Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page

The stunning and cult-classic collection of illustrations inspired by lines from every page of the 552-page Signet Classics paperback edition of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick Inspired by one of the world's greatest novels, Ohio artist Matt Kish set out on an epic voyage of his own. More than one hundred and fifty years following the original publication of Moby-Dick, Kish began illustrating Herman Melville's classic, creating images based on text selected from every page of the 552-page Signet Classics paperback edition. Completely self-taught, Kish refused to set any boundaries for the artwork and employed a deliberately low-tech approach in response to the increasing popularity of born-digital art and literature. He used found pages torn from old, discarded books, as well as a variety of media, including ballpoint pen, marker, paint, crayon, ink, and watercolor. By layering images on top of existing words and images, Kish crafted a visual masterpiece that echoes the layers of meaning in Melville's narrative.

In retrospect, Kish says he feels as foolhardy as Ishmael and as obsessed as Captain Ahab in his quest for the great white whale. Kish spent nearly every day for eighteen months toiling away in a small closet he converted into an art studio. "I see now that my project was an attempt to fully understand Melville's magnificent novel, to walk through every sun-drenched word, to lift up all the hatches and open all the barrels, to smell, taste, hear, and see every seabird, every shark, every sailor, every harpooner, and every whale."