voicing was the character actor Edward Everett Horton in Fractured Fairy Tales.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I did consider including a segment (I loved Aesop and son when I was growing up ). But in the end decided to stick to pure illustrations as the topic.
The samples shown for Alice and Martin Provenson/sen(sp?)**... May I humbly suggest? The style of wild bottle brush flower-like paint and pen frenetic strokes(!), Feverishly flying about in a windstorm reminiscent of Admiral Bird/Bird in frozen tundra-town: respectfully doesn't synchronize with the nearly staid and proper, neatly cut and stylized look of a cubist era that are the only samples I can see when my "research froggy" (for Alice and Martin*) went -a -courting, and upon his ride/ sharp angular structures is all he espied... I'm just wondering If anything became mis-labeled twixt the words and images. Thanks for your kind forbearance to consider the possibility, because your works are always meticulously measured out with graphics and script combinations. Very respectfully submitted Gregg Oreo long Beach Ca Etats Unis
Is the diddly piano music in the background an integral part of this video, or just an irritating and pointless overlay on an otherwise excellent essay?
I find older illustrations more attractive and suitable for children. I have hard times finding modern children books with non-distorted characters. I believe that is due to the lack of simple drawing skills of the nowadays artists.
Hello and thanks for the comment. As I hoped the later examples in the video indicated I think there are at least some illustrators working who can give the older greats a run for their money, but it's true that it's the more abstracted styles seem to rule the roost.
Mr. Beard's narration and the quiet piano sound track combined with the astounding art presented make this series one of the best gems on UA-cam. IMHO.
Hello and many thanks for your praise for my efforts with the channel. It's a real boost to know the work is appreciated.
Thank you, Pete Beard, for this terrific idea, of following the illustrations for Aesop through the millennia - I particularly enjoyed those of the Fox and Grapes. The Chinese illustrations were not only surprising but utterly fetching. You've given us a tour through the more technical/resource details of the illustrators through the ages, and how something old becomes new again - and again -
Hello again and it's a real pleasure to get favourable comments such as yours for my efforts. It really makes the work worthwhile
‘Synergy’ can describe a situation where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. And this is exactly what you have achieved Pete. So, Bravo for creating an insightfully academic analysis, plus an interesting narrative delivered in an engagingly eloquent manner, with tasteful and appropriate background music. Education and entertainment, what more can anyone want!
Hello again and I'm overwhelmed by the favourable nature of your comments. You have made an old man very happy...
Mark said it much better than I; but I’m astounded by the immense amount of knowledge as well as the wonderful illustrations! A fantastic job that I enjoyed so much…from your friend in Connecticut, Jane.
@@QueenBee-gx4rp Hello and as with Mark's comment I'm basking in the warm glow of your favourable reponse to the channel content. Thanks a lot.
Outstanding Pete, a wonderful adventure through art and printing history.
Hi Albert and thanks as usual. Greetings from preposterously sunny/sweaty England!
Fascinating. In my day, '73 - '78 I think there were Ladybird books with the fables that had memorable Illustrations.
Hello again, and I must admit they didn't come up in my research.I daren't look now in case I've missed some gems.
I really like seeing the same story/ images "retold" thru the ages. Very interesting and worth watching several times. Magnifico!!!
Hello and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Thanks Pete, another excellent series. I was pleased to see Antonio Frasconi 's work. I had the pleasure of taking classes with him in the 70's, an excellent teacher and person.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I must admit I was previously unaware of Frasconi's work, but I was mightily impressed with these examples and I'll investigate further.
What a wonderful tour through the many interpretations of Aesop! We've talked earlier a bit about how a good illustrator will change his or her vision stylistically to fit the text. Here, you've shown us almost the reverse, how a single text can be interpreted in almost infinite ways and still remain true to the heart of the text. Thanks, as always, Pete, for your inspiration and history lessons.
Hi again and thanks again. I think it's because the tales are so basic and without embellishment it leaves the illustrator more free to add their own imaginative touches. Just a theory...
