Every Page of Moby-Dick, Illustrated
Illustrated insights on love, hate, God, capitalism, and the rest of life via Herman Melville and found paper.
By Maria Popova
Since 2009, former high school English teacher and self-taught artist Matt Kish has been drawing every page of the 552-page Signet Classics paperback edition of Herman Melville’s iconic Moby-Dick, methodically producing one gorgeous, obsessive drawing per day for 552 days using pages from discarded books and a variety of drawing tools, from ballpoint pen to crayon to ink and watercolor. Now, thanks to Tin House Books, Kish’s ingenious project joins our running list of blogs so good they became books: Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page gathers his magnificent lo-fi drawings in a 600-page visual masterpiece of bold, breathtaking full-page illustrations that captivate eye, heart, and mind, inviting you to rediscover the Melville classic in entirely new ways.
I’ve read the book eight or nine times […] Each and every reading has revealed more and more to me and hinted tantalizingly at even greater truths and revelations that I have yet to reach. Friends often question my obsession with the novel, especially since I am not a scholar or even an educator any longer, and the best explanation I have been able to come up with is that, to me, Moby-Dick is a book about everything. God. Love. Hate. Identity. Race. Sex. Humor. Obsession. History. Work. Capitalism […] I see every aspect of life reflected in the bizarre mosaic of this book.” ~ Matt Kish

Ballpoint pen on paper, September 17, 2009

Colored pencil and ink on found paper, August 5, 2009

Colored pencil and ink on found paper, August 6, 2009

Ink on watercolor paper, January 22, 2011

Acrylic paint and ballpoint pen on found paper, August 13, 2009

Acrylic paint, colored pencil and ink on found paper, August 19, 2009

Ink, colored pencil and marker on found paper, August 27, 2009

Acrylic paint on found paper, August 30, 2009

Acrylic paint, colored pencil, ink and marker on found paper, September 30, 2009

Ink and marker on found paper, October 5, 2009

Crayon, ink and marker on found paper, November 24, 2009

Colored pencil, ink and marker on found paper, November 12, 2009

Colored pencil, ink and marker on found paper, December 19, 2009

Ink on found paper, December 28, 2009

Ink on watercolor paper, January 11, 2011

Ballpoint pen and ink on found paper, November 16, 2009
Woven of equal parts visual mastery and creative bravery, Moby-Dick in Pictures is a treasure in and of itself, one that not only pays homage to Melville, but also reimagines what it means to embark on a modern-day epic voyage of creative restlessness.
Images courtesy of Matt Kish
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Published October 11, 2011
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https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/10/11/matt-kish-moby-dick-illustrated/
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