Mermaids and Magic Shows: The Paintings of David Delamare

by David Delamare (Illustrator), Nigel Suckling

Gliding, golden, half-fish, half-woman, hair streaming behind her: from ancient folk tales to Hans Christian Andersen's beloved The Little Mermaid to films like Splash!, these fantasy creatures entice children and adults alike. In artist David Delamare's richly imaginative paintings, they appear beautiful as never before, captured in a dreamy, wonderful sea world. Mermaid embryos lie curled inside bubble-like eggs, floating in the foamy water; another, with swirly tattoos covering her back, sits on a rock, gazing at herself pensively in the mirror; a third sits astride a dragon, her head thrown back in an expression of ecstasy. Also here: the deadly sirens, the "downside" of mermaids who lure men to their death with their irresistible song, plus Delamare's magical gallery paintings and book illustrations.

Genres: Art, Mermaids, Fantasy, Art and Photography

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delamare is a more "artsy" fantasy artist - some of the paintings in this book are less in the traditional fantasy bookcover tradition and more like something that might hang in a gallery, though they're always basically fantastical human images.

There are many mermaids and nymphs in this book, but also some very nice Disneyesque paintings of talking animals and the like from some of the other books Delamare has illustrated.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I thought it was about time I returned to my quest to collect the books of the late great Paper Tiger publishing house and so here is my next batch.

This book is part of the later publications - where the presentation was a lot slicker and to be honest better quality - this book is from the early 90s and you can tell that the publishing process has matured since its early days.

Yes they pages are still printed to incredibly high quality (although they still insist on printing the larger images over 2 pages something that really annoys me since to appreciate them you have to ruin the spine) and yes there is still that unmistakable smell when you open the pages - but the books are bigger heavier and less prone to falling apart!

But what of the book- this is an interesting one as the book is part biography, part dissection of the artists style and process and part retrospective of his love from the subject matter and his passion. I have to say that the style is not to my personal taste but it does not stop me from appreciating the creativity and talent shown here.

So a great addition to my collection - but would I say it is one of my top volumes - sadly no but hey its all part of the right and beautiful history of Paper Tiger and one I am so pleased to add to my collection.

[Katsumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent fantasy art book. The paintings are very well laid out and clean. The details in the paintings are very subtle. The pictures have a very dream-like quality to them like fog and mist. The far off places travelled to and the characters encountered will expand the reader's imagination and make the reader want to know more. You should not pass this book by. It is worth adding to your fantasy art collection.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody comes close to David Delamare in the field of mermaid fantasy art - I guess the nearest is Chris Achilleos but the two are quite different. Whilst this volume doesn't have his more steampunky stuff - there's still so much to enjoy. I love his use of colour - aquatic greens and browns - so distinctive. As well as mermaids this has a lot of surreal art featuring circuses, magic shows and animal people. A must have volume for fantasy art fans. Magical.