Mahlon Blaine (1894-1969)

Accredited with a distinctive talent for the macabre, I see an amusing and sustained capacity to be naughty and try to shock. hindered by frailties of drawing (seldom a hindrance is an illustrator). He has a capacity for absorbing the usual influences of the Macabre, from Beardsley to Harry Clarke, with large helpings of Felicien Rops. I do admire his planned murals for ther Macallister showrooms. Find the model on the excellent Grapefruit Moon Gallery.

Because of a childhood accident he had sight only in one eye, putting him in the same illustrative company as Du Maurier and Sir John Gilbert. He also comes into that category, all too common, of the illustrator who died in poverty, and long forgotten.