Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) was a Victorian gentleman who, naturally, started his career safely, as a clerk. Eventually he leapt into a career as an illustrator, where he slowly began to develop the style that eventually endeared him to so many generations of children who loved (and still love) his whimsical creativity. He is considered the premier illustrator of the early 20th century.
The work for which he is most famous today is probably The Wind in the Willows, published posthumously in 1940, but he created many other classics as well, some of which are Rip Van Winkle (1905), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1907), A Midsummer-Night's Dream (1908), and Undine (1909, which inspired The Little Mermaid), as well as a host of fairy tales and fables.
Midsummer Night's Dream |
||
|
|
|
|
||
English Fairy Tales
She went along and went along |
||
Undine
|
Irish Fairy Tales
|
|
A Fairy Book
The Stolen Queen |
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Fairies say "We feel dancey!" |
|
Links
Rackham was, and remains, very popular and is well represented on the web. Here are just a small handful of sites:
- http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm#rackhamtop
- Full-text stories with illustrations: http://childhoodreading.com/illustrators.html
- http://www.angelfire.com/ar/ArthurRackhamSociety/ (generates pop-ups, which is too bad, since the goal of the site is excellent) Images from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham
- http://rackham.artpassions.net/rackham.html
- Images from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens: http://www.gerdesdesign.com/fairies.htm
- Images from Alice in Wonderland: http://www.bugtown.com/alice/