@@petebeard Now - that's an interesting theory to ponder today/ a fine distraction from the heat and politics ~
I think it says something significant that these simple stories about humankind's foibles were chosen to be printed up - with illustrations - so soon after the advent of the Gutenberg press. The bible being a hard act to follow though. I can't help but wonder however if artists keep illustrating the fables in hopes that the moral of the stories might somehow be better enlightened by their drawings especially, and that humanity will finally start to practice them! It appears to have been necessary back then to swiftly bring these to mainstream media (so to speak) and we certainly prove our continuing need for them today, if not more so. Then again, anything so lovingly and individually illustrated every round of new artist is a treasure in itself. Thank you for compiling these, Pete! I'll be viewing this a couple more times at least, there's so much to see. And yay for including Antonio Frasconi. I was hoping he'd be in there!
What an excellent point!
Hello again and my thanks as ever for your comment and insight into the subject at hand. And I admit I hadn't previously known about Frasconi until I started my research for this video. Great work.
Thanks Pete! Great timing on this today. I was very happy to see it. I'm going to watch it again and make some notes. There is lots of inspiration to be found in this one. (I've been drawing for 177 days now. :D and things are starting to get a little better.)
Hello and I'm glad to hear you're drawing. Thanks for your kind words about the video.
As per usual; adding to my list of inspiration. Thank you again for exposing me to so many fantastic illustrators that I had the previous misfortune if not knowing. Cheers!
Hello and thanks a lot. One of the best bits of making these videos is that I find plenty of illustrators I didnt know about beforehand. Lets hear it for lifelong learning!
So now I feel a crazy strong urge to start collecting these amazing editions! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful work Mr. Beard!
Hello and I know what you mean. Some of the later ones must be in print and available on line. Thanks for the appreciation.
A wonderful and enchanting visual history of a favorite book. Bravo!!
Hello again and my thanks as ever.
@@petebeard I hope you realize that your channel has helped to inspire me to illustrate my own book.
Remarkable series. The work you've put into each piece! Stunning. And much appreciated.
Hello and many thanks for your comment. It's a real morale booster to get such positive responses.
Some beautiful work highlighted, thank you. Another top class video.
Thanks a lot for your comment.
Thanks for the mention, Pete! It made my day. You must have dug pretty deep to find our copy of Aesop's. All of our books are printed in-house and go straight to our customers, so they don't get a lot of attention. Thanks again! -Chris Lensch
Hello to you and if it throws a few customers your way I'll be delighted. I must say - and this isn't empty flattery - I thought your edition was a shining example of the value of graphic simplicity, and reminded me of the great Jim Flora's work. I wish you every success.
@@petebeard I'll take that complement any day! I'd be happy to send you a copy of the book if you are interested.
@@tubebloke Hello again and that's a generous offer, and if I had any grandkids I might well have taken you up on it, but your appreciation is reward enough for me.
This was fantastic 👏
I had no idea there were that many versions & illustrators. Hard to pick a favorite with that variety of styles, techniques & mediums.
Your research is impeccable & much appreciated. I always learn from you Pete.
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation of the video. It's a real tonic to know viewers enjoy the content.
Most interesting compilation of the early Aesop Fables illustrators
Hi and thanks a lot.
Pete, your beautifully presented history of the illustrations of the fables is a fitting tribute to the enduring quality of the original stories by the Ancient Greek Aesop. It's hard to think of another piece of writing that has provided inspiration for so many talented illustrators or so long a time period. Your many video presentations have achieved an impressive level of sophistication, combining informed scholarship with sensitive aesthetics. Do keep up the work.
Hello again and it's favourable comments such as yours which keep me motivated and convince me that I'm doing something farly useful with the channel. So thanks very much.
Wow Pete. so much information here, so many artists to research. Absolutly fascinating. Thanks again. Thsi is delightful.
Hello and I'm very pleased you enjoyed the video.
As always. Engrossing and superb!
Hello and thanks a lot for the appreciation.
I was fortunate to belong to a very "keeping" family so I was able to see for myself the old children's books with their wonderful illustrations. I still love fairy tales and fables. Thank you for a heart warming ending to my very long day!🐈⬛🕊🦋
Hi again and thanks for the comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Harry Clarke's illustrations,and strained glass work.
