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{{Infobox artist
| bgcolour = #6495ED
| name = Arthur Rackham
| image = Arthur rackham selfportrait.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1867|9|19|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Lewisham]], [[Kent]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1939|9|6|1867|9|19|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Limpsfield]], [[Surrey]], England
| nationality = English
| field = [[Children's literature]], [[Illustration]]
| training =
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| influenced by =
| influenced =
| awards =
| elected =
| website =
}}

[[File:Giants and Freia.jpg|thumb|One of Rackham's illustrations to [[Das Rheingold]], depicting Fasolt and [[Fafnir|Fafner]] seizing [[Freia]].]]'''Arthur Rackham''' (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator.

==Biography==
Rackham was born in [[Lewisham]], then still part of [[Kent]] as one of 12 children. In 1884, at the age of 17, he was sent on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his fragile health, accompanied by two aunts.<ref>Hudson, Derek, ''Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work'', Heinemann London 1960</ref> At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the [[Lambeth School of Art]].<ref>Silvey, 373</ref>

In 1892, he left his job and started working for the ''[[Westminster Budget]]'' as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in ''To the Other Side'' by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for ''[[The Dolly Dialogues]]'', the collected [[sketch story|sketches]] of [[Anthony Hope]], who later went on to write ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.

By the turn of the century Rackham was regularly contributing illustrations to children's periodicals such as [[Little Folks]] and [[Cassell's Magazine]]. In 1903, he married [[Edyth Starkie]], with whom he had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Although acknowledged as an accomplished book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of Washington Irving's ''Rip Van Winkle'' by [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's ''[[Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens]]'', published by [[Hodder & Stoughton]]. Rackham won a gold medal at the [[Milan International (1906)|Milan International Exhibition]] in 1906 and another one at the [[Barcelona International Exposition]] in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the [[Louvre]] in Paris in 1914.

From 1906 the family lived in Chalcot Gardens, near [[Haverstock|Haverstock Hill]],<ref>James Hamilton - Arthur Rackham, A Biography, Arcade Publishing NY 1990. p.79</ref> until moving from London to [[Houghton, West Sussex]] in 1920. In 1929 the family settled into a newly built property in [[Limpsfield]], [[Surrey]].<ref>Hamilton p.119</ref> Arthur Rackham died in 1939 of [[cancer]] at his home.

==Significance==
[[Image:Arthur Rackham 001.jpg|thumb]]
Arthur Rackham is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators from the 'Golden Age' of British book illustration which roughly encompassed the years from 1890 until the end of the First World War. During that period, there was a strong market for high quality illustrated books which typically were given as Christmas gifts. Many of Rackham's books were produced in a ''de luxe'' limited edition, often vellum bound and sometimes signed, as well as a larger, less ornately bound quarto 'trade' edition. This was often followed by a more modestly presented octavo edition in subsequent years for particularly popular books. The onset of the war in 1914 curtailed the market for such quality books, and the public's taste for fantasy and fairies also declined in the 1920s.

Arthur Rackham's works have become very popular since his death, both in North America and Britain. His images have been widely used by the greeting card industry and many of his books are still in print or have been recently available in both paperback and hardback editions. His original drawings and paintings are keenly sought at the major international art auction houses.

==Technique==
[[File:Arthur Rackham Cinderella silhouette illustration.jpg|thumb|Cinderella silhouette illustration]]
Rackham's illustrations were chiefly based on robust pen and India ink drawings. Rackham gradually perfected his own uniquely expressive line from his background in journalistic illustration, paired with subtle use of watercolour, a technique which he was able to exploit due to technological developments in photographic reproduction. He would first lightly block in shapes and details of the drawing with a soft pencil, for the more elaborate colour plates often utilising one of a small selection of compositional devices.<ref>Gettings, Fred: ''Arthur Rackham'' (Studio Vista 1975, p.55-76)</ref> Over this he would then carefully work in lines of pen and India ink, removing the pencil traces after the drawing had begun to take form. For colour pictures, he would begin painting by building up multiple thin washes of watercolour creating translucent tints. One of the disadvantages of the 3-colour (later 4-colour) printing process in the early years was that definition could be lost in the final print, Rackham would sometimes compensate for this by over-inking his drawings once more after painting.<ref>Gettings p.51</ref> He would also go on to expand the use of silhouette cuts in illustration work, particularly in the period after the First World War, as exemplified by his ''Sleeping Beauty'' and ''Cinderella''.<ref name="ardelight">[http://clarke.cmich.edu/resource_tab/information_and_exhibits/arousing_delight/style,_subjects,_technique,_and_technology/style,_subjects,_technique,_and_technology_index.html Arousing Delight, Arthur Rackham]</ref>

Typically, Rackham contributed both colour and monotone illustrations towards the works incorporating his images – and in the case of ''Hawthorne's Wonder Book'', he also provided a number of part-coloured block images similar in style to [[Meiji era]] Japanese [[Woodcut|woodblock]]s.

