Dante's Divine Comedy

by Seymour Chwast

Overview

The "left-handed designer," Seymour Chwast has been putting his unparalleled take-and influence-on the world of illustration and design for the last half century. In his version of Dante's Divine Comedy, Chwast's first graphic novel, Dante and his guide Virgil don fedoras and wander through noir-ish realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, finding both the wicked and the wondrous on their way.

Dante Alighieri wrote his epic poem The Divine Comedy from 1308 to 1321 while in exile from his native Florence. In the work's three parts (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise), Dante chronicles his travels throughthe afterlife, cataloging a multitude of sinners and saints-many of them real people to whom Dante tellingly assigned either horrible punishment or indescribable pleasure-and eventually meeting both God and Lucifer face-to-face.

In his adaptation of this skewering satire, Chwast creates a visual fantasia that fascinates on every page: From the multifarious torments of the Inferno to the host of delights in Paradise, his inventive illustrations capture the delirious complexity of this classic of the Western canon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608198771
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/16/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Seymour Chwast was born in New York City and is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design. He is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios, whose distinct style has had a worldwide influence on contemporary visual communications. In 1985 the studio's name was changed to the Pushpin Group, of which Mr. Chwast is the director. More information about Mr. Chwast can be found at www.pushpininc.com.
Seymour Chwast was born in New York City and is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design. He worked as a junior designer in the advertising department of the New York Times, then for House and Garden and Glamour magazines. He is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios, whose distinct style has had a worldwide influence on contemporary visual communications. In 1985 the studio's name was changed to the Pushpin Group, of which Mr. Chwast is the director. He received the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Medal in 1985, was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of fame and has an honorary Ph.D in Fine Art from the Parsons School of Design. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other major museums around the world. He was a visiting lecturer at art schools in New York and vice-president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (1974-8), New York. More information about Mr. Chwast can be found at www.pushpininc.com.

Editorial Reviews

Famed artist and graphic designer Chwast has turned his talents to the graphic novel form for the first time, and we can all be happy about it. In a highly compressed version of Dante's Divine Comedy, Chwast takes us on a whirlwind tour of hell, purgatory, and heaven. With his signature mix of humor, artistry, and high-level design, he conveys a breathtaking amount of information in clear black and white line drawings. One graph illustrates "reasons for different levels of punishment," with sins ranging from "no self-control" (deemed "not so bad") to "insane brutality" (which is "terrible"). In another, the levels and regions of purgatory are laid out in an ascending birthday cake format. Much of the book is beautiful, with page design showing naked sinners tossed in a wind of words, a two-page spread of men and snakes wrapped in writhing battle, or a large flower made of angels as they fly from God. Dante himself is portrayed as a pipe-smoking detective type in sunglasses and a trench coat, while his guide, Virgil, wears a porkpie hat and wire-rimmed spectacles with his suit. It all works seamlessly as Chwast does a stunning job of telling Dante's story in his own brilliant style. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

“Dante + Seymour = Heaven.” —Maira Kalman, author of The Principles of Uncertainty

“Seymour's take on this timeless classic is not only charming and clever, it is so cannily rendered that it makes Dante's complex masterwork easily understood for any reader. Divine.” —Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys

“I have to say, seen through Seymour Chwast's eyes, Hell doesn't look so bad. I'm almost looking forward to floating in pools of excrement or being tossed about carelessly by furious winds. Seymour Chwast has put the comedy back into the divine in this fiendishly heavenly extravaganza.” —Marian Bantjes, graphic artist

“Seymour Chwast! Oh, how I hate him! He's already the top artist! He's already the top designer! Now he's gonna be the top graphic novelist! Seymour Chwast can go to Hell!” —Craig Yoe, author of The Art of Steve Ditko

“With all due respect to Dante, this is Chwast's Divine Comedy … [Chwast] makes the Divine Comedy irresistibly comic and inspirationally transcendent.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Famed artist and graphic designer Chwast has turned his talents to the graphic novel form for the first time, and we can all be happy about it…With his signature mix of humor, artistry, and high-level design, he conveys a breathtaking amount of information in clear black and white line drawings…Chwast does a stunning job of telling Dante's story in his own brilliant style.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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