Hello and your wish is my command. Unsung Heroes 58. I may have ignored/played down the glass though.
@@petebeard thank you Pete,,the reason I asked was because,as a young boy in Dublin, i lived close to the museum of modern art,where in which,a darkened room dedicated to Clarke's glass work was back lit, it's affect was mesmerizing and has stayed with me for over sixty years.
Fascinating - thank you for all your hard work in making these films.
Hello and many thanks to you for watching and appreciating the channel. I hope it inspires you.
Thank you so much for always sharing such amazing Artist's works! They are so inspiring 🤩👏
Hello and as usual your appreciation is very welcome. Positive feedback keeps me going.
Thoroughly engrossing! What an engaging journey through the ages of Aesop's fables, thank you!
Hello and thanks a lot fot yout positive comment. Much appreciated.
A wonderful collection and overview of the subject! Thanks Pete! This makes an excellent follow-up (or book-end) to your recent piece on Maurice Sendak. Seeing some of these illustrations made my mind flash back to the brilliant "Penrose Annuals" of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, which invariably featured a look at the year's supply of book illustration both in Britain and the Continent during those decades. So much variety!
Hello and my thanks for your appreciation of this video. If memory serves the 'artier' illustrators such as Agnes Miller Parker and Eric Fraser were featured in those Penrose annuals, which I remember (but only vaguely) from my days as a graphics student.
Oh! Those are a great series of unbeleavably fabels I've ever came across! Absolutely love them, thanks!
Hello and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
This is wonderful! I love the idea of following a book through the ages, and it is fascinating to see all the different creative approaches that artists took to these stories, each beautiful in it's own way. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the all work that you put into preparing these videos, but the quality is superb!
Hello again and it's really great to get such strong appreciation for what I'm doing with the channel, so thanks a lot.
Fascinating, I loved this one and feel like I came away with a few things I could try myself. TFS
Hello and thanks a lot for your favourable comment.
Another great presentation from The Master of Relaxation! Thank you Sir!!
Thanks a lot, and I'm very taken with the master of relaxation title. But if that's the case why are my own nerves shot to oblivion?
Fascinating!! How wonderful to see how so many different artists interpreted the same stories through the years. Once again your video inspires, informs, and delights! Thank You💙🙏🏽💙
Hello and thanks a lot for your appreciation of the video - it's very welcome.
Bravo! Pete Beard’s Aesop Fables chronological dance through illustrated history is truly arresting and beautifully balanced with a truly explosive minefield of knowledge from the characteristics of different illustrators pre and post colour printing.
Aesop Fables has been a long fond favourite memory for me since the late 1950’s as a child obviously, and only recently I found myself pondering on the works of Aesop Fables and voila almost like a pre birthday (69th how do we do it?!) I have in front of me a veritable treasure chest and well researched work by the one and only host. Many thanks Pete for another beautiful cornerstone placed precisely what I dare say is a cornucopia of illustrator’s knowledge collectives to date.
Hello and I'm bowled over by the appreciation you lavish on this video and my production of it. Comments such as yours are a real shot in the arm for me, and remind me why I started making these videos in the first place. Many thanks to you.
@@petebeard
Hahaha! One does but try. And as for Aesop..well one could say that this child of many moons ago adored the fables let alone the gorgeous characters so wonderfully illustrated by the many, and the few. You never know I might just have to start the Pete Beard appreciation society one day. Cheers!
Thank you for this; I was glad to see you included the Provensen's version. I have owned it since I was 5 or so and it is one of my favorite books from childhood.
Hello and thanks for your comment. I must admit that I'd never heard of the Provensens until I started making these videos, and their work was a revelation to me.
Finally all caught up again! Ever inspirational videos! Truly the only videos I look forward to seeing on UA-cam! Can't wait for the next one!
Hi again and thanks a lot for the comment. Im glad to say there are still plenty in the pipeline.
@@petebeard I'm very happy to hear that!
Excellent! Informative and all the et ceteras, as usual!
I'll take all the etceteras you've got. Thanks as ever.
@@petebeard Cheers, Pete! Although I've not commented of late, I have been having my regular doses of your videos. Keep 'em coming!
AEsop is one of those rare writers who are a never-ending fountain to illustrators. To see all these worthies, either taking advantage of the new techniques and styles of their time, or deliberately spurning them and going back to previous aesthetics, and still producing work viable and new!
Hello and I think it's the very unembellshed nature of the text that has allowed so many illustrators to apply their own visual imaginations to the fables.
I spent years trying to develop a "style" for illustration/cartooning. Never found mine, just admired others.
Hello and unfortunately that pretty much mirrors my own experience. I made a reasonable living but never anything more.
Pete, is there a reading list, a bibliography, a “see also”? I’d love to dig into these versions (some known to me, some absolutely new to me-thanks to you).
Hello and I'm sorry to disappoint but no there isn't. I work in a fairly impulsive and (to the casual observer) chaotic way. The stuff I dig out all comes from the same basic search. In this case 'Illustrated editions of Aesop'. Some I already knew and certainly some of the illustrators have featured in other contexts. But all visuals came from the internet and the best suggestion I can make is to jump in with your own search for whichever aspect or illustrator you would like to know more about. I just scratched the surface.
@@petebeard , as I always say, “No is an answer.” That’s just fine-I can do that. Thanks as ever.
Thank you, Pete, for this superb overview of illustrations for Aesop’s Fables. As with all your videos, your incredible wealth of knowledge about the illustrators, the techniques they used, the technology available to them for producing such illustrations, your ability to put things into historical and cultural context and your own observations and critiques make your videos stand out as the absolute best on the subject. Your beautiful voice is icing on the cake.
One thing that jumped out at me was a similarity between the style of Takeo Takei’s illustration of the lion and Maurice Sendak’s illustrations of the monsters in “Where the Wild Things Are” and Takei’s illustration of the fox and the illustration style used by Sendak for some of his children’s books such as Chicken Soup with Rice. It makes me wonder if Takei was one of Sendak’s influences as an illustrator. Do you know if this was so?
Hello and to say I'm pleased by your favourable response to this video and the channel in general would be an immense understatement, so thanks very much and comments such as yours really do make my day and keep me motivated to keep making the videos. And that's an interesting connection regarding Takeo Takei and Sendak. What I've read about Sendak indicates he kept his influences very close to his chest (apart from a childhood love of Disney). So there's no evidence of a link, but who knows? And in case you haven't already seen it Takeo Takei features in more detail in unsung heroes 13.
@@petebeard Excellent! I'm going to check that out right now.
That, sir, was a fascinating history of book illustration
over 7 centuries in 14 minutes.
Hello again and I'm glad you enjoyed it.
A really engrossing “compare and contrast” very well made. Thank you. NB I save your videos for when I need a little boost!
Hi again and thanks for the favourable comment. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. For reasons I've never managed to work out this kind of collective video never does as well as the solo spots.
Interesting study of a subject ....
Hi and thanks a lot.
Thanks, Pete. Incredibly inspiring, as always!
Hello and many thanks for your comment.
What a great reason to have this new Imac 27 incher...
Hello and I'm glad you think so.
Dear Sir,
Thanks for another excellent video!
Whilst i know to be virtualy impossible to cover all illustrators that worked on Aesop's fables, i happen to have in me hand a Brazilian edition, illustrated by a Brazilian (he studied in Reading, UK): Eduardo Berliner. His work is a little too modern for me taste, but may be of academic interest to you.
Cheers from Brazil!
Hello again and many thanks for the comment. Yes I left out more illustrators than I included in this video and the selection process was particularly difficult. I hadn't ptrviously seen Eduardo Berliner's take on the fables so thanks for that too.
Love this concept 🙌! You always achieve the perfect mix of information and entertainment. Thank you for all the hard work that goes into your videos.
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment. It's great to be understood and appreciated.
Thank you so much… always enjoy youre videos
Hello again and thanks for your comment.
Very fascinating episode, following the evolution of illustrations to the same work throughout the centuries.
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment.
