On My Drawings Illustrating Poems by Becquer

Leonardo, Vol. 13, p. 128. Pergamon Press 1980. Printed in Great Britain ON MY DRAWINGS ILLUSTRATING POEMS BY BECQUER Joap1 B. Altabe* 40 (XXX) I went one way; she went another; But thinking back on when we were lovers, I ask, "why did I let the words die?" And she must ask, "why didn't I cry?" A tear on her eyelids appeared, And on my lips a pardoning word, But pride spoke and she dried her tears, And from my lips, nothing was heard. _:\ 1 \ ~7»:">:: I have peered into the deep Caverns of earth and skies; I've seen their depth with my eyes Or in my thoughts and dreams. But Oh! The abyss of a heart I reached And for a moment I inclined, And my eyes and my soul went blind: It was so black and deep. Fig. I. G. A. Becquer's poem 'Rima XLVII' illustrated by author's drawing (cf. Ref. 3, p. 21). I discussed my approach to artistic expression through black and white figurative paintings in Ref. I, and related to that work are my line drawings executed in India ink. These drawings were made to illustrate 95 poems by the Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Becquer entitled Las Rimas [2] in English translation [3].The translations and drawings for two of the poems are reproduced in Figs. I and 2. The approach to the line drawings is similar to that of the black and white paintings, except instead of using a minimum of brushwork in light values on a dark ground, I employed a minimum of inked line on white paper to parallel the poet's use of few, but highly expressive, words. I decided in favor of line drawings instead of paintings for the illustrations because the drawings would be less weighty in appearance and, hence, lessdominating on a page on which the text of a poem is printed. Fig. 2. G. A. Becquer's poem 'Rima XXX' illustrated by author's drawing (cf. Ref. 3, p. 97). For example, to convey some of the meaning of 'Rima XLVll' (Fig. I), I crouched the figure to form its own 'deep cavern' and to illustrate 'I've seen their depth with my eyes'. To suggest the pathos of the line in 'Rima XXX' (Fig. 2), 'I went one way; she went another', I positioned the separated figures closely back to back. The gesture of the figures is intended to imply not only a potential connection, but a lack of it, too. These drawings can, of course, be regarded as independent works, leaving interpretations of them to their viewers. By presenting each one with the poem that inspired it, I hope one's experience of both art forms will be enriched. References I. J. B. Altabe, On My Approach to Making Paintings in Black and White, Leonardo 10, 301 (1977). 2. G. A. Becquer, Las Rimas (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1963). 3. G. A. Becquer, Symphony ofLave, trans. of Las Rimas from the Spanish by D. F. Altabe (New York: Regina Publishing House, 1974). *Painter, 421 w.est Olive St., Long Beach, NY 11561, U.S.A. (Received 7 Aug. 1979) 128 ...