THE MERMAID’S CAVE

BY J. LEMMEN

This line block image is in landscape orientation. The image shows a mermaid leaned back on the floor of the sea, within an underwater cave. The foreground in the image shows various underwater plants growing. In the bottom right corner a coral plant splits into three branches. To the left of that coral and just right of centre is another coral, straighter in structure. To the left of that coral is a small version of the three headed coral and slightly to its left is a group of seaweed that has five main weeds curving up. In the bottom left corner there is text that says: “4mai83.” The bottom third of the page, above the coral, shows many short curved lines, indicating waves and movement within the water. In the centre of the picture plane is the mermaid. She appears slightly covered by the waves. She is lying on her right side, but her upper body is mostly upright. She has no clothing on, but her lower body is partially masked by the waves in front of her. Her lower body is gradually covered in more scales towards the tail, which appears on the other side of a wave that crashes over and obscures her knee area. The tail end is dark compared to the lightness of the upper tail close to her torso. Her upper body is bare, facing the viewer straight on. She has her arms elevated out to the sides, and her right arm is bent up and in at the elbow. Her right hand falls in her hair where she holds a bunch of her tresses. Her head is tilted slightly down and she looks towards the right side of the page at her tail. Her hair is dark and wavy, flowing out around her shoulders. Around her head there are markings that create a halo effect: straight lines jut out near to her head around a curve. The top and side edges of the page show curved lines that create a cave around the mermaid. The right edge shows a few more corals and seaweed growing out from the side of the cave wall. The top edge of the page has a thick shading of darkness. There is a single-lined border around the image.

MLA citation:

Lemmen, J. “The Mermaid’s Cave.” The Savoy, vol. 2, April 1896, p. 171. The Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra 2018-2019. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019, https://1890s.ca/savoyv2_lemmen_mermaid/

magazine_images The Savoy 2 The Mermaid’s Cave J. Lemmen Pen and Ink Paul Naumann

“4mai93”

Seaweed, Tail, Squid, and Coral Female Figure/ Woman and Mermaid Ocean, Sea, Sand, and Cave