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The Vignettes
The integration of image and text through the placement of scenic vignettes, or borderless, undefined images, on the page was characteristic of Romantic book design. Conventional vignettes were picturesque scenes of landscapes or ruins that ornamented the page but did not distract attention from or offer commentary on the text. The English artist Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) sought to give the vignette greater significance in his illustrated books of natural history, suggesting harmony between the verbal and visual elements while also seeking to enliven the text with spirit or humor.
Arthur Rackham explored the potential of the vignette even further, finding that the small illustrations, particularly headpieces and tailpieces, were a fertile area for innovation within magazine and book illustration. Although the traditional vignette established a distant and detached view of a scene, Rackham draws inspiration from the details of a narrative, encouraging a more personal and subjective form of perception and interpretation. In Rackham's publications, the vignettes, or "spot illustrations" as they are sometimes called, become an engaging, dynamic form of visual punctuation rather than images that fade into the printed page. |