Fantasy Illustration and the Vision of Arthur Rackham

The turn of the twentieth century is generally considered the golden age of European illustration. Not only did publishers finally have the technology and capital to create special edition pressings, but there was a wide audience hungry for more detailed color illustrations. Artists like Warwick Goble and Edmund Dulac provided work for popular texts like Arabian Nights, The Water Babies, and the collected works of Shakespeare. Rich in detail and exploding with vibrancy, these illustrations were a far cry from the woodcut and ink depictions that had commonly illustrated texts since the early sixteenth century.

Arthur Rackham is often considered the greatest of these early nineteenth-century watercolor illustrators, both for his immense skill and his sheer range of work. Born in Lewisham, Kent in 1867, Rackham would dedicate his focus to illustration, and by his mid-twenties he was illustrating whole texts. In 1893, he illustrated Thomas Rhodes' The Other Side and would soon go on to complete illustrations for Gulliver's Travels, The Ingoldsby Legends, and the fairytales of the Brother's Grimm.

Rackham is renowned for his "washing technique" in which soft outlines would slowly be worked to greater detail through the steady application of ink and watercolor washes. This approach added a translucency and etherial quality to Rackham's illustrations uncommon for the period. While artists like Gobles and Dulac were no doubt expert technicians, Rackham's work provided a level of unmatched detail and vibrancy. One is often struck at just how "modern" Rackham's work appears.

Though Rackham is most famous for his Alice in Wonderland illustrations, his work throughout the broader realm of fantasy is extensive. Both his mermaid and fairy compositions remain some of the most astounding ever committed, testifying not only to Rackham's immense skill with pen and brush, but also his astonishing scope of imagination.