Illustration for King Mouselet And Prince Youth and The Bold Dwarfs' Adventures 1905

This illustration, probably made with ink and wash, maybe gouache, by Artuš Scheiner shows a fairy tale scene with a ghostly figure surrounded by birch trees. The limited palette creates a dreamlike atmosphere. The cross hatching gives the image a feeling of depth and texture, like you could touch the bark. Look at how Scheiner used the white of the page to create the figure’s dress, and the tree trunks, this subtractive way of working creates a sense of light. The density of the cross hatching, particularly in the foreground tree creates a stark contrast with the lightness of the figure, giving the image a sort of eerie tension. Scheiner’s work reminds me a little bit of Kay Nielsen’s illustrations with their delicate lines and fantastical subject matter. It's interesting to think about how artists working in similar times and places were drawing on folk traditions to create their own visual languages. But of course, every artist interprets and reinvents these traditions in their own way. Art isn’t just about what we see, but about how we imagine.