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The Mythic
Arthur Rackham produced numerous illustrations for literature that can be classified as myth, legend, or folklore, including The Ingoldsby Legends (1898), Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1900), Gulliver's Travels (1900), and Rip Van Winkle (1905). The episodic nature of R.H. Barham's The Ingoldsby Legends, parodies of medieval folklore and poetry, provided Rackham with endless opportunities to produce unique responses to the rollicking humor and fantastical content of the stories. But Rackham's breakthrough came in 1900 with the dark mystery, intricate detail, and densely packed compositions of his Grimm illustrations. His success continued to climb in 1905 with his watercolor illustrations for Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, featuring well-known Rackham hallmarks: bold, sinuous pen lines softened by washes of subdued color, the unique interpretation of otherworldly beings, and gnarled, tortured trees with grasping roots.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonder Book (1922), a collection of Greek myths retold for children, also features Rackham at his best; in his illustration of the three grey women groping for an eye, he uses an innovative bold spray technique, with scratching at the top, in order to create rays of light emerging from the single eye shared by the women. Although these mythic books were ostensibly aimed at child readers, there is a strong sense of the adult reading over the child's shoulder, as they turn haunting, subconscious feelings into visible images. |