'Welcome', Said the Giant to the King's Son, 'What Have You Come For? What Do You Want?'

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'Welcome', Said the Giant to the King's Son, 'What Have You Come For? What Do You Want?'

Michael Foreman (born 1938)

Price

£2,750

Signed

Signed

Medium

Ink and coloured inks with pencil

Dimensions

11 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches

Illustrated

Edna O'Brien, Tales For the Telling. Irish Folk and Fairy
Stories, London: Pavilion Books Limited, 1986, Page 54, 'Hookedy Crookedy'

Exhibited

'The Illustrators Today', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, December 2017-January 2018, no 32

Beetles Choice - 29 July 2024

This Beetles Choice reflects on the death on 27th July of the great Irish author Edna O'Brien at the age of 93. From the time of her first controversial novel Country Girls (1960) she went on to change attitudes in Ireland with her imaginative and courageous stories, often touching on the sexual manners and social attitudes of a repressed Catholic nation.

In 1986 Edna's work was beautifully illustrated by Michael Foreman in Tales for the Telling, published by Colin Webb at Pavilion Books. The Irish folk and fairy tales leapt from the page with a wit, nonsense and naughtiness that has continued to enchant an audience of all ages. Her idiosyncratic prose stays with the readers of her beloved books, and will continue to be heard long after her death. Edna O'Brien wrote of herself:

‘We all leave one another. We die...If I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it’s inescapable.'

To view more artworks from Tales for the Telling online, visit our website artist page for Michael Foreman.