8:37 this one seriously made my jaw drop !! loved the video a lot, would be awesome if you could make more videos featuring animals like that !
Hello and nany thanks for your comment. I'm working on a video hisory of wildlife illustration, but it's still in the planning stages so it may well take some time before it's complete.
Nice and detailed exposition on a singular topic to which most of child and adult mankind can relate and appreciate. Thank U. Quite a tour de force of research and revelation. Merci! Gregg Oreo
Hello and thanks for your comments, as usual. Tis is a favourite video of mine, which hasn't fared all that well in terms of viewing figures. Regarding the Provensens I'm not sure I understand your point but if you mean it's not typical of their output there are some other examples alongside the more formally structured ones. Looks about 40/60 to me.
@@petebeard you, Sir "a master of words " [as well as a master of the drawn image] you have deciphered my weak attempt to MEAN Exactly what I originally meant it to MEAN but seemingly I had structured it in an oblique way with obtuse language to convey the heart of the matter. That said: I, as an illustrator from my child days to teens/ youth/ middle and latter age, I have this to be true of my present day artist friends, historical giants of depictions(in their letters and diaries) and you, in your brilliant dissertations. It seems to me, "The elegant painter/ painted well with WORDS just as adept with images. The pen AND the paint brush: faired and flourished equally well whether writ by tongue or composed by eye (even as I am showing-off now). Simply for the reason, we artists want to get across our points as clearly and, maybe even, as Formidably as possible. We who are blessed with talents to depict with pictographs seem to deduce well with paragraphs with apt results. It wouldn't surprise me Shakespeare found time to sketch, although we have no record of that, it wouldn't surprise me to find eloquence in the letters of Jean Louis David. It seems to me, as you prove over and over in your beautifully narrated scripts, that he/she who is blessed to design well also writes well. Horrible as the image is: well, let's just say, "a dog bites twice as deep when the dog has two heads"! Horrors at the gates of Hades. And. On that hot topic, I will leave you until the next installment is available. Sincerely and respectfully yours, Gregg Oreo long Beach Ca Etats Unis
Hello. I am thoroughly enjoying your videos. I have watched many of your Unsung Heroes of Illustration series but, have yet to catch up all of them. I notice many of your Thumbnails with art depicting horses. I am wondering if you might have covered American illustrator Sam Savitt yet?
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment. And I'm aware of Sam Savitt's work but he was born too late to qualify for the unsung series (1910 is the cut-off year). But on a more positive note I'm working - slowly - on a history of wildlife illustration, and he will fearure in that when I finally get it finished. So much to do, so little time...
@@petebeard Thank you. I didn't know you had a timeline. Good to know. Thank you for your diligence to this series. It is very interesting.
this is amazing. I am curious how you can get this encyclopedic image database
Thanks a lot. And the answer to your question - in brief - is a lifetime's interest in the subject and a collection of books, to some extent. But mostly it comes from the internet. Some is easy to find via google. Other stuff is a bit harder to dig out but it's in there if you are persistent with searches.
Although *Benjamin Rabier* is the more famous one in France (5:41), i always had a thing for *Boutet de Monvel* 4:04 : i'm still fascinated by his sense of naturalism, counterbalanced with the great economy with which he drew human's faces. And his overall sense movement, or the suggestion thereof.
Hello and thanks a lot for your comments and appreciation of this video. In case you haven't seen it Boutet de Monvel is featured in unsung heroes 50, and his son will be appearing in a future instalment too.
@@petebeard Thank you for the indication! I will be sure to watch.
wow... this is really / very instructive to see the evolution, the changes about how the fables were depicted, century after century.. Great work !!
Hello and I'm very glad you think so.
Hey Pete,
*Thanks* for the presentation and the research into making it.
Would've been interesting if Henrich Kley did a version of Aesop's Fables.
Hello again and I suppose he got near with his rendition of Renard the Fox. Maybe I should make another video titled 'Illustrators who should have illustrated Aesop'. Don't get me started...
@@petebeard
You're right, Kley's Reynard the Fox comes pretty darn close. Guess, Aesop's Fables doesn't have dancing elephants and crocodiles.
(Aside from hearing an occasional story from the Fables never read any. Same for Grimm's Fairy Tales.)
Perhaps, "A Child's Illustrated Guide to Machiavelli"?
Pete, I absolutely love your channel. As an artist, I've been deeply influenced by the great illustrators of the past. Charles Santore's Aesop's Fables in hardcover was one of my absolute favourite posessions as a kid (it was originally published in '88). I loved LOVED his illustration style, and copied pictures from his book as a kid in an effort to learn how to draw. Likewise, I see from this video that he was in all likelihood influenced by the classical illustrators that preceeded him!
Have you done a video on Charles Santore yet? He did some absolutely amazing work, I only wish there was more of it for me to collect. You've introduced me to a couple other fantastic illustrators in this video alone, I may have to collect more editions of Aesop's Fables!
Cheers from Australia!
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation of the channel and its content. It is most welcome. And I haven't done an actual video about Santore's work, mainly because I thought he was still with us but I see he left in 2019. (To feature as a solo illustrator you have to be dead - otherwise the story is arguably incomplete). But now I know he qualifies I will take a serious look at how much material I can find. I should warn you though not to hold your breath - he would be joining a very long queue of others patiently waiting in line that I must complete before I too fall off my perch.
The Provensens’ version is the one for me! Thanks for another great video.
Hello and yes that's a very distinctive visualisation. Thanks for the comment.
Mr. Beard,
The breadth and depth of your research and professional presentation always amaze and delight me!
Is Franklin Booth in your bag of artists?
Hello again and thanks as ever for your appreciation. And yes Franklin Booth was featured (admittedly briefly) in unsung heroes 8.
the Dore engravings were the first Aesops images I saw as a kid, thought they were amazing! 😀 its so interesting seeing how different people interpreted the tales
Hello and thanks a lot for your comment. I'm very pleased this video seems to be generally well liked by viewers.
Damn, Pete, you've done it again! Great video. What a feast for the eyes. Not exactly unsung, but would you ever consider a video on Doré? Seeing his work in this video has given me a hankering.
Hello and thanks. Actually Doré has been on my 'to do' list for quite some time, and he has popped up on several occasions in other contexts, but I keep leapfrogging over him with lesser known illustrators. But he will get a video all to himself - eventually.
Just like your Don Quixote video this was a enjoyable journey thought the evolution of illustration.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I hope tgis one fares better than Don Quixote - I must admit to being a bit crestfallen at it's relatively low number of views.
Lovely work all around!
Thank you for all of your work in researching and producing these videos.
Is there a place online where we can support your good work?
Hello and many thanks fot the comment. And many thanks for the offer of support, but the only support I need is the positive reponses of viewers, shares and subscriptions. The revenue from youtube's dreadful ads pays for the monthly wine bill, and as I'm comfortably retired that'll do for me.
Pete, when I was very young in the early 50’s I had a children’s book with one image that I have always remembered although I remember none of the rest of the book. In the background is a house on a hill with a road running right up the center of the illustration (probably double truck). There are two more-or-less clothed anthropomorphic animals in the foreground at the bottom of the page(s) about to walk up the hill. They are walking on their hind legs as people walk. The figure on the left is a jackass wearing a suit jacket or blazer. The jacket is a middle brown with thin yellow plaid stripes if my memory is accurate. He is wearing a hat as I recall. He is talking animatedly to a large pig on his right. The pig is wearing a white jacket with black plaid stripes and a small black hat iirc. I have tried to identify the illustrator for many decades. I found anthropomorphic-character illustrators but I’ve never found the particular illustration or the book.
Hello and it's very frustrating when you can't scratch the itch of a memory. In this instance I wouldn't know where to begin looking, and despite the remarkable detail you provide unfortunately it doesn't ring any bells with me.
@@petebeard Thanks for replying. We are of an age and I thought that at this point it was worth a shot. One of your viewers might even have the book. Thanks also for your continued work, it is always appreciated.
Thank you🙏
And thankyou for your appreciation.
Excelente conteúdo, thanks from Brazil!
Olá e obrigado por sua gratidão.
