Book Review: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will be familiar with Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), an illustrator specializing in historical subjects for the British news magazines.

I recently received an advance copy of Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania, which will be available soon. Full disclosure: I was asked to write the preface to the book, which I was glad to do, being a fan of his work for more than 30 years.

The book was ten years in the making. It's a giant volume, 10 x 13 inches (25 x 33 cm), 340 pages with 750 illustrations, many of which were taken from the original art.

Matania's illustrations portrayed everything from ancient Rome to English Royalty to contemporary life in the early 20th century, all visualized with authoritative detail.

Lucinda Gosling's introduction to the book tells the story of Matania's life, as well as his working method for producing a great number of watercolor and wash drawings under tight deadlines. Sometimes he did so with the help of props and models, and sometimes he worked entirely from his rich imagination.


Matania's World War I illustrations, made with the aid of interviews with veterans and visits to battlefields, are well represented in the book.

There is also a good sampling of Matania's lesser-known science fiction pictures. He illustrated several science fiction novels, such as "Pirates of Venus" and "Lost on Venus" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and "When Worlds Collide" by Edwin Balmer and Phillip Wylie.

His imaginative work has a steampunk feel that was a big inspiration to 20th century illustrators like Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, and Roy Krenkel.

This book is a comprehensive resource for concept artists and storyboarders who want references on a variety of historical scenes, and also an inspiration for academic artists who want to develop their imaginative muscles.
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Resources and Links

Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania is taking advance orders currently listed as not available at Amazon, but the publisher's website in the U.K. says it's taking orders. Part of the edition is a boxed set that's limited to 100 copies, as well as a standard hardcover edition for £60.00.

There's also a Special issue on Matania in Illustrator's Magazine.

If you're a collector, you might want to check out the catalog of original works and prints by Matania produced as a companion volume for £20.00.

Previous posts: 

Matania famous demo of the Belgian barricade

Matania's props and models

Fortunino Matania on Wikipedia

Fortunino Matania's feats of visual memory

When illustrator/reporter Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) was assigned to cover the coronation of Edward VII, no cameras were allowed in Westminster Abbey, and no sketchbooks or pencils either. Fortunately, Matania had a prodigious visual memory, and was able to reconstruct the entire occasion from notes that he jotted immediately following the event.

Matania's visual memory was put to the test in India, too, according Peter Richardson writing in the new issue of the British magazine Illustrators:

He was invited to accompany King George V and Queen Mary to India when they were installed as King-Emperor and Queen-Empress at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. Matania's resourcefulness on such occasions was also in a league unto itself. Such was the multitude of troops and onlookers at the event that there was little space allocated to the press. The majority of them were obliged to observe the proceedings through binoculars as the distant dignitaries shimmered and eddied into the searing heat. Matania, who had mapped out his preparatory work at the dress rehearsal, nevertheless wanted to get as close to the action as possible and managed to secure a position at the foot of the steps leading up to the Royal thrones. To ensure he remained as unobtrusive as possible, he had secured himself an Army uniform, remained rigidly at attention as he committed the whole scene in all its pomp and splendour to his photographic memory. He got the completed artwork back to London within a fortnight and the resultant artworks were considered so successful that he was honoured with a Coronation Medal.

Matania's career spanned a wide range of subjects, from scenes reconstructed from ancient history....

....to news events such as the sinking of the Titanic. This image, "Women and Children First" transfixed the public when it appeared in 1912. 

Matania went on to illustrate vivid scenes from the first World War, occasionally drawn on the battlefront, but more often reconstructed from sketches, interviews, and a powerful imagination.

Issue 3 is now available and also has feature articles on Peter Maddocks and Andy Virgil.

Order Illustrators Issue 3 at Illustration Quarterly
Matania original art and prints at Illustration Art Gallery
Book: Memory Drawing: Perceptual Training and Recall by Darren Rousar
Previously on GJ: Matania: Without a Net
Matania's Tone Paper Illustrations
Adventures of a Cross-Dresser

Armistice Day

Italian-born British illustrator Fortunino Matania captured the frenzied joy as news of the end of the "Great War" echoed through Europe on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, one hundred years ago today.


