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Description: | RH CRE WHISTLER, Beatrix; (English; 1857-1896) 'De kleine Johannes' trilogy ('Little Johannes') by Dutch writer and doctor Frederik van Eeden (1860-1932) was published in Holland 1885-1906. Using a fairy-tale structure, van Eeden puts forward his ideas about the industrial age and our relationship to the natural world. The first book tells the story of little Johannes, who runs away from home with the supernatural Windekind. As he learns more about the life of birds, animals, insects and wood sprites, he is encouraged to forget about humans, who, it seems, only want to destroy nature. But as Johannes obsessively tries to find the one book which explains why everything is as it is, he questions Windekind too much. He is thrust back into the human, industrial world. He is now guided by Plinzer (the Spoiler), who shows him poverty, death and the obliteration of nature by the industrial town. Johannes is reunited with his father on his deathbed. The book ends with Johannes walking towards the sunset. He meets a Jesus, who says he has always been with him, and that he must no longer follow false light, but go to the 'shadowy East' and return to the town and experience the misery of human life.
Whistler's publisher, William Heinemann, published a translation of part one of 'Little Johannes' by Clara Bell in 1894/5. He asked Beatrix Whistler to illustrate this edition in 1891, but her illustrations were not used. There are woodblocks for some of her illustrations in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
This shows Johannes meeting his fairy guide, Windekind (child of the Bindweed), for the first time. Although he has been forbidden, Johannes takes an old boat and rows across the lake into the sunset. What seems at first to be a dragonfly, turns into a strange creature, who takes Johannes on journeys into rabbit holes, tells him stories, and opens his eyes to the natural world. This etching has also been called 'A Fairy Apparition' (GLAHA 46467).
Birnie Philip Bequest, 1958 | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | FIGURE : JOHANNES : BOAT : FAIRY : ILLUSTRATION : FEMALE ARTIST : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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