The Giaour: Title Page
1932
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7391
Art Historical Context
Imre Reiner's *The Giaour: Title Page* (1932) is a captivating color etching that serves as the frontispiece for an edition of Lord Byron's Romantic poem *The Giaour*. Created during the interwar period, this print exemplifies the era's innovative fusion of literature and visual art, where graphic designers like Reiner elevated book illustrations to standalone works of beauty. Byron's tale of forbidden love, vengeance, and exotic Orientalism finds a modern echo in Reiner's precise lines and vibrant hues, bridging 19th-century Romanticism with 20th-century modernism. Color etching, Reiner's ch...
About the Artist
Imre Reiner
**Imre Reiner** (1900–1987) was a Hungarian-born Swiss painter, graphic artist, typographer, and master illustrator whose multifaceted career bridged sculpture, experimental typography, and exquisite wood engravings. Born on August 18, 1900, in Versec (now Vršac, Serbia) to a Jewish family—his father a sculptor and stone carver who apprenticed him young—Reiner began formal studies at age 15 in scu...