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#0215
Arthur Rackham
is merely a little more manual dexterity. Before his art. He cannot confine himself to the facts
he has reached middle age he has ceased to be an that are before him because plain actuality would
artist and has become only a manufacturer of never satisfy him and would never allow him the
stock patterns, who can turn out in any number scope for expression that he so intensely desires,
required things which are quite according to the But he has, all the same, to go through the drilling
samples he provided many years before. He stops of the realist or else he would be incapable of
short on the threshold of art and goes no further expanding in the directions where he can justify
because his blunted susceptibilities cannot perceive his artistic temperament most convincingly. If he
that there are any more worlds for him to conquer, had not the basis of sure knowledge he could
Possibly he is not unhappy, because, having no never construct those delightful perversions of
ideals he can have no disappointments and can nature which evidently give him such joy and show
never fall seriously short of what he intended : the rare richness of his imagination. For it must
but his happiness comes simply because he is too be remembered that his grotesques have to be
fossilised to experience any sensations. made credible, and with all their extravagance
With a worker of Mr. Rackham's type the case have to be so dramatically suggestive that they can
is very different. He could not remain a realist, for attract and hold the attention of the people whose
realism would destroy all the spirit and meaning of first inclination is to laugh at their absurdity.
Directly he began to fumble,
or to hint at any uncertainty in
his own mind, his power to per-
s"^' ■ suade would be gone ; he would
r i, seem to be attempting some-
V SL thing beyond his reach, or to
- ^| be deliberately poking fun at
J - his admirers. Such a breach
\ ^ "Vy °f f3-^ would be inexcusable ;
MMfe .oidtF^ ~* * lor *f hc's not ser'ous m his art'
> j^^^JJmy>*- ^T^iplk. no matter how amusing or
| '^^^jjjj^^^^^^^'*" on^y attitudinising to draw notice
^p|^-—■>> * ^T£py*lZ-~ ~* 'ess aPParetlt- The course of
* ' landscape painting which he
^jflBi^V* * j^^lfe^^^^ began in his boyhood, and has
jfl Wr^ kept UP 1:0 t^ie Present day, has
gjj BPIB nao- a most valuable influence
.. upon his art. It has guided
""- him into exquisite suggestion of
• k.^. nature's subtleties, into a true
appreciation of her sentiment
"THE WREN AND THE BEAR": BY ARTHUR RACKHAM , , , ry, , ,
ILLUSTRATION FOR GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES aIld tender DeaUtY- 1 lle lanC1
(By permission of Messrs. A. Constable <5? Co.) scape settings of his grotesques
199
is merely a little more manual dexterity. Before his art. He cannot confine himself to the facts
he has reached middle age he has ceased to be an that are before him because plain actuality would
artist and has become only a manufacturer of never satisfy him and would never allow him the
stock patterns, who can turn out in any number scope for expression that he so intensely desires,
required things which are quite according to the But he has, all the same, to go through the drilling
samples he provided many years before. He stops of the realist or else he would be incapable of
short on the threshold of art and goes no further expanding in the directions where he can justify
because his blunted susceptibilities cannot perceive his artistic temperament most convincingly. If he
that there are any more worlds for him to conquer, had not the basis of sure knowledge he could
Possibly he is not unhappy, because, having no never construct those delightful perversions of
ideals he can have no disappointments and can nature which evidently give him such joy and show
never fall seriously short of what he intended : the rare richness of his imagination. For it must
but his happiness comes simply because he is too be remembered that his grotesques have to be
fossilised to experience any sensations. made credible, and with all their extravagance
With a worker of Mr. Rackham's type the case have to be so dramatically suggestive that they can
is very different. He could not remain a realist, for attract and hold the attention of the people whose
realism would destroy all the spirit and meaning of first inclination is to laugh at their absurdity.
Directly he began to fumble,
or to hint at any uncertainty in
his own mind, his power to per-
s"^' ■ suade would be gone ; he would
r i, seem to be attempting some-
V SL thing beyond his reach, or to
- ^| be deliberately poking fun at
J - his admirers. Such a breach
\ ^ "Vy °f f3-^ would be inexcusable ;
MMfe .oidtF^ ~* * lor *f hc's not ser'ous m his art'
> j^^^JJmy>*- ^T^iplk. no matter how amusing or
| '^^^jjjj^^^^^^^'*" on^y attitudinising to draw notice
^p|^-—■>> * ^T£py*lZ-~ ~* 'ess aPParetlt- The course of
* ' landscape painting which he
^jflBi^V* * j^^lfe^^^^ began in his boyhood, and has
jfl Wr^ kept UP 1:0 t^ie Present day, has
gjj BPIB nao- a most valuable influence
.. upon his art. It has guided
""- him into exquisite suggestion of
• k.^. nature's subtleties, into a true
appreciation of her sentiment
"THE WREN AND THE BEAR": BY ARTHUR RACKHAM , , , ry, , ,
ILLUSTRATION FOR GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES aIld tender DeaUtY- 1 lle lanC1
(By permission of Messrs. A. Constable <5? Co.) scape settings of his grotesques
199