Exhibition Information
Illustrating Dracula:
Practice and Research.
27th July to 8th August 2012
Liverpool School of Art & Design
Liverpool John Moores University
Art & Design Academy,
2 Duckinfield Street (off Brownlow Hill)
Liverpool, L3 5RD
Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Private View: Friday 27th July 2012, 5 p.m.
Illustrating Dracula presents a range of contemporary illustrative practice. The exhibition brings together a unique selection of specially commissioned works, in celebration of the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker drawing upon the work of well-established illustrators, graduates and students.
Bram Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847. He studied at Trinity College, and entered Ireland’s civil service before relocating to London. Here he worked alongside Henry Irving as manager of London’s Lyceum Theatre. Following Stoker’s death in 1912 Dracula was adapted first to the stage, and then made its debut on the silver screen. Despite the novel never being out of print since 1897, the spectre of cinema that has provided the final coffin nail, ensuring Count Dracula and Stoker’s immortality in the public imagination.
The exhibition will demonstrate the intimate links between text and illustration
relating specifically to Dracula. By curating text and picture side-by-side, the exhibition aims to draw attention to these interdisciplinary relationships and current practice in the field. The illustrations exhibited reflect the concept that illustration should ‘engender the best intellectual engagement’ (Male, 2005) with Stoker’s text. The exhibition also aims to show that the most effective and thought-provoking illustrations are produced where the illustrator demonstrates a thorough understanding of the text. The audience is invited to see for themselves how illustrators interact with the novel, presenting working drawings through to finished illustrations. Through the inclusion of relevant contextual information the works exhibited aim to challenge pre-conceived perceptions of Dracula that have been inherited from the cinematic adaptations of the novel produced in the last century.
The works are catalogued in the thesis of Bee Hughes, to be completed in September 2012 for the award of Masters in Research (MRes).
Contributors:
Rebecca Adams, Peter Bailey, John Biddle, Elizabeth Connolly, Hannah Cooper, William Daw, Chantelle Hunter, Bee Hughes, Ed Kluz, Andrew Kulman, Rheannon Ormond, Milos Simpraga, Sasha Spyrou, Paul White, Janet Woolley, and others TBC.
Curated and researched by Bee Hughes
Design by Milos Simpraga