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Resources and Links

Book: Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania 

Artice on Matania in Illustrator's Magazine.

Catalog of original works and prints by Matania

Previous posts: 

Matania famous demo of the Belgian barricade

Matania's props and models

Fortunino Matania on Wikipedia

Book Review: Goodbye Old Man

In the spring of 1915, Fortunino Matania traveled to the front lines of the Great War to research his illustrations for the British illustrated journal The Sphere. 

Neuve Chapelle, 1915, by Fortunino Matania, Royal Worcestershire Regiment Museum

He sketched the positions of the dead and the the layout of the defenses, reconstructing the battle that had just taken place. But the battlefield was still hot, and his attempts to sketch were interrupted by machine gun fire. Ducking into a trench, he bobbed his head up for a few seconds to take in the view of the nearby village and the debris—a battered teakettle, a discarded bottle, and a sardine can.

A shell exploded just five yards away, covering him and his sketchbook with dirt. He escaped to the relative safety of a field hospital, where he interviewed survivors. Returning to his studio in England, he dug a trench in his own garden to reconstruct the scene in real life, where he could study the effects in safety.

This story is just one of many contained in a new book called Goodbye, Old Man: Matania's Vision of the First World War about the Italian-born illustrator Fortunino Matania (1881-1963). The title is a reference to his most famous image, showing a soldier saying farewell to his dying horse as his buddies urge him on.

The book is softcover, 6 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches with over 100 illustrations, more than 30 of which are in color. The images are reproduced both from original art and from tearsheets. Because of the petite size of the book, the illustrations are unfortunately disappointingly small, but they're well captioned, and larger files can often be found online. List price is U.S. $18.95, but it can be found on Amazon for less than $15.00. 

The book does much to fill the gap in published information about this underappreciated artist whom I've written about many times before on this blog. It's an especially good resource for anyone interested in the documentation of World War I. I hope that someone will produce another book covering his vast output of historical illustrations after the war.

Book: Goodbye, Old Man: Matania's Vision of the First World War by Lucinda Gosling
Previous GJ posts on Matania

Matania’s Models and Props

Fortunino Matania’s father was one of the best known painters and illustrators of Italy. He taught his son not only to paint and draw, but also to model, carve, and work in metal or wood.

Above: Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), ”Rienzi, Roman Deliverer,” Brittania & Eve, February,1931.

Young Fortunino was a child prodigy, sculpting a whole zoo full of animals at age 11. By age 13 he was working as an illustrator for Italy’s primary illustrated journal.

He made furniture in the style of Rome and other classic eras, and he made replicas of historic costumes, and miniature figures from Egyptian and Elizabethan times. (Source: Percy Bradshaw, The Artist magazine, April, 1943)

Matania’s grandson, Robert, told me in a recent letter:

“My grandfather died when I was 9 years old….I remember sitting with him sometimes while he painted and chose some of the colours. From what my aunt told me, when I was older, he had many models that came to his studio and posed and he also used members of the family. I have seen several paintings where one can see objects from his studio such as mantelpieces and furniture etc.

“I remember he would make a light but fairly detailed sketch before painting because in some of his water colours one can still see the pencil lines especially where he decided to make changes.

“He painted many scenes from Roman history and he would often make certain objects himself and then use them in his paintings. He constructed accurate replicas of Roman furniture complete with mother of pearl decoration as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker.”
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Thanks, Robert!
Book Palace is in the process of publishing a book on Matania, and their website has many excellent reproductions

Previously on GJ: Matania, Without a Net (An eyewitness account where an observer watches him work with no references).

