The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel is a book of more than a hundred absurd illustrations written in 1565. This book is in the public domain, meaning the images can be freely exhibited or reproduced. I find these fascinating, due in part to the mystery surrounding them. They lack an official explanation provided by the artist or artists, and instead are completely open to interpretation. I am going to be showing off a few of my favorite pieces, although there are so many more that I might later address. I am going to be using page numbers from the Internet Archive as titles for the images, as no official titles are provided.
Page 43
This is the teaser image I used in the previous post, but I want to elaborate on why I find it so interesting and perturbing. The garb is intriguing, seeming to be a single piece of seamless fabric which melds with the right hand. Then there is that mask or disfigured face, with either option unsettling. It has the uncanny effect by having some human features, vaguely two eyes and a nose, with an impossibly wide and asymmetric frown. To me a lot of these pieces look like a second layer of ill fitting skin or hide draped over an unseen, but perhaps implied to be, horrific figure. Hints of this interpretation are also seen in inhuman features which are sometimes subtly exposed. It might take a few moments to spot the claw like feet, which are either talons or cloven hooves with overgrown nails.
Page 103
This figure immediately reminds me of Kafka's Metamorphosis, largely in part due to the posture. There is another piece which is a better representation of a midpoint in the transformation process, but this one is leaning more toward the human end of the spectrum. There are between five and nine hairs coming from the head, which are reminiscent of antennae. The cloak looks to me like a carapace over elytra. The head has a blacked-out eye, a nose, a stitched mouth, and an ear. The fabric which composes the shawl blends with the head, making it feel like a mask, which is reinforced by the stitched appearance of the mouth and the lack of a well defined hole in the ear. Then, featured a bit more prominently than the toes in image 43, this time there are three toes. The right hand is also deformed, with the fingers looking to be fused together into a mitten shape. There is also a human faced bird which is a good point of contrast for the inhuman main subject. A lot of these images have small auxiliary characters, but I think this one in particular uses one to great effect.
Page 106
This piece has the same feeling as a mask with a positive expression. At first glance it is cheery, but there is something wrong beneath the surface. In fact the near entirety of the figure is concealed. The headdress reminds me of a graduation cap, and to me imparts a scholarly quality to figure. It is subtle, but the posture is a little contorted, because the feet are facing forward, while the head is turned far to the left, leading to an awkward twisting of the spine beneath the clothes. There are a few levels of something being wrong beneath the surface.
Page 132
This image reminds me of the film Wizards, although not to the degree as some of the others. This outfit that looks like a backpack is odd, and mostly comical. I could imagine this figure being a traveling companion which is carried on the back. There are a few visual flourishes which may detract from this interpretation, like the spine on the hat, and the spurs on the shoes, but perhaps this is for controlling the carrier. There are also a set of what I think to be prayer beads, and a gnarled staff, indicating that this might be some sort of mystic.
Page 140
I have went ahead and added a reference image, as this picture is reminiscent of the Flatwoods monster. Like with The Metamorphosis, this is a prochronistic comparison, but to me the resemblance is there. The combination of the hood and robe-like material are similar, although the Flatwoods monster takes on a metallic form, while the Drolactic diagram feels like cloth or leather. Regardless, I thought it was interestingly familiar.
Page 144
The last image that I want to talk about in this post is on page 144. Despite lacking almost all human characteristics, this figure is so intriguing. There are feet, which appear to be wearing slippers, what might be the fabric creased on the back of the knee, and a hat on top of what what might be a head, but some of the other design elements are much more striking. The hat has been cut by a saw, spilling either smoke or hair from inside, with either insects being attracted or ejected from the cut, or perhaps abstract symbols falling out of a cranial wound. Then there is a set of bellows on a curved track. This could be some sort of mechanism which inflates and deflates the bellows as the subject moves, with the output being concealed beneath the fabric. If the plume coming out of the hat is smoke, the bellows could be fueling a fire concealed inside the figure. There is a lot going on, and very little to go off of, but that is part of the reason it is so fascinating.
Art is not created in a vacuum, and is at least in part influenced by their surroundings, but being divorced by five centuries from the original context, gives the images a creepy quality, which might be in contrast to a humorous intent. Everything is a remix, and visual art is no exception. Consuming starting material to be warped, transformed, elaborated, distorted, elevated, or otherwise metamorphosed into a new form is an essential part of the creative process, moving from mimicry, to experimentation, to integration of disparate elements, and eventually synthesis of something 'new'. In this case I plan to borrow some of the visual elements that I have picked up on in these images, in order to craft my breed of Envitromite monsters. I want to practice drawing the ill-fitting leathery exteriors, I am inspired by the incorporation of inhuman features which are not immediately evident, but I am especially fascinated by the integration of centuries old mechanical elements. H.R. Geiger is another artist I plan on studying as design inspiration, but seeing precedent centuries earlier is exciting.