An Artist's Sketchbook:Thomas Canty
Thomas Canty is an artist who has dedicated his life
to fostering Romantic ideals through art works that marry image and text
-- becoming, in the process, one of the leading mythic artists in the
book arts field. His imagery (rooted in 19th-century British painting,
yet thoroughly contemporary) can be found on countless volumes from large
publishing houses and small presses alike. Like William Morris, the great
English visionary at the turn of the 19th century, Tom's interest extends
to every part of the book arts process, from cover and interior illustrations
to lettering, binding, and decoration. His work is so unique, memorable,
and instantly recognizable, that "the Canty look" has become a shorthand
phrase among New York editors and art directions -- meaning a delicate,
fluid line and luminosity of color.
As an interstitial artist, Tom works in
a commercial field but brings to it a fine art sensibility, fired and
inspired by such painters as Whistler, Mucha and the Pre-Raphaelites.
The demands of publishing work prompted him to develop his distinctive
oil painting style (rooted in his early training as a watercolorist),
but first and foremost Tom is a draftsman, with an abiding love of monochromatic
drawings as an art form in themselves. Each painting he does is preceded
by many pencil studies, both rough and elaborate, culminating in large
detailed drawings ever-so-delicately rendered in pale lead on vellum.
For many of us, these drawings, even more than the paintings (lovely as
they may be) are Tom's most beautiful, breathtaking work -- and work that
is rarely seen.
For some time now, we have talked with Tom
about exhibiting his drawings here on the Endicott Studio site -- but
technical problems have stumped us. The drawings are large, intricately
detailed, and unbelievably delicate. Various methods of scanning and photographing
them have proven to be disappointing . . . and so
we have chosen to reproduce smaller details from the larger works. Although
this improves the quality of the scanning, we still lose a certain measure
of the art's extraordinary delicacy when Tom's light-as-a-whisper pencil
lines are translated to the computer screen. Nonetheless, the spirit of
the art shines through, as well as the spirit of the fiercely creative
man behind all this beautiful work.
Through the following pages, we offer a
virtual glimpse into Thomas Canty's sketchbook -- beginning, in August
2000, with three opening pages. Each month hereafter we'll add a new page,
so please bookmark this site and visit again. You'll find more information
on Tom and his work posted in our Gallery,
as well as reproductions of his book cover art on our The
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror pages.
Click on a thumbnail to go to that Sketchbook page
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