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.