My Requisite (Belated) Halloween Post: Frankenstein in Un-Living Color

Actually, not in color at all, because I want to focus on the black & white illustrated adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Three 20th-century artists have done visually stunning illustrations for this gothic masterpiece: Lynd Ward, Barry Moser, and Bernie Wrightson, and it made me think what might be behind the use of black and white.

Black and white imagery can be wonderfully jarring with high contrast, bold imagery.  A skilled artist can use just black and white, positive and negative space to create tension, convey emotion, and make a statement.  Some of the best known and most respected photography from the 20th century is in black and white.  So, I would say that people with knowledge of art would never accuse black and white being a hindrance to artistic expression.  However, I believe that there persists an incorrect notion that older (from the past 100 years all the way back to antiquity) works of art (books, fine art, film, photography, etc.) utilized black and white for a specific effect exclusively.  In other words, if an artist had full living color at his or her disposal, he or she would still choose black and white.  We know that ancient Egyptian statues were not plain sand colored statues, they were colored in bright hues using a variety of inks and pigments and even real gold.  It wasn't just the sarcophagi that were beautifully rendered in color, most everything was, and it is just because of time and sand storms that everything above ground has lost most of its color.  Same thing goes for Rome.  We think of Rome as cold white marble, but Rome was all about vibrant color paintings and mosaics.  We also know that early printed books would have plates colored by hand, and that the presence of black and white versus color is more of a class distinction.  You had to pay more to have the black and white plates hand colored.

So, enough about people's assumptions about antiquity, let's jump ahead to the 20th century.  In the 1920's and 1930's moviegoers were being thrilled by horror classics like The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and Frankenstein.  Evil characters lurking in the "dark" of night, lightning crashing overhead in a dark sky, revealing monsters.  Moonlight turns color into shades of gray.  Despite our living world being in color and the celluloid film being in black and white, these movies were scary.  Other movies like Jane Eyre (1943) and Rebecca (1940) added to the ouevre of  Gothic novels adapted into black and white film.  But I think that if these filmmakers had color at their disposal, then they would have used it.  Right now we are dealing with 3-D taking over.  Brian Selznick's book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is illustrated in black and white, but Martin Scorsese is embracing color and 3-D in his latest film, Hugo, an adaptation of that book.  I attended a Brian Selznick book event and he loves the new movie and totally stands by Scorsese's use of color and 3-D.

So, does that meant that illustrators and publishers are trapped in the past?  I don't think so.  For one, we could look again to economics.  When you publish a book in color, do you print the color illustrations on paper, on glossy paper, on a plate?  They all have varying prices associated with each process.  But i think it is undeniable that black and white illustrations of Gothic works like Frankenstein tap into the collective memories of viewers of black and white Gothic films more so than fans of the original printed text.  I think most people who have seen the original Frankenstein movie may be confused and somewhat bored by Mary Shelley's novel.  It is not a terribly exciting novel.  And keep in mind the proximity of movie and book.  I think if you watch the 1931 film Frankenstein you will appreciate its wonderful use of shape and shadow.  The original Frankenstein movie first appeared in 1931, Lynd Ward's illustrated edition was published in 1934, and then Bride of Frankenstein appeared in 1935.  So, combine the printing simplicity of black ink on white paper, and the popularity of a visually stunning film in black and white, and you can understand why Lynd Ward's illustrations make for a perfect fit.

So, what we have here is a very rich culture of skilled artisans who could work very well with black and white.  Frank D. Hall (Art Director for many of Universal's most memorable monster movies), Alfred Hitchcock (Director of Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and later in color, The Birds), Lynd Ward, who specialized in black and white woodcut prints.  There are critics who put down the movie Frankenstein because of its condensation and departure from the original source text, but there are also critics who would put down illustrators like Bernie Wrightson for being merely a comics artist.

I don't think I am writing anything new here, and I apologize for rambling on.  Any film buff would probably say that of course Gothic movies and the black and white horror filmmakers influenced illustrators and comics artists.  This post is mostly an excuse to feature the works of Ward, Wrightson, and Moser, and wish everyone a Happy Halloween.  As someone who works extensively in pencil and black ink, I think comic book artists don't get the recognition they deserve, and classic black and white films suffer from a similar lack of appreciation.  So, cheers to black and white imagery, and film, and all things Gothic and Horror!  Happy Halloween!