THE FANTASY ART OF ARTHUR RACKHAM

I’ve been a huge admirer of Arthur Rackham’s work ever since I first encountered it in my late teens. And although he’s featured …

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It’s a widely held opinion that Arthur Rackham
was one of the most significant and influential of the Golden Age illustrators. And it’s not hard to see why. He was one of the first to take advantage
of the transition from wood engraving to photolithographic reproduction of pen and ink drawings, and
also one of the earliest to creatively exploit the revolutionary potential of the full colour
print process. But most significantly Rackham’s graphic explorations
of the enchanted and sometimes menacing worlds of fairies, goblins, dragons and just about
any other fantasy characters you could think of have become virtual templates for later
illustrators to follow. He was born in London in 1867 into a large
middle class family, and as he grew up he spent most of his time drawing and painting. At the age of 18 he took a job as a clerk
at the Westminster Fire Office while also studying part time at Lambeth Art School. Once he had completed his studies he went
to work for the Westminster Budget newspaper as a reporter and illustrator in 1893.
His first unremarkable efforts as a book illustrator were published in the same year in To the
Other Side by Thomas Rhodes. And in 1894 he illustrated The Dolly Dialogues,
by Anthony Hope, which was also competent but fairly run of the mill. In 1896 his ink illustrations for the comically
titled book the Zankywank and the Bletherwitch by S. J. Adair Fitzgerald appeared, and although
the drawing still wasn’t all it might be the playful images were manifestly more expressive. It was Maggie Browne’s book Two Old Ladies,
Two Foolish Fairies, and a Tom Cat, published in 1897, which was the first real indication
that Rackham’s work was developing into something more distinctive, and his first real demonstration
of his abilities as a water-colourist. The Ingoldsby Legends in1898 featured mostly
monochrome line illustration, but there were a few colour pages too, and the book would
be republished a decade later with considerably more colour. An almost exclusively line illustrated edition
of The Tales of the Brothers Grimm was published in 1900, and so was
his illustrated Gulliver’s travels. Both books would also be revisited a few years later
in full colour. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving in 1905
was a significant project for Rackham, and it featured more than 50 colour pages. By this point Rackham had fully refined and
consolidated his use of colour to produce remarkably dramatic and atmospheric images. The following year saw the publication of
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J.M. Barrie. This book also had around 50 astonishingly
well observed and rendered images which brought fantasy and reality together in a highly absorbing
collision of worlds. And it was clear that Rackham was just getting
into his stride, because in 1907 his unforgettable illustrated edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland was published. The surreal and frequently menacing narrative
was ideal material for him, and his use of expressive line work combined with a muted
sombre colour palette breathed new life into what John Tenniel had first visualised a half
century earlier. All these consistently compelling narrative
images had the power to transfix the reader and hold their attention in a way few others
could achieve. Published in 1908 Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream constituted another major creative achievement. The story was another ideal project for Rackham,
with pixies and fairies in abundance and a narrative set in an enchanted forest. In 1909 his reworked full colour version of
Gulliver’s travels was published, and it was closely followed by his similarly updated
edition of the tales of the Brothers Grimm. In 1910 and 11 Rackham tackled more serious-minded
fantasy material with interpretations of Richard Wagner’sThe Rhinegold and The Valkyrie, and
Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods. Being Nordic mythology there was no room for
humour in these tales, and his use of very desaturated colour, combined with the energetic
compositions and range of fantasy characters demonstrated that he was capable of visualising
less frivolous, more epic material than his usual subjects. Aesop’s Fables in 1912 had some use of colour
but most of the book featured a range of well imagined and rendered line only evocations
of these ancient stories. A year later Arthur Rackham’s Book of Pictures
was published. This was a collection of 44 colour illustrations
without text, and it was a clear indication of his status and reputation at the time. This book was created simply to be bought
and pored over by those who revered his illustration. His edition of Mother Goose in the same year
was primarily a reprint of illustrations which he had originally created to appear sequentially
in the American monthly St. Nicholas Magazine. He stepped away again from his usual elves
and goblins to illustrate A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in 1915. This was a particularly evocative realisation
of the text, and the darker more sinister moments of this Victorian morality tale left
an enduring impression on its readers. The Allies’ Fairy Book was Rackham’s contribution
to the war effort in 1916, and it featured tales from each of the allied European countries. Profits from this and other books he created
were used to fund organisations such as the red cross. After the war had ended many other stylistically
similar illustrators were increasingly producing fairy tale and fantasy work, and the market
was starting to get rather overcrowded. But even with increased competition he remained
the most highly respected and popular with the public, and he continued to publish yet
more work. His illustrated books English Fairy Tales,
The Springtide of Life and Some British Ballads were all published in 1918. Cinderella in 1919 and Sleeping Beauty a year
later each featured a couple of typical watercolours but both were almost exclusively illustrated
with a series of charming and expressive silhouettes, some of which included inventive and attractive
use of spot colour. In 1920 he moved out of London and took his
family to live in rural West Sussex, and that was also the year that his collaboration with
James Stephens on Irish Fairy Tales was published. By the 1920s the lavish gift book concept
he had greatly benefitted from saw a fairly sharp decline, and the number of colour pages
in a typical book fell accordingly. Where once there had been 50 or more now it
was more likely to be a dozen at best. Comus by John Milton had been first written
in 1634 and in 1921 it provided Rackham with another opportunity to delve into more romantically
heroic subject matter. Poor Cecco -if that’s how it’s pronounced-
by Margery Williams in 1925 was one of very few contemporary original works of fiction
that he illustrated in his career, and this modern day fantasy produced some appealing
results, which again brought fantasy into a recognisable urban world. A year later he returned to Shakespeare for
the Tempest, and as with A Midsummers Night Dream this was another tale of sorcery and
fantasy creatures this time set on an exotic desert island. And the results were every
bit as engrossing as you would expect. In the later 1920s Rackham turned 60 but showed
little sign of slowing down or preparing to retire, although he was more than wealthy
enough to be able to give up work entirely. Both his visualisations of The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow by Washington Irving in 1928 and 1929s The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
had fewer illustrations than earlier books but there was no loss in quality. Between 1932 and 1934 he played to his strengths
with three fantasies in a row: Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen was
followed by Christina Rosetti’s Goblin Market and the last of this trio was
a version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin which had been written by Robert Browning. Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan
Poe was published in 1935, and it was illustrated almost entirely by a series of typically expressive
monochromes which reflected the dark dramatic tone of the writing. Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen was published in
1936 and unfortunately this was the last book he would publish in his lifetime, and Arthur
Rackham died of cancer at his home in 1939 at the age of 72. A year after his death his illustrated edition
of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows was published, and although while creating these
watercolours he had become increasingly ill and knew his days were numbered he had managed
to complete the book. It was an endearing series of warmly tinted
watercolour and ink renders of the english countryside populated with anthropomorphic
woodland creatures, and a fitting full stop to his life and work. The illustration he created more than a century
ago still resonates with fantasy art and children’s illustration enthusiasts and I’m glad to say
a lot of it is still in print. The list of contemporary illustrators who
cite him as a major influence is appropriately long, and despite the fact that the land of
his birth can’t be bothered to dedicate a museum to the man and his work it seems certain
that Rackham’s legacy will endure nevertheless.

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