STEALING THE FIRE FROM HEAVEN (edited & compiled by A.R. Naylor)
by Spare, Austin Osman
ISBN: 1872189385
Item Type: Oversized (8" by 10" or larger) Paperback
Publisher: Mandrake Press Ltd
This remarkable piece of detective work by the Editor throws new light upon the work of Spare - he was an art thief! Many of the decorated initials that Spare claimed to have designed were in fact copied from the works of others! However, the Editor also recovers some work which Spare published under a pseudonym in Form Magazine, & restores it to the corpus of known Spare work. Eight Poems by W.B. Yeats & The Grotesque by Edmund Sullivan are reprinted with the illustrations now known to be by Spare, together with Twelve Poems by J.C. Squire, which Spare claimed to have illustrated & decorated. Although these discoveries do not affect the occult significance of Spare's work they may now be viewed, by some people, very differently. Also raised is the question of authenticity regarding some of Spare's very elaborate & 'formal' alleged automatic drawings - the Spare & Carter illustrated essay entitled Automatic Drawing is reproduced.
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