Adventures of a Cross-Dresser

Mary Anne Talbot (1778–1808) was an Englishwoman who wore male dress and became a sailor during the Napoleonic wars. Her story was illustrated by the Italian-born British artist named Fortunino Matania (1881-1963).

In 1792 she unwillingly became a mistress of captain Essex Bowen who enlisted her as his foot-boy under the name "John Taylor" for a voyage to Santo Domingo. Matania captures the captain’s imperious dominance and the 14-year-old’s fearful acquiescence to her new identity.



She served as a drummer-boy in the battle for Valenciennes, where captain Bowen was killed. She was wounded and treated the wound herself to avoid revealing herself to the surgeon. She decided to continue working as a male sailor.


On a sojourn to Rhode Island in America, she attracted the attentions of a young woman who fell in love with the eligible young “gentleman.” Matania’s illustration on tone paper shows the moment when the girl openly declares her love. Mary Anne’s expression of consternation, and her blend of male and female qualities, is a difficult thing to express in a drawing, but Matania accomplished it.

Despite a series of injuries received in battle, Talbot continued to wear sailor's clothes. She worked in menial jobs and even tried her luck on stage at Drury Lane but eventually was arrested and taken to debtor’s prison at Newgate.

READ MORE
Mary Anne Talbot on Wikipedia
 Fortunino Matania on Wikipedia
Download her 1809 autobiographical account on Digital Commons 
Previously on GJ: Matania at Work 
Images courtesy Anthony Smith

Matania: Without a Net

Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) was a historical illustrator and war correspondent who worked for the British magazine Sphere and other publications.

He had a wide range of interests, and his command of historical detail was unrivaled. He could render costumes, weapons, architecture, and furnishings with authority and assurance. He was equally at home in ancient Rome, in the Italian Renaissance, or in the world of the Aztecs. But his specialty was World War 1.


His instincts for composition and staging came from years of studying the old masters, yet for the most part he managed to avoid conventional compositions or formulaic poses in favor of a relaxed truthfulness to nature and a vivid sense of action.

But his gifts went beyond the pedantic accuracy of documentary detail. He brought a sympathetic heart to his characters; nowhere is this more evident than the unforgettable painting of a World War I soldier lingering behind on a battle-scarred road to comfort his dying horse.


Matania’s ability to paint realistic tableaus from the pages of history would be impressive enough had he approached his craft in the normal way¬—that is, by producing dozens of preliminary studies, gathering actual props, sketching on location, and posing models.

He was fully capable of this kind of comprehensive method, but he more typically worked under tight deadlines, dispensing altogether with preliminaries, and laid down a final rendering on a white surface, guided by a vision fully formed in his head.


This would have been hard to believe were it not for eyewitnesses like Percy Bradshaw, who watched him paint a complex scene of a [] cavalry soldier breaching a [Belgian] barricade. He started with a blank board with no sketches, and just started rendering. This is like tightrope walking without a net.

Here’s the finished picture. Bradshaw documented the process photographically in stages and published it in a portfolio that stunned Matania’s contemporaries.


Thanks to the work of Stuart Williams and Geoff Gehman, an art book on Matania is in the works from FHD Publishing's Book Palace imprint—with much higher quality reproductions than I’ve shown here. They've pushed back the pub date because they keep finding great new works. It will be worth the wait.

Detailed bio and collection of color illustrations, Link.
More from Book Palace, Link.

Other GurneyJourney posts
Matania at Work
Matania on Mary Ann Talbot (we own these originals)
Matania's Models and Props
 

Matania's Tone Paper Illustrations

Fortunino Matania was an Italian-born artist who created historical illustrations for the English magazines of the World War 1 era. Here's a picture he did of Captain John Smith captured by Indians.

Matania often rendered his pictures on a gray-colored board, which allowed him to develop the darks in pencil and ink wash, and to add the white areas with white gouache. The bright white of the pillow behind the sick girl really glows, and the solid black of the standing woman's dress provides an eye-catching shape behind the seated man. 



