Borin Van Loon: Graham Greene

Graham Greene
Front page editorial illustration: Times Higher Educational Supplement
Ink and wash on paper.

This was commissioned to illustrate an overview article of the author shortly after his death.
I was particularly struck by the parchment-like face of the elderly Greene and given the brief to use a
map-like backdrop to reflect the wide element of foreign travel in the novels ('Travels with my aunt', 'Our man in Havanna'),
I explored the map of his features with the brush and wash. The more I worked, the darker became those icy eyes; given the very
black tenor of much of Greene's writing and the turmoil of his internal struggle with Catholicism and sex.