Customer Reviews

The Dore Gallery: His 120 Greatest Illustrations (Dover Pictorial Archives)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is really great because it provides the reader with an extensive view of Dore's work. It displays more than a hundred high quality full-paged engravings for a very low price. I was utterly delighted when I found this book : I am French and though Gustave Dore is a French artist, it is at present impossible to find here such books as the Dore series published by Dover Publishers.

Gustav Dore illustrated books and magazines in the 19th century, and these are a collection of his woodcuts from several different publications. The recreations are fantastic, from the Bible to Poe to Dante, Dore traverses grand stories of faith, humor, and fantasy all without missing a beat. It's amazing that these are glorious reproductions of handmade, woodcut images. Dore rarely made the woodcuts himself, but sometimes drew them directly to the wood it was to be cut from. Dore is brilliant, and a forgotten Master of book illustration. Many illustrations elicit a sense of Tolkien's works; though long before Tolkien.
Any of these could be easily removed from the volume, (though that would be sacreledge), and put into a frame to make a beautiful piece of art to hang on your wall. If you do commit this sacreledge, I recommend "The Empyrean" from Dante's "Divine Comedy" as a favorite.

Back in 1970, I had a hardback copy of most all of Gustave Dore's engravings that I cherished looking at. It sadly burned up in my house fire of 1987, which is all chronicled in my inspirational memoir Still Singing, Somehow. Now forty years later, I still really enjoy sitting with this current soft cover edition of Dore's drawings. This artist is pure genius at the highest level. How can anybody not notice that when viewing his art? "Puss in Boots" for any cat lovers and "The Empyrean" from The Divine Comedy are worth buying this book for alone, in my opinion, as they are my favorites. Fans of Dante and the Bible will be greatly rewarded too, as nobody lays down the lines like Gustave Dore. And at the price it goes for, you're crazy not to buy this superb edition for your own library, if you love great art. It is worth every penny spent and so much more.

I do not believe this book has all of his drawings but it gives you a good combination of all the genres he drew.
It's a pretty awsome book Im thinking about buying the bible drawings and the Dantes inferno which the Dante illustrations are what drew me to Dore Gustave.

One of the greatest illustrators ever. Has numerous pages of his prints. Wonderful. Every artist should have a copy.

Little I knew about Dore before buying this book. He is a great painter capable of capturing the most grim and dark moments of mankind as well as the brightest ones with no difficulty. The books is worth its price by every penny. A must have.