This one is called "Cagliostro: The Law of Trane" from Britannia & Eve. The tone paper technique is helpful for developing compositional sketches or for creating relatively quick renderings of complex scenes.

These images are all from the collection of Anthony Smith, who is offering them for sale on his Pinterest page. Thanks, Anthony.

Previously: Introducing Matania, showing his step-by-steps
Matania's illos of cross-dressing Mary Anne Talbot
Video of Matania at work
Matania's models and props

Matania at Work

Archival newsreel film footage brings to life the working process of Italian/British historical illustrator Fortunino Matania.




You can click the image above to link over and see the film.

It shows Matania directing costumed models, who pose as he draws them directly into the finished illustration. He adds the missing elements, such as settings and horses, from his imagination.

Ever the showman, Matania puffs from his cigarette as he draws, jumping up from his chair to joke around with the model. The film ends with him working away, surrounded by a a Bohemian throng, with one of them strumming a guitar.



(Link to British Pathe, where you can watch a small-scale preview or pay to get a full-rez download)
Previously: Matania's Models and Props
Matania: Without a Net
Image: "Goodbye Old Pal" (Man comforts dying horse)
Thanks, Daniel 

Stillness and Action, Part 2

Yesterday we talked about portraying a place of stillness in a larger story, and we heard Howard Pyle’s argument for avoiding high action.

The development of high speed photography and the perfection of animation opened up an awareness in artists and public alike in the keyframe pose, a momentary phase of action that suggests the larger movement.

As Smurfswacker deftly pointed out in yesterday’s comments, a lot of mid-20th Century illustrators chose peak action to grab reader’s attention. I was always fascinated by Al Dorne’s over-the-top magazine illustration of a barbershop brawl, which was one of the demonstration drawings from the Famous Artists Course.

Action brings in the fourth dimension of time, but effective action paintings don't ignore two-dimensional design considerations. This painting by N.C. Wyeth shows Long John Silver pulling Jim Hawkins along on Treasure Island. The scene is activated by diagonal movement and opposing forces. It beautifully expresses the powerful forward energy and determination of the pirate, contrasted with Jim’s frail reluctance.

The key to successfully portraying a single moment of action is to find that instant that invites speculation about previous and subsequent events.

Photographer Cartier-Bresson (above) called it the “The Decisive Moment.” He said, “To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.”

French philosopher E. Giard called this instant the point mort (dead point), a pregnant pause in the continous action of a figure or animal.

In the scene above from World War 1, Fortunino Matania has cast the soldier’s fate into doubt as he is frozen in a moment of great risk.

Tom Lovell shows Alexander first setting foot in Asia Minor to begin his historic conquest. Far from being gratuitous action, this moment points forward to epic events that lie ahead.

Whether you choose to paint a scene with stillness or action, try to give your image the greatest emotional resonance and narrative reach.
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Decisive Moment definition.
More images by Matania from Palace Press.
Download a big file of the Dorne brawl scene from Leif Peng's Flickr sets.
This is one of the topics I cover (with different examples) in my upcoming book, Imaginative Realism.

Feature in Illustrators Magazine (UK)

I'm very excited to receive advance copies of the next Illustrators Magazine, issue #19, where my work is the cover feature. This quarterly magazine, based in the UK, covers illustrators around the world, past and present. 

The article includes 35 images, many of which are reproduced in a double page spread, plus a newly written bio by Thomas Kintner.

The new issue also includes an article on Jacques Onfroy de Bréville (1858-1931), known as Job. His well-researched historical illustrations made their way into European children's books and comics.


There's also an article on the quirky horror comics by Dutch artist Erik Kriek.

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You can pick up a copy of Illustrators #19 at the publisher's website and it will soon be available at Stuart Ng books. (pub: The Book Palace, 2017. 98 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £18.00 (UK), $21.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-907081-41-5. ISSN: 2052-6520)

You can get back issues of Illustrators from Amazon

Book Palace also published the excellent book Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania