In 1932 he moved back to California and married Fern Bowman, who already had a daughter, Bernice, but Blaine was not suited to marital commitment and the union ended in divorce in 1940. 1929 saw the publication of Venus Sardonica, by far Blaine’s most important and successful erotic portfolio. Among the books he illustrated were two by Hanns Heinz Ewers, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1927) and Alraune (1929), and an edition of William Beckford’s Vathek (1928). By the time he registered for military conscription in 1917 he had lost the sight in his left eye, probably as the result of a wood-chopping accident, though he much preferred to say it had occurred during a shipboard mutiny.ĭuring the early 1920s he shared a Portland art studio with the poet-artist Dean Collins, with whom he staged his first exhibition, shortly afterwards moving to Los Angeles, and then from 1926 to 1931 living in New York, a highly productive period. Despite labels like these, Mahlon Blaine, 1920s book illustrator and pen-and-ink maestro, campaigned for ‘freedom of art’ against ‘dysenteric hypocrites’ who proclaimed ‘beauty is obscene.’ He mixed his commercial success with an underground vocation of creating ‘playful drawings - sly dancing thoughts that would delight all men blest with the godly gift of laughter.’” This is a print-on-demand title.Mahlon Carradin Blaine, who his friend the writer Gershon Legman called ‘the only American artist to produce an important erotic album’, was a talented and prolific illustrator, working mainly in pen and ink, expanding his repertoire during one of the most difficult times – the late 1920s and 30s – for commercial artists.īlaine (he was probably born ‘Blain’, though as so much of his autobiography was regularly self-invented we cannot be sure) grew up in Albany, Oregon, and after leaving school moved to San Francisco to become a newspaper cartoonist.

Ribald, risque, bawdy, naughty, salacious - take your pick. Included are over 100 Blaine illustrations and photographs (most previously unpublished, unearthed from the vaults of collectors and friends). Exploring his friendships with the famous and infamous in bohemian San Francisco, pre-talkies Hollywood and other-worldly New York City, this (self)portrait paints the struggles and triumphs of an artist truly committed to his unique singular vision. Cover artwork by: Mahlon Blaine “An historical novel that takes a rollicking ride through one-eyed Mahlon Blaine's adventures and experiences as an early 20th-Century illustrator. Grounded Outlet: Kingston: 2015 Trade paperback, New, 327 pp. Trenary, Roland (illustrated by Mahlon Blaine) Mahlon Blaine's Blooming Bally Bloody Book

Mahlon Blaine by Roland Trenary