''The Idea'' (french: Idée, sa naissance, sa vie, sa mort, "Idea, her birth, her life, her death") is a 1920 wordless novel by

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972). In eighty-three

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

prints, the book tells an

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

of a man's idea, which takes the form of a naked woman who goes out into the world; the authorities try to suppress her nakedness, and execute a man who stands up for her. Her image is spread through the mass media, inciting a disruption of the social order. Filmmaker Berthold Bartosch made an animated adaptation in 1932.

Overview

An artist is struck with an idea, which manifests itself as a naked woman with long, black hair. He displays her to the public, but the authorities, offended by her nudity, chase her around the city in order to cover up her body. A man who is not offended by her nudity takes to the woman's side, and the two fight injustice together; the man is caught and executed. The authorities destroy all books published with the woman's image, but she finds new outlets in the mass media, and succeeds in disrupting the social order. The woman returns to the artist, who has a new idea—a white-haired woman. He frames and hangs the black-haired woman on the wall, and releases the white-haired woman to the public. The allegorical book is open to interpretation. It can be seen as representing new ideas, and how they disrupt and are resisted by tradition. From the perspective of the woman, it can be seen as how the image of women is manipulated by society and the media, or how society is threatened by women who express themselves freely.

Publication history

The book first appeared as in 1920 from French publisher under the title ''Idée, sa naissance, sa vie, sa mort: 83 images, dessinées et gravées sur bois'' ("Idea, her birth, her life, her death: 83 pictures, drawn and engraved on wood"). It was printed from 83

s of each. Of the 878 copies made, the first 28 were signed and hand-numbered and printed on Japon imperial paper, one in a serious number 1–25 and another A–C. A further 50 printed on Hollande van Gelder paper were unsigned but hand-number in Roman numerals from I to L. The unsigned rest of the run was on volumineux anglais paper. German publisher Kurt Wolff released a popular edition in 1924 under the German title ''Die Idee: 83 Holzschitte''. An introduction by writer

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

prefaced the second edition in 1927. An English edition didn't appear until London publisher

Redstone Press Redstone Press is a London-based art book publisher that was founded in 1986 by Julian Rothenstein, the son of English portrait painter Duffy Ayers and her first husband, the painter and printmaker Michael Rothenstein. Publisher Julian Rothenstein ...

released it in 1986 in a paired edition with ''

Story Without Words ''Story Without Words'' (french: Histoire sans paroles: 60 images dessinées et gravées sur bois), is a wordless novel of 1920 by Flemish artist Frans Masereel. In 60 captionless woodcut prints the story tells of a man who strives to win the lo ...

'' (1920), entitled ''The Idea and Story Without Words: Two Novels Told in Woodcuts''.

Legacy

American artist Lynd Ward used the concept of an idea surviving oppression in his wordless novel ''

Madman's Drum ''Madman's Drum'' is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985), published in 1930. It is the second of Ward's six wordless novels. The 118 wood-engraved images of ''Madman's Drum'' tell the story of a slave trader who stea ...

'' (1930).

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

filmmaker Berthold Bartosch spent two years on an animated film adaptation of ''The Idea'' in 1932; initially Masereel agreed to a collaboration in 1930, but backed out of the production. Bartosch's version has the idea defeated in the end. He tries to create a three-dimensional feeling through the use of multiple levels of animation

cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, but ...

s. Film historian

William Moritz William Moritz (May 6, 1941 – March 12, 2004), film historian, specialized in visual music and experimental animation. His principal published works concerned abstract filmmaker and painter Oskar Fischinger. He also wrote extensively on other v ...

called it "the first animated film created as an artwork with serious, even tragic, social and philosophical themes". Historian Perry Willett wrote that the film is at times unclear, and was "something of a disappointment".

References

Works cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Idea Woodcut novels by Frans Masereel 1920 novels 1920 comics debuts Drama comics Fantasy comics Pantomime comics Belgian novels adapted into films Belgian comics adapted into films Allegory