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Simanion — Tulpenmanie

Published: 2013-01-25 01:16:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 10489; Favourites: 94; Downloads: 0
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Description Size: each page is A4
Medium: Watercolour and ink

Tulpenmanie - Dutch for "Tulip Mania". Also known as "Tulipomania". These two works represent (to plagiarise Wikipedia) what is considered to be the first recorded economic bubble: a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for tulip bulbs reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. The tulip painted here is the Semper Augustus, which was the most expensive tulip sold during tulip mania.

I debated posting these as separate deviations, but they were created to be displayed together and I think need to be paired with eachother to make sense.

This was a commission I completed before Christmas. It's something a bit different from my usual work, but I like when artists have several completely different styles nestled in amongst their gallery. There is a poster apparently featured in "Wall Street 2" in Michael Douglas's apartment where the event is mentioned. I don't know, I haven't seen the movie - but apparently economists all over the world want a poster of this event! And those that are currently available out there to my eyes look a bit underwhelming and are also quite expensive for a print. So this is my take on illustrating and depicting this event.

I wanted it to look quite clean and simple, but still seem historical and Old-World enough. Hopefully it sits somewhere comfortably between looking contemporary and old. It was a bit of a challenge trying to produce that typical old botanical illustration aesthetic and approach to colour, but I think it's close (I couldn't help myself adding in a bit of purple to lift it a bit). For any typography nerds out there: the typeface I chose to hand draw is a more irregular variation on Caslon, which is derived from 17th Century Dutch Fell types typical of the era

So there you are. Something different and a bit obscure, but hopefully it can still be appreciated on some level

~Simon

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Comments: 8

shananaginz [2013-02-03 17:55:21 +0000 UTC]

Overall

Vision

Originality

Technique

Impact


First of all, the story behind this is fascinating. I think that what you've done here is excellent. For starters, the decorative choice around the title is very effective, eye catching and it captures that time period quite well. As does your choice of font--including your attention to the number details. Old numbers had a different type-face that you perfectly re-created here. The yellowing and blurry lines on the graph add to this feeling of the 1600's. As for the other panel with the tulip and its growth forms across the bottom are very well done--visually and symbolically. Your color choice here is of utmost importance because pigment back in the day was extremely expensive and compared to today's colors, somewhat dull. The goals you set for the piece appear to be achieved. My only complaint is that I had to read your explanation because I know very little of such things, but that is my own shortcoming it would seem. If this is being done for someone who already knows the context, it will require that person to interact with other people about the pieces. In many ways, the mystery is what made me want to take a closer look which is in many ways a win-win.

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Simanion In reply to shananaginz [2014-06-15 13:41:53 +0000 UTC]

I don't know why I never saw this or why it doesn't appear on my deviation, but thank you so much! A wonderful write up, and I agree that it's quite obscure to anyone who doesn't already know what it's referring to (I had no idea about it until I was commissioned). Anyway, just wanted to say thanks and wonder why it doesn't show up as I would have "approved" it as fair, haha.

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TheAngeldove [2014-05-02 10:01:25 +0000 UTC]

¸¸♥´¯) Thank you so much!
(¸☆´ (¸.♥´´¯`•.¸¸.ღ •.♥ .•´¯`•.¸¸.••Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ



Your Friend Always,
dove

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ButterflyFish [2013-04-28 10:52:09 +0000 UTC]

wow! I am highly impressed by this drawing it's a great illustration.. great concept

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electrifried [2013-03-01 06:35:30 +0000 UTC]

I really love the design and minimalism of this!! You combined the text and lifework with watercolours really well

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LifeIsZealous [2013-01-28 10:36:57 +0000 UTC]

This amazing piece has been featured here .

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Sans-sommeil [2013-01-25 22:26:36 +0000 UTC]

It does look old ..and even luxurious (:
And lovely! I really like it.

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NordicLynx [2013-01-25 19:16:06 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful, I like the old fashioned feeling to this

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