“One-man modernist” Lica Alexandra, Ja-En, 3rd year

Major figures in the mid-nineteenth century illustrated their fondness to Poe in both visual and
written ways. One of them is Robert Motherwell who produced a series of Abstract-
Expressionist collages inspired by the works of Poe as well as a lithograph entitled Poe’s Abyss.
Poe also influenced the art criticism of Baudelaire and The Man of the Crowd led to his
admiration of Christian Guys, a Parisian artist. Besides making an association of Poe’s tale with
painting, Baudelaire considered both Guys and Poe to be representatives of modern life.
After Baudelaire’s death, Mallarmé continued translating Poe’s poetry. He had an impact on the
art world, an example of this being Le Corbeau, 1875, in which ”Manet used Poe as a way to
make his own forward-thinking visual aesthetic more acceptable”1.
Moreover, Odile Redon named his litographic album À Edgar Poe referring to the specter of Poe
“to help his own work gain acceptance”2. The works of the two share many themes and motifs,
and fantastic elements. In The Tell-Tale Heart, according to Fred Leeman, the drawing’s
modernity prefigures Max Ernst’s “frottage” technique. Apparently simple, the drawing depicts
the captivating symbolism of Poe’s story. Finding it difficult to represent the beating heart
visually, Redon chose to suggest the narrator’s anger through another of the old man’s organs,
the eye.
Gauguin was especially interested in Poe’s idea of how ,,great beauty requires a certain
strangeness in the proportion”3 that he expressed in Ligeia.
Among the German editions of Poe that were being published at the time of his centenary,
particularly interesting is a series of collections by Georg Müller which also contained some
illustrations by Alfred Kubin, who had a predilection for the macabre. Müller’s editions had an
influence on German Expressionsim.
Max Ernst considered Poe to be one of his favorites poets. Berenice mostly influenced him, this
being reflected in his collages, paintings and critical writings.
In conclusion, Poe can be seen as a starting point for their aesthetic theories. Redon found in Poe
a model for his fantastic visions. Gauguin saw in his works, especially Ligeia, an example of
depicting women, and to Ernst he offered inspiration for the frottage technique.

Bibliography:
Hayes, J. Kevin, The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, Cambridge University Press,
2004.
Poe, Edgar A., The Tell-Tale Heart, Penguin Classics, 2015.

1
Hayes, The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, 227.
2
The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, 229.
3
The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, 232.