Max Mayrshofer (1875-1950)

"In stark contrast to his classic, impressionist painting of the later period, Mayrhofer's sketchbooks contain a multitude of whimsical, grotesque drawings with demons, skeletons and fables. As early as 1912, Wilhelm Michel wrote: "For a while, his imagination had been felled by the creation of fabulous animal bodies which are not equal in the grotesque art of our cultural circle. He has drawn them into a book, diary-like, like hypochondria melancholy and bawdy mood. " Whether this ambiguity in his work is expression of his personality, or whether Mayrshofer as a professor at the art academy had to follow the taste of so-called "German art" propagated in this epoch, can not be explained with certainty to this day.

 It is known from his diaries that Mayrshofer has suffered from a severe renal disease and severe neuralgia since childhood. That is why medical questions were repeatedly occupied by him in his presentations. In a sketch book with the inscription "Nice Drawings" he sketches patients, doctors and death, who dwells as a skeleton among the living. In the midst of the sick and the dead, he represents himself." quote source

All artworks were originally published in the German art magazine Jugend.
A website for the artist can be viewed here.

Jaroslav Panuska (1872-1958)

Witch, 1898-1901

 Water Sprite In The Bay

Baba Yaga

Headless Horse (Fairy Tale), around 1900

Revenge Of The Dead, 1898-1901

Lipnitskaya Jackdaw And A Vampire, 1910-1911

Vampire, 1900

"Devil's Mill".  Illustration for Vaclav Riha's "Tale Of Three Wonderful Friends," 1900

Illustration for Vaclav Riha's "Tale Of Three Wonderful Friends," 1900

Illustration for Vaclav Riha's "Tale Of Three Wonderful Friends," 1900

Alberto Martini (1876 - 1954)

Death - The tragedy of force, from "Mysteries" 1914

Grotesque, 1915

Illustration from "Between Thee And Him Alone" published in "Raw Edges" by Perceval Landon, 1908

Ex libris diablerie for Irene Dwen Pace, 1949

The Sold Virgin

Madness, 1914

Illustration from "The Gyroscope" published in "Raw Edges" by Perceval Landon, 1908

Illustration from "Railhead" published in "Raw Edges" by Perceval Landon, 1908

Illustration from "Thurnley Abbey" published in Raw Edges by Perceval Landon, 1908

The Mermaid and Mosko

Grotesque, Mask, 1915

Animation, 1915

Aglauros Became Rock, 1947

Business Cards for Domenico Longo and Vittorio Pica, 1915

Human Heart, Frontpiece for The Mysteries, 1915

Witch, 1915

Traviso, 1914

But now that I'm awake, 1910

"Alberto Martini (November 24, 1876 – November 8, 1954) was an Italian painter, engraver, illustrator and graphic designer. Critics have described Martini's range of work from "elegant and epic" to "grotesque and macabre" and consider him one of the precursors of Surrealism." - quote source

Previous posts on Alberto Martini include the following..

Danza Macabra Europea (1915)
Edgar Allan Poe Illustrations (1905)
Illustrations from Dante's Divine Comedy (1937)
Birth - Human Suffering (1923) 

 

Reggie Oliver - The Hauntings at Tankerton Park

 Zagava Books recently published "The Hauntings at Tankerton Park" written and illustrated by Reggie Oliver.  In place of a description I will provide a quote from the author that best summarizes the book..

“I just finished the last of the ninety odd drawings for a sort of children’s book entitled: The Hauntings at Tankerton Park – and how they got rid of them, a tale in verse… The words I wrote some time ago but the drawings have taken ages. I say ‘sort of’ children’s book because I wrote and drew it really to amuse myself and though it’s just the sort of book that I would have loved as a child, I was a peculiar sort of child (still am) and it might be too macabre for some. It is about a Victorian haunted house, quite mad and part of it is a rhyming alphabet.”
—Reggie Oliver

The book opens with the following text..

“In the year Eighteen ninety, a banker called Clark 
Bought a place in the country called Tankerton Park 
Mr Clark, Mrs Clark, with Laura and Faye 
Their two little daughters, moved in one March day.
And with them came Ron, their pet dog, and a horse
And the usual posse of servants of course.
They found the place elegant roomy and smart,
But terribly troublesome right from the start.
Some quite inexplicable things would appear
Which struck the whole household with horror and fear
The strangest thing was that they could record a
Sequence of haunts in alphabet order”

 The Hauntings at Tankerton Park can be purchased at the Zagava website here.