Rackham's work is often described as a fusion of a northern European 'Nordic' style strongly influenced by the Japanese woodblock tradition of the early 19th century.

==Notable works==
[[File:Frontispiece to English Fairy Tales (Steel).png|thumb|||Frontispiece to [[English Fairy Tales]] ]]
[[File:Rackham fairy ring.jpg|thumb|||The fairy ring]]
*''The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch'' by Shafto Justin Adair Fitzgerald (40 line, 1896)
*''Two Old Ladies, Two Foolish Fairies, and a Tom Cat'' by Maggie Browne (pseud. Margaret Hamer) (4 colour plates, 19 line, 1897)
*''Feats on the Fjord'' by [[Harriet Martineau]] (f/p colour, 11 line, 1899) [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/35892 Project Gutenberg]
*''[[The Greek Heroes]]'' by [[Barthold Georg Niebuhr]] (4 colour plates, 8 line, 1903)
*''[[Rip van Winkle]]'' by [[Washington Irving]] (51 colour plates, 3 line, 1905)
*''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]] (4 colour plates, 1906 USA release only)
*''[[Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens]]'' by [[J.M. Barrie]] (49 colour plates, 1906)
*''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' by [[Lewis Carroll]] (13 colour plates, 15 line, 1907)
*''[[The Ingoldsby Legends]]'' by Thomas Ingoldsby (pseud. [[Richard Harris Barham]]) (12 colour, 80 line 1898, reworked edition 23 colour plates, 73 line, 1907)
*''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' by William Shakespeare (40 colour plates, 34 line, 1908)
*''[[Tales from Shakespeare]]'' by [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles]] and [[Mary Lamb]] (colour F/P, 11 line 1899, reworked edition 12 colour plates, 37 line, 1909)
*''[[Brothers Grimm|Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm]]'' (95 line, 1900, reworked edition 40 colour plates, 62 line, 1909)
*''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' by [[Jonathan Swift]] (Colour F/P, 11 line 1900, reworked edition 12 colour plates, 34 line, 1909)
*''[[Undine (novella)|Undine]]'' by [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]] (15 colour plates, 41 line, 1909)
*''[[Das Rheingold|The Rhinegold]]'' and ''[[Die Walküre|The Valkyrie]]'' by [[Richard Wagner]] (34 colour plates, 8 line, 1910)
*''[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]'' and ''[[Götterdämmerung|The Twilight of the Gods]]'' by Richard Wagner (32 colour plates, 8 line, 1911)
*''[[Aesop's Fables]]'' by [[Aesop]] (13 colour plates, 82 line, 1912)
*''[[Mother Goose. The Old Nursery Rhymes]]'' (13 colour plates, mostly reprinted from St.Nicholas magazine, 78 line, 1913)
*''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]] (12 colour plates, 1915)
*''The Allies Fairy Book'' (12 colour plates, 23 line 1916)
*''Little Brother and Little Sister'' by [[The Brothers Grimm]] (13 colour plates, 45 line, 1917)
*''The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'' by [[Alfred W. Pollard]] (23 colour and monotone plates, 16 line, 1917)
*''English Fairy Tales'' by [[Flora Annie Steel]] (16 colour plates, 43 line, 1918)
*''The Springtide of Life'' by [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]] (8 colour plates, 1918)
*''Some British Ballads'' (16 colour plates, 23 line, 1918)
*''[[Cinderella]]'' ed. Charles S. Evans (1 colour plate, 60 silhouettes, 1919)
*''[[Sleeping Beauty|The Sleeping Beauty]]'' ed. Charles S. Evans (1 colour plate, 65 silhouettes, 1920)
*''[[Irish Fairy Tales]]'' by [[James Stephens (author)|James Stephens]] (16 colour plates, 20 line, 1920)
*''[[Comus]]'' by [[John Milton]] (22 colour plates, 35 line, 1922)
*''[[A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys]]'' by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] (16 colour plates, 21 line, 1922)
*''[[Poor Cecco]]'' by [[Margery Williams]] (7 colour plates, 12 line, 1925)
*''[[The Tempest]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]] (20 colour plates, 20 line, 1926)
*''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]'' by [[Washington Irving]] (8 colour plates, 32 line, 1928)
*''[[The Vicar of Wakefield]]'' by [[Oliver Goldsmith]] (12 colour plates, 23 line, 1929)
*''[[The Compleat Angler]]'' by [[Izaak Walton]] (12 colour plates, 22 line, 1931)
*''[[The King of the Golden River]]'' by [[John Ruskin]] (4 colour plates, 13 line, T/P 2 colour, 1932)
*''Fairy Tales'' by [[Hans Christian Andersen]] (12 colour plates, 43 line, 9 silhouettes 1932)
*''[[Goblin Market]]'' by [[Christina Rossetti]] (4 colour plates, 19 line, E/P, 1933)
*''[[The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]'' by [[Robert Browning]] (4 colour plates, 15 line, 1 silhouette, E/P, 1934)
*''[[Tales of Mystery & Imagination]]'' by [[Edgar Allan Poe]] (12 colour plates, 28 line, 1935)
*''[[Peer Gynt]]'' by [[Henrik Ibsen]] (12 colour plates, 38 line, 1936)
*''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'' by [[Kenneth Grahame]] (16 colour plates, posthumously 1940 US, 1950 UK)

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="228px" heights="228px" perrow="4">

Image:Jack and the Beanstalk Giant - Project Gutenberg eText 17034.jpg| "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman", illustration to a 1918 ''English Fairy Tales'', by [[Flora Annie Steel]]

Image:Sangreal.jpg| "How at the [[Corbin (castle)|Castle of Corbin]] a Maiden Bare in the Sangreal and Foretold the Achievements of [[Galahad]]", from The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, by [[Alfred W. Pollard]], 1917

Image:Galligantus - Project Gutenberg eText 17034.jpg| "The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician transform the duke's daughter into a white [[Red deer|hind]]", illustration to ''English Fairy Tales'', by [[Flora Annie Steel]]

Image:Cormoran - Project Gutenberg eText 17034.jpg| "The giant [[Cormoran]] was the terror of all the country-side", illustration to ''English Fairy Tales'', by Flora Annie Steel

Image:The Three Bears - Project Gutenberg eText 17034.jpg| "[[The Three Bears]]", illustration to ''English Fairy Tales'', by Flora Annie Steel

File:Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods p 110.jpg| "[[Sigurd|Siegfried]] leaving [[Brünnhilde]]", illustration to [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|The Ring]]''

Image:Siegfried rhinemaidens.jpg| "[[Rhinemaidens]] warn Siegfried", illustration to Richard Wagner's ''The Ring''

File:The Rhinemaidens try to reclaim their gold (Arthur Rackham sketch).jpg| "The Rhinemaidens try to reclaim their gold", illustration to Richard Wagner's ''The Ring''

Image:The-Twa-Corbies.jpg| "[[The Twa Corbies]]", illustration to ''Some British Ballads''

Image:David-PeterPanInKensingtonGardens.jpg| "One day they were overheard by a fairy", illustration of Maimie and Tony in ''[[Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens]]''

File:Arthur Rackham The Valiant Little Tailor.jpg| Arthur Rackham [[The Valiant Little Tailor]]

File:Illustration_to_the_ballad_Young_Beckie_from_"Some_British_Ballads".jpg| "‘O waken, waken, Burd Isbel", from ''[[Young Beichan]]'', ''[[Child ballad]]'' number 53
</gallery>

==Influence==
In one of the featurettes on the DVD of ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'', and in the commentary track for Hellboy, director [[Guillermo del Toro]] cites Rackham as an influence on the design of "The Faun" of [[Pan's Labyrinth]]. He liked the dark tone of Rackham's gritty realistic drawings and had decided to incorporate this into the film. In ''Hellboy'', the design of the tree growing out of the altar in the ruined abbey off the coast of Scotland where Hellboy was brought over, is actually referred to as a "Rackham tree" by the director.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Arthur Rackham}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Rackham,+Arthur | name=Arthur Rackham}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Arthur Rackham}}
*[http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm Arthur Rackham and his art]
*[http://www.fairyworx.net/Arthur_Rackham.html Biography Online Gallery Ephemea freely downloadable at Fairyworx,Part of the Golden Age of Illustrators Collection ]
*[http://spiritoftheages.com/Arthur_Rackham_Collection.htm Arthur Rackham's illustrations for Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends]
*[http://innovatedlife.com/Arthur%20Rackham.htm Innovated Life Art Gallery: Select illustrations by Arthur Rackham, biography and contemporary reviews]
*[http://www.bugtown.com/alice/ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, illustrated by Arthur Rackham]
*[http://www.artpassions.net/rackham/ Arthur Rackham art at Art Passions (free online gallery) ]
*[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/illustrators/rackham.html SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Fairy Tale Illustrations of Arthur Rackham]
*[http://www.americanartarchives.com/rackham,a.htm Arthur Rackham artwork at American Art Archives web site]
*[http://www.nibelungs.net Complete Arthur Rackham Collection for 'The Ring of the Nibelung']
*[http://arthur-rackham-society.org/ Information about Arthur Rackham and his art]

