Falling Down the Rabbit Hole in May

I must say I find this 1945 illustration – the image for May in my Vogue 2014 calendar – by Eugène Berman rather strange and surreal. I am sure it must owe something to Salvador Dalí’s influence. This illustration was chosen for the July 1945 issue of Vogue, the Sea and Country Number.

There are flowers here in the style of Victorian scrapbooking diecuts, and the image is autumnal in tone, but the whole effect is rather gory. The colour is distinctly reminiscent of raw meat, and are those splatters of blood around the edges? Both elements have a rather alarming effect. Perhaps the War had some influence here too.

I am not familiar with Berman’s work, but he and his brother Leonid were Russian Neo-Romantic painters, as well as theatre and opera designers. They fled revolutionary Russia in 1918 for Paris; Eugène left for New York in 1935. His work featured neo-classical elements – lonely landscapes populated with sculptures and architectural features. These were very much in the visceral and energetic style of this illustration, and certainly reminiscent of Dalí.

I very much enjoy surrealism though, especially when it takes the form of strange and adventurous dreams – or real life escapades that make you feel like you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. Here’s to an intriguing May!