TS 11:37 I did my own tribute acrylic/watercolor for this same tale *Crow & the water Jug* TS 12:25 I luv that cutie whittle patchwork turtle shell *THX Pete*
Hi again and I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
6:59 ... speaking of animation, the best "rewriting" of Aesop came in the early '60's with "Aesop and Son," a segment from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show featuring Aesop relating a story to his son who would interject comic remarks and concluded with a satiric "moral" often a pun! 😆
Hello, and I remember it well from my own childhood. I always thought it was the best part of the show, and following your prompt to my memory just watched some on youtube. Still looks good.
Beautiful episode! I love it.
Hi again, and I must admit I thought it was one of my best, but viewers don't always agree with me on that score.
@@petebeard Yes! One of the best!
Hello good video, can I ask you something? Can we consider Walt Disney like an illustrator?
Hello and that's a very interesting question. Disney began his career as a cartoonist/illustrator and then collaborated with his brother Roy and Ub Iwerks to create animation. The jury is out as to whether Disney himself ever actually animated anything. So in the early days he was more of a character designer and writer. But as soon as Oswald the Rabbit and then Mickey took off he was essentially a film producer, and to the best of my knowledge relied on the drawn skills of those he employed. There is certainly no body of illustrated work we can say is actually his so in the final analysis I'd say no, he can't be considered an illustrator.
@@petebeard thanks you
Lovely compilation yet another artist from India in early 1800 Imam Bakhsh Lahori created illustrations for ESOP tales
Hello and thanks for your comments about thr channel. I'm sorry to have left Imam Baksh Lahori out of the Aesop's video but my research didn't reveal him. A great pity.
The only thing missing here is the animated series done by the folks who did Bullwinkle. I think the voicing was the character actor Edward Everett Horton in Fractured Fairy Tales.
Hello and thanks for the comment. I did consider including a segment (I loved Aesop and son when I was growing up ). But in the end decided to stick to pure illustrations as the topic.
The samples shown for Alice and Martin Provenson/sen(sp?)**... May I humbly suggest? The style of wild bottle brush flower-like paint and pen frenetic strokes(!), Feverishly flying about in a windstorm reminiscent of Admiral Bird/Bird in frozen tundra-town: respectfully doesn't synchronize with the nearly staid and proper, neatly cut and stylized look of a cubist era that are the only samples I can see when my "research froggy" (for Alice and Martin*) went -a -courting, and upon his ride/ sharp angular structures is all he espied... I'm just wondering If anything became mis-labeled twixt the words and images. Thanks for your kind forbearance to consider the possibility, because your works are always meticulously measured out with graphics and script combinations. Very respectfully submitted Gregg Oreo long Beach Ca Etats Unis
THANK YOU Mr Beard!
Thank you for these great videos!
Hello and thanks a lot. It's great to know the work is appreciated.
again great video, really love your channel
Hello and many thanks for your appreciation.
Thank you!
Always welcome.
I had no idea Aesop was so much produced! Second only to the Bible?
Hello and I think so. The big book is also a work in progress and I've already found some remarkable illustrations through the centuries.
@@petebeard can’t wait!
Passion.. is what I see in your videos.
Hello, and many thanks for that comment. It's my lifelong fascination with illustration that drives the channel, and I'm glad it shows.
Is the diddly piano music in the background an integral part of this video, or just an irritating and pointless overlay on an otherwise excellent essay?
The latter
I just cry anymore.
Hi Eric. Not sure I'm following your comment, but it doesn't sound good to me.
amazing video tks.
Hello and thanks a lot for the comment.
Excellent.
Hello and thanks for the comment.
Thank you.
Hello and you're welcome.
So many forgotten masters
Hello and maybe not quite so forgotten now? I hope so.
I find older illustrations more attractive and suitable for children. I have hard times finding modern children books with non-distorted characters. I believe that is due to the lack of simple drawing skills of the nowadays artists.
Hello and thanks for the comment. As I hoped the later examples in the video indicated I think there are at least some illustrators working who can give the older greats a run for their money, but it's true that it's the more abstracted styles seem to rule the roost.
😱