{{Alice}}
{{Victorian children's literature}}
{{Peter Pan}}
{{Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Rackham, Arthur
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = English book illustrator
| DATE OF BIRTH = 19 September 1867
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Lewisham]], [[Greater London|London]], England
| DATE OF DEATH = 6 September 1939
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Limpsfield]], [[Surrey]], England
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rackham, Arthur}}
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:British illustrators]]
[[Category:British children's book illustrators]]
[[Category:Fantasy artists]]
[[Category:Illustrators of fairy tales]]
[[Category:People educated at the City of London School]]
[[Category:Artists from London]]
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1939 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Victorian era]]
[[Category:People of the Edwardian era]]

Revision as of 05:29, 25 June 2015

Arthur Rackham
Born(1867-09-19)19 September 1867
Lewisham, Kent, England
Died6 September 1939(1939-09-06) (aged 71)
Limpsfield, Surrey, England
NationalityEnglish
Known forChildren's literature, Illustration
One of Rackham's illustrations to Das Rheingold, depicting Fasolt and Fafner seizing Freia.

Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator.

Biography

Rackham was born in Lewisham, then still part of Kent as one of 12 children. In 1884, at the age of 17, he was sent on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his fragile health, accompanied by two aunts.[1] At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.[2]

In 1892, he left his job and started working for the Westminster Budget as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for The Dolly Dialogues, the collected sketches of Anthony Hope, who later went on to write The Prisoner of Zenda. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.

By the turn of the century Rackham was regularly contributing illustrations to children's periodicals such as Little Folks and Cassell's Magazine. In 1903, he married Edyth Starkie, with whom he had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Although acknowledged as an accomplished book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914.

From 1906 the family lived in Chalcot Gardens, near Haverstock Hill,[3] until moving from London to Houghton, West Sussex in 1920. In 1929 the family settled into a newly built property in Limpsfield, Surrey.[4] Arthur Rackham died in 1939 of cancer at his home.

Significance

Arthur Rackham is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators from the 'Golden Age' of British book illustration which roughly encompassed the years from 1890 until the end of the First World War. During that period, there was a strong market for high quality illustrated books which typically were given as Christmas gifts. Many of Rackham's books were produced in a de luxe limited edition, often vellum bound and sometimes signed, as well as a larger, less ornately bound quarto 'trade' edition. This was often followed by a more modestly presented octavo edition in subsequent years for particularly popular books. The onset of the war in 1914 curtailed the market for such quality books, and the public's taste for fantasy and fairies also declined in the 1920s.

Arthur Rackham's works have become very popular since his death, both in North America and Britain. His images have been widely used by the greeting card industry and many of his books are still in print or have been recently available in both paperback and hardback editions. His original drawings and paintings are keenly sought at the major international art auction houses.

Technique

Cinderella silhouette illustration

Rackham's illustrations were chiefly based on robust pen and India ink drawings. Rackham gradually perfected his own uniquely expressive line from his background in journalistic illustration, paired with subtle use of watercolour, a technique which he was able to exploit due to technological developments in photographic reproduction. He would first lightly block in shapes and details of the drawing with a soft pencil, for the more elaborate colour plates often utilising one of a small selection of compositional devices.[5] Over this he would then carefully work in lines of pen and India ink, removing the pencil traces after the drawing had begun to take form. For colour pictures, he would begin painting by building up multiple thin washes of watercolour creating translucent tints. One of the disadvantages of the 3-colour (later 4-colour) printing process in the early years was that definition could be lost in the final print, Rackham would sometimes compensate for this by over-inking his drawings once more after painting.[6] He would also go on to expand the use of silhouette cuts in illustration work, particularly in the period after the First World War, as exemplified by his Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.[7]

Typically, Rackham contributed both colour and monotone illustrations towards the works incorporating his images – and in the case of Hawthorne's Wonder Book, he also provided a number of part-coloured block images similar in style to Meiji era Japanese woodblocks.

Rackham's work is often described as a fusion of a northern European 'Nordic' style strongly influenced by the Japanese woodblock tradition of the early 19th century.

Notable works

Frontispiece to English Fairy Tales
The fairy ring

Influence

In one of the featurettes on the DVD of Pan's Labyrinth, and in the commentary track for Hellboy, director Guillermo del Toro cites Rackham as an influence on the design of "The Faun" of Pan's Labyrinth. He liked the dark tone of Rackham's gritty realistic drawings and had decided to incorporate this into the film. In Hellboy, the design of the tree growing out of the altar in the ruined abbey off the coast of Scotland where Hellboy was brought over, is actually referred to as a "Rackham tree" by the director.

References

  1. ^ Hudson, Derek, Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work, Heinemann London 1960
  2. ^ Silvey, 373
  3. ^ James Hamilton - Arthur Rackham, A Biography, Arcade Publishing NY 1990. p.79
  4. ^ Hamilton p.119
  5. ^ Gettings, Fred: Arthur Rackham (Studio Vista 1975, p.55-76)
  6. ^ Gettings p.51
  7. ^ Arousing Delight, Arthur Rackham
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