The City: A Vision in Woodcuts (Dover Books on Art, Art History) (Paperback)

by Frans Masereel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This graphic novel by an Expressionist master offers a stunning depiction of urban Europe between the world wars. First published in Germany in 1925, it presents 100 woodcuts of remarkable force and beauty that depict scenes of work and leisure, wealth and deprivation, and joy and loneliness.

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Product Details Paperback: 112 pages Publisher: Dover Publications; Dover Ed edition (March 10, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0486447316 ISBN-13: 978-0486447315 Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,239 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	53% buy the item featured on this page: The City: A Vision in Woodcuts (Dover Books on Art, Art History) 4.0 out of 5 stars (3) $7.95
	19% buy Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Giacomo Patri and Laurence Hyde 5.0 out of 5 stars (2) $19.77
	11% buy Une Semaine De Bonte: A Surrealistic Novel in Collage 4.6 out of 5 stars (11) $11.53
	9% buy Gods' Man: A Novel in Woodcuts 4.2 out of 5 stars (13) $8.95

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3 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating snapshot in time, August 13, 2006 By  wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    Masereel's work, as one of Will Eisner's inspirations, is an ancestor of the modern graphic novel. That historical insight is a freebie, though. Reading this slim book offers many rewards of much more direct sorts. It's not a graphic novel itself, no matter what some have said about it. Instead of a novel's narrative coherence, this presents a sequence of still images. They relate to each other only loosely and conceptually, not in causal flow. This criticism applies only to how Masereel's work is presented, however, and not to the work itself. That is exceptional. Woodcut may look crude, if your eye isn't attuned to it. Edges are hard; delicacy arises from the subject matter and composition, not from the medium. That works well in this case, since Masereel uses it to document the hard parts of city life between the two world wars. He shows love freely given, but also physical love for hire or taken by force. There is death, violence, and military hardware in the streets. Masereel shows both sides of everything, though: medical students harvest life for others from a woman's cadaver, and a steel mill's torrent of fire reminds the reader of how society's tools and materials are formed. Masereel's visual style tends toward the primitive, despite the city sophistication of his subjects. It works. His primitive lines emphasize the primitive urges of life, love, control, and violence. He fills his visual field with detail. Even though woodcut is a medium of contrasts, many of these prints tend toward a uniform texture and "gray." That sometimes makes it hard to focus on the central points of an image. It also conveys that very urban sense of closeness and distraction, the feeling that everything everywhere is competing for attention, and confusion about what really needs the attention. Dover has recently brought this and similar work (including Lynd Ward's) back into print after decades of obscurity. Perhaps the copyright limit expired and the work has fallen into the public domain. Whatever the reason, it has fallen back into public awareness, too, and I'm glad of it. //wiredweird 5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful woodcut artist that predates artist comic style novels, December 23, 2008 By  Gary Comoglio "blockprinter" (SF, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Everything that is in the city is in Masereel's woodcuts: the good, the bad, the ugly...it is all here in powerful images done in woodcut. Masereel's woodcuts translate city life in every aspect,...rich, poor, work, play, night, day, life, and death. The simplicity he uses to convey his message, results in emotionally charged images that feel timeless. These woodcuts were originally done in 1930's, but everything in this books still has a great relative value todays living. 0 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars I feel cheated, May 19, 2008 By  J. Michael (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    I haven't read the story yet, but a quick flip through the book leaves me feeling cheated from its minimal presentation. There is no introduction, no foreword, no editorial notes of any kind except the copy on the back cover. Worst of all, the book is roughly 6x9 inches but the art on each page is about 3.5x5 -- the art could have been up to 60% larger still with reasonable margins. The current size might match the original production, but this is a relatively big book for what seems to be little value. The story had better be amazing to justify the wasted paper and lack of even basic extras. Even if it is, I wouldn't recommend this as a first entry to woodcut graphic novels. Without any kind of supporting information, I feel like I'm about to walk into a fog.		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Dover Ed edition (March 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486447316
• ISBN-13: 978-0486447315
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,239 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating snapshot in time, August 13, 2006

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Masereel's work, as one of Will Eisner's inspirations, is an ancestor of the modern graphic novel. That historical insight is a freebie, though. Reading this slim book offers many rewards of much more direct sorts.

It's not a graphic novel itself, no matter what some have said about it. Instead of a novel's narrative coherence, this presents a sequence of still images. They relate to each other only loosely and conceptually, not in causal flow. This criticism applies only to how Masereel's work is presented, however, and not to the work itself. That is exceptional.

Woodcut may look crude, if your eye isn't attuned to it. Edges are hard; delicacy arises from the subject matter and composition, not from the medium. That works well in this case, since Masereel uses it to document the hard parts of city life between the two world wars. He shows love freely given, but also physical love for hire or taken by force. There is death, violence, and military hardware in the streets. Masereel shows both sides of everything, though: medical students harvest life for others from a woman's cadaver, and a steel mill's torrent of fire reminds the reader of how society's tools and materials are formed.

Masereel's visual style tends toward the primitive, despite the city sophistication of his subjects. It works. His primitive lines emphasize the primitive urges of life, love, control, and violence. He fills his visual field with detail. Even though woodcut is a medium of contrasts, many of these prints tend toward a uniform texture and "gray." That sometimes makes it hard to focus on the central points of an image. It also conveys that very urban sense of closeness and distraction, the feeling that everything everywhere is competing for attention, and confusion about what really needs the attention.

Dover has recently brought this and similar work (including Lynd Ward's) back into print after decades of obscurity. Perhaps the copyright limit expired and the work has fallen into the public domain. Whatever the reason, it has fallen back into public awareness, too, and I'm glad of it.

//wiredweird

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful woodcut artist that predates artist comic style novels, December 23, 2008

By	Gary Comoglio "blockprinter" (SF, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Everything that is in the city is in Masereel's woodcuts: the good, the bad, the ugly...it is all here in powerful images done in woodcut. Masereel's woodcuts translate city life in every aspect,...rich, poor, work, play, night, day, life, and death. The simplicity he uses to convey his message, results in emotionally charged images that feel timeless. These woodcuts were originally done in 1930's, but everything in this books still has a great relative value todays living.

0 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I feel cheated, May 19, 2008

By	J. Michael (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I haven't read the story yet, but a quick flip through the book leaves me feeling cheated from its minimal presentation.

There is no introduction, no foreword, no editorial notes of any kind except the copy on the back cover. Worst of all, the book is roughly 6x9 inches but the art on each page is about 3.5x5 -- the art could have been up to 60% larger still with reasonable margins. The current size might match the original production, but this is a relatively big book for what seems to be little value.

The story had better be amazing to justify the wasted paper and lack of even basic extras. Even if it is, I wouldn't recommend this as a first entry to woodcut graphic novels. Without any kind of supporting information, I feel like I'm about to walk into a fog.