Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Published:
7 Jul 2024
British artist, Tom Gauld, has revived the nineteenth century art of myriorama using James Cropper Papers. A popular form of novel storytelling since 1824, a myriorama consists of a set of printed cards that, when laid out in any formation, form a seamless scene. Gauld’s modern day version has a total of 479,001,600 unique combinations to depict scenes from the works of novelist, Laurence Sterne.

The life, works and former home of the Irish-born novelist are protected and promoted by The Laurence Sterne Trust, which commissioned Gauld to create a contemporary take on a largely forgotten art form.

Taking inspiration from two particular pieces of the author’s work, ‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy’ and ‘A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy’, the artist has worked in his distinct, picture book style to create a charming, timeless example of pictorial storytelling.

“What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything, and who, having eyes to see what time and chance are perpetually holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way, misses nothing he can fairly lay his hands on.”

Laurence Sterne, from ‘A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy’
Tom gauld endless journey

The finished piece is a fitting tribute to the author’s work as well as the pioneering nature of this form of early, printed entertainment from nearly 200 years ago.

This work uses James Cropper’s Vanguard paper in Pink, Ivory and more recently a new Green version. Gauld’s Endless Journey myriorama was exhibited alongside rare originals from the nineteenth century at The Shandy Hall, near York, UK, many of which were originally created to depict fantasy landscapes and maps, in whatever order they were arranged.

Myriorama, or ‘Many Thousand Views’ consist of numerous cards depicting fragments or segments of landscapes that can be arranged in a multitude of different combinations.

Vanguard is a collection of smooth uncoated papers and boards available in a wide range of pastel and intense colours. Matching paper and board weights allow for the production of co-ordinated presentation material. This is a high opacity medium, ideal for the production of printed items.

Copies of the Endless Journey myriorama are available to buy for £10 (plus postage) from The Laurence Sterne Trust website.

Twelve picture cards which can be arranged to form 479,001,600 different landscapes.

www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk