Raven IV

Natalie Frank makes rich, colorful figurative drawings and paintings often inspired by literary subjects. Rejecting the sanitized versions of stories such as the brothers Grimm fairy tales, her illustrations stress the physical violence and sexuality of the original text. Raven IV is one of seven drawings inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven (1845) created for a new Arion Press publication. Frank's feminist interpretation centers on the character of Lenore, the object of the narrator's love and grief. Using vivid colors, scale shifts, and dramatic perspectives, Frank conjures hallucinatory images that express the "fantastic terrors" assailing the poet.