Wednesday, November 12, 2008

the evolution of Eulenspiegel

Pencil sketches for Till Eulenspiegel LP cover, 1955. The above skeletal figures eventually morphed into this rough layout:

... which was refined as this unfinished tempera setting:

... which evolved into this finished RCA Victor Red Seal cover:

Till Eulenspiegel was an impudent prankster in German folklore. Flora rendered several pen and ink drawings of the trickster in the 1990s. Perhaps he recognized a kindred spirit.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha!

And allow me a moment of bragging rights: about ten years ago I found a sealed copy of said LP for two bucks.

It's no longer sealed because I love Richard Strauss and (*gasp*) have played the collector's item!

Ernie said...

I love how little bits of the artwork move around in each subsequent version. And what I thought was a cat in the hat became in owl in a...ummm...hat.

Anonymous said...

Each version is amazing. Each one would have made a fantastic cover. This man was just born with more than his share of talent and energy.

Really cool to see that preliminary sketch too.

Thanks a bunch for sharing the awesomeness.

Steve Barton said...

Tod und Verklärung!