Over 80 full-page b/w and sepia images many tissue protected. Text in English/German/French and Dutch; Oblong paperback. Condition: very good. The numbering of the plates is 1-115 but there are 34 plates which are not present, which seems also to be true of other copies of this book. There is no space in the binding for these extra plates, which suggests either that this was an error in the original printing, or that not all the numbered pictures were supposed to be included. It has been suggested that the numbering is not pages but refers to the frame numbers of the original paintings; whatever the reason, in this book the 'missing' pages/plates are 2, 7, 17, 40, 64-70, 72, 74, 77-79, 81, 87, 92, 97-110, 114. Page 76 is at the front and page 73 is between pages 36 and 38 but is possibly a misprint for page 37. No date of publication, but circa 1900. Pictorial pastedown on front cover.
During his lifetime, Antoine Wiertzs work was controversial and Baudelaire dismissed him as that infamous poseura charlatan, idiot, thiefwhose stupidity is as massive as his giants. Admittedly Baudelaire did not have a high opinion of the Belgians but, in this case, his judgement seems to have reflected the views of many of Wiertzs contemporary critics.
The titles of Wiertz' works give some idea of this, Faim, Foile, et Crime (Hunger, madness and crime), LEnfant Brûlé (The scorched child), Le Miroir du Diable, (The mirror of the devil), Une Scéne de LEnfer (A scene from hell) and, possibly his best known work today because of its echoes of Poe, LInhumation Précipitée (The premature burial).
Wiertzs attempted to picture the undepictable. Two works seemed to exemplify this. The first, Le Suicide, which showed a man blowing his brains out. In the picture, he is still holding the gun that he has just fired, smoke envelops his disintegrating head and his body falls backwards as he loses consciousness.
A second, more complex work, is even more extraordinary. Pensées et Visions DUne Tête Coupée (Thoughts and visions of a decapitated head) is series of three paintings, which attempt to show what a guillotined head might perceive in the dying moments after its amputation. In the first picture, the head looks back at the severed neck of its body just after the blade has fallen. In the second picture, it sees its body apparently being thrown off the platform to the crowd. And in the final picture, as the head loses consciousness, it experiences the material world dissolving around it.
Wiertzs attempt to take illusionistic painting to its very limits and beyond. It seemed as if he was straining to overcome the limits of the medium and to find some new form of expression. Then, I came across Wiertzs name in an unexpected place: Walter Benjamins Brief History of Photography. At the end of this essay, Benjamin describes Wiertz as a barbaric ideas painter.,
