What did Wilde look like at the strange age of two? He wore a demure blue velvet dress with lace collar, sleeves, and hem—but even so, he looked dolorous. This and other illustrative tidbits are graciously surrendered by Holland, who is Wilde’s grandson. “To be Irish was to be subversive,” notes Holland in the essay that accompanies his brief pictorial biography, and the paintings and photographs he has assembled inevitably suggest the longueurs and the final melancholy of Wilde’s rebellion. Svelte knee britches showed off neat legs and patent-leather dancing shoes as the bachelor Oscar reclined on a monumental fur-strewn chaise. Apart from documentary miscellanies, we also catch glimpses of caricatures, cartoons, Aubrey Beardsley book covers, and Wilde-inspired advertisements (such as one for Madame Fontaine’s Bosom Beautifier, apparently championed by the wag himself). On a grim note, a page of The Illustrated Police Budget of 1895 reveals the prisoner Wilde receiving a haircut, and a photo beneath it reminds us that while living in Wandsworth Gaol, after being convicted for “indecent acts,” Wilde was permitted to send and get only one letter every three months. Both a dainty reprise of his life and a sad send-off when it took a slide, the album effectively evokes Wilde’s sundry selves.
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8050-5894-X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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