5 famous literary paintings for World Book and Copyright Day

Did you know it’s World Book and Copyright Day? Ciaran Sneddon marks the moment with his round-up of paintings with literary presence 

Ah, World Book Day. No, not the one involving Gruffalo costumes being worn to school and £1 book tokens for children – that was last month. This is UNESCO’s equivalent, officially World Book and Copyright Day, an annual global event since 1995 that falls on 23 April. The date was chosen to coincide with the death of three literary titans: William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Miguel de Cervantes.

The worlds of art and books tend to cross over in unintentional places. There are beautiful book covers that further the themes or settings of a story; stamps and other artworks inspired by fictional characters; and the picture books that have been handed down from grandparent to parent to child.

Here, in celebration of the connections between art and books, are five works that remind us all to take a little time out for a good read.

Outdoors study 

Reading, 1873, by Berthe Morisot (1841–95). Image: Gift of the Hanna Fund 1950.89/ The Cleveland Museum of Art

One of the few women to emerge to prominence in the era of the Impressionists, Berthe Morisot made a name for herself with lively, freeing works. Born into a wealthy family – Morisot being a descendant of artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, of Rococo fame – she was able to study art as a child and teenager, albeit with restrictions on formal training.

Inspired by the art in the Louvre, she gradually built upon her skills and found particular enjoyment in painting outdoors. In the early 1870s she worked mostly in watercolours.

The woman shown in this painting is her sister, Edma, who shared a love for art but gave up her own creative pursuits when she married and moved away from Paris. The setting is idyllic, but Edma seems only to have eyes for her book. The artist loved this work and chose it as one of her four paintings to feature in the first exhibition of Impressionism in 1874.

Turning the pages

Reading the Scriptures, 1874, by Thomas Waterman Wood (1823–1903). Image: Rogers Fund 1966 66.140/The Met Collection

Following emancipation, formerly enslaved men and women in North America were keen to learn how to read and write, having, on the whole, been denied this knowledge previously. This painting by Thomas Waterman Wood shows a man in New York familiarising himself intently with the text of the Bible.

Wood, who himself came from a religious American background, travelled extensively across Europe’s capitals in the 1850s in a bid to see as many galleries as possible. By the end of that decade he was actively painting at a regular rate, and in the 1860s he settled in New York to become a figure painter.

His later work focused on the lives of people living around him, including many African Americans.

The eyes have it

Celestial Eyes, The Great Gatsby cover, 1925, by Francis Cugat (1893–1981). Image: Open Access

Book lovers – or those forced to study the great American novels in their academia – will be all too familiar with this painting: it has been associated with F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby since its first publication in 1925.

It was by the artist and graphic designer Francis Cugat. Born in Barcelona in 1893, Cugat had already started a career in France, South America and Cuba before eventually moving to the US, where he would design theatre cards. His varied portfolio also included time as an art director and set designer in Hollywood.

However, it was this soul-piercing cover of The Great Gatsby that made the largest impact. It is thought to be the only book cover he produced, and it is still one of the most recognisable covers in book history.

A darker read

Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628, by Pieter Claesz (c.1597–1660). Image: Rogers Fund 1949/The Met Collection

No line-up of artworks featuring books would be complete without an example of still life. The world over, artists of all skill levels are, at this very moment, staring down a sparsely decorated table, topped by a bowl of fruit and at least one book.

Pieter Claesz approached this particular table with a lot more skill than the amateur, however. The Belgian-born artist also stuck to darker palettes and darker themes. His beautifully handled skulls, as seen in this example placed on the book, were a reminder of mortality. This message was only heightened through other symbolic objects, like an extinguished flame and a glass, now fallen.

Everything is so wonderfully detailed, and although Claesz may not have become a leading light of his generation, his work remains compelling to a 21st-century audience.

Adding weight

L’Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux (Marie Julien, 1848–1911), 1888–89, by Vincent van Gogh (1853–90). Image: Bequest of Sam A Lewisohn, 1951, 51.112.3/The Met Collection 

Painted upon Vincent van Gogh’s move to Arles in southern France, this is one painting of near-identical twin works. The other also shows Marie Ginoux, who owned the Café de la Gare, dressed in a traditional costume. Van Gogh rented rooms at the café in 1888.

The shape of the books and the lovely, vivid yellow are both absolute trademarks of the artist, and there’s a great warmth to the piece. This was the latter of the two paintings to be created, with the former apparently taking just one hour to produce. In that version, the books were absent and instead a parasol was on the table. In this rendering, we think the tomes definitely add volume to the work.

For more

Read our full feature on the curious story of daffodils in the latest issue of The Arts Society Magazine, out now and available exclusively to members and supporters of The Arts Society (to join see theartssociety.org/member-benefits)