DOI issue:
Nr. 145 (April 1905)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: Arthur Rackham: a painter of fantasies
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0210
Arthur Rack ham
Mr. Rackham surpasses even that master of fanciful delicate in sentiment he loses none of his attrac-
contrivance in the richness and strength of his work, tiveness as an artist. His illustrations to "Grimm's
He has undeniably an extraordinary imagination, ex- Fairy Tales " (London : Constable & Co.), The
traordinary in its intricacy, in its unfailing resource, Old Man, Snowdrop, The Cat, and The Young
and its endless variety. Mere grotesque extrava- Count; his exquisite water colours, Playmates
gance does not by any means satisfy him; there and Queen Mab ; even his water colour landscape
is much more in his art than simple twisting of facts The Lake-side, show a sensitive understanding
into absurdities, or than the travestying of serious of artistic refinements which is heartily to be
things in a broadly humorous manner. Such an commended. There is in them all an amount
example of it as The Rescue, is really an intensely of thought, and a degree of ingenuity in design, far
dramatic story cast in a definitely comic mould, a beyond what is to be found in the work of the
drama in which all the actors are playing their parts average illustrator, and there is a sympathetic touch
in deadly earnest, and with the most serious convic- which is a clear reflection of his own kindly tem-
tion. The humour of it is grim—not so grim, per- perament. Obviously he feels the beauty of nature
haps, as that which distinguishes that other amazing quite as keenly as her strength, and is as responsive
creation, the Langham sketch Alone—but in the to her charms as to her sternness and inflexibility,
grimness there is a charming hint of tenderness and To the executive side of his work, nothing but
of sympathy with the weaker things that suffer under praise can be given. Whether he is expressing
nature's inflexible code of laws. In this drawing himself in colour, in black-and-white line, in broad
Mr. Rackham appears as a moralist, and as a com- masses as in the silhouette, The Wren and the
mentator on the tragedies of existence; in Cupids Bear, or in that combination of pen-line and
Alley, with its wonderful insight into character, he is tinting in colour - washes which he particularly
quite as convincingly a satirist, and in Alone he tells affects, he is always a complete master of technical
a complete and tragic story in which there is a plain method. His practice, indeed, is as intricate and
and intelligible symbolical intention. In all these searching as his imagination and as complex as
fantasies of his, with their quaint and grotesque his invention. Everything he does is finished like
presentation, there is an underlying meaning that a miniature and yet is broad, decisive, and con-
is well worth seeking out; to treat them simply as fident. The struggle to make himself intelligible,
clever fooling would be a serious mistake. and to keep his mind and hand in proper relation,
But when he ceases to deal with these problems is never apparent in his drawings; though this
and turns to ideas which are essentially dainty and struggle is one from which no artist can escape.
He has learned with rare
completeness how to con-
trol the processes of the
form of art which he has
chosen, and he has ac-
quired that air of spon-
taneity which more than
anything else implies ex-
haustiveness of prelimin-
ary study and long
continued effort to acquire
a sufficiency of mechanical
experience, and in this
he has been especially
wise ; nothing would have
hampered more seriously
a man of his peculiarly
prolific imagination than
technical imperfection.
Really, it would be
possible to use the whole
'THE LITTLE OWL" BY ARTHUR RACKHAM SeHeS of his drawings
(By permission of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co.) j-0 illustrate a long and
194
Mr. Rackham surpasses even that master of fanciful delicate in sentiment he loses none of his attrac-
contrivance in the richness and strength of his work, tiveness as an artist. His illustrations to "Grimm's
He has undeniably an extraordinary imagination, ex- Fairy Tales " (London : Constable & Co.), The
traordinary in its intricacy, in its unfailing resource, Old Man, Snowdrop, The Cat, and The Young
and its endless variety. Mere grotesque extrava- Count; his exquisite water colours, Playmates
gance does not by any means satisfy him; there and Queen Mab ; even his water colour landscape
is much more in his art than simple twisting of facts The Lake-side, show a sensitive understanding
into absurdities, or than the travestying of serious of artistic refinements which is heartily to be
things in a broadly humorous manner. Such an commended. There is in them all an amount
example of it as The Rescue, is really an intensely of thought, and a degree of ingenuity in design, far
dramatic story cast in a definitely comic mould, a beyond what is to be found in the work of the
drama in which all the actors are playing their parts average illustrator, and there is a sympathetic touch
in deadly earnest, and with the most serious convic- which is a clear reflection of his own kindly tem-
tion. The humour of it is grim—not so grim, per- perament. Obviously he feels the beauty of nature
haps, as that which distinguishes that other amazing quite as keenly as her strength, and is as responsive
creation, the Langham sketch Alone—but in the to her charms as to her sternness and inflexibility,
grimness there is a charming hint of tenderness and To the executive side of his work, nothing but
of sympathy with the weaker things that suffer under praise can be given. Whether he is expressing
nature's inflexible code of laws. In this drawing himself in colour, in black-and-white line, in broad
Mr. Rackham appears as a moralist, and as a com- masses as in the silhouette, The Wren and the
mentator on the tragedies of existence; in Cupids Bear, or in that combination of pen-line and
Alley, with its wonderful insight into character, he is tinting in colour - washes which he particularly
quite as convincingly a satirist, and in Alone he tells affects, he is always a complete master of technical
a complete and tragic story in which there is a plain method. His practice, indeed, is as intricate and
and intelligible symbolical intention. In all these searching as his imagination and as complex as
fantasies of his, with their quaint and grotesque his invention. Everything he does is finished like
presentation, there is an underlying meaning that a miniature and yet is broad, decisive, and con-
is well worth seeking out; to treat them simply as fident. The struggle to make himself intelligible,
clever fooling would be a serious mistake. and to keep his mind and hand in proper relation,
But when he ceases to deal with these problems is never apparent in his drawings; though this
and turns to ideas which are essentially dainty and struggle is one from which no artist can escape.
He has learned with rare
completeness how to con-
trol the processes of the
form of art which he has
chosen, and he has ac-
quired that air of spon-
taneity which more than
anything else implies ex-
haustiveness of prelimin-
ary study and long
continued effort to acquire
a sufficiency of mechanical
experience, and in this
he has been especially
wise ; nothing would have
hampered more seriously
a man of his peculiarly
prolific imagination than
technical imperfection.
Really, it would be
possible to use the whole
'THE LITTLE OWL" BY ARTHUR RACKHAM SeHeS of his drawings
(By permission of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co.) j-0 illustrate a long and
194