Arthur Rackham
August 8, 2006 11:25 AM   Subscribe

 
Nice. His paintings are dreamy, and also...creamy. Like you could eat them with a spoon. They look rich; soft-focus and thick, dull colors. I really like this one and this one.
posted by iconomy at 11:36 AM on August 8, 2006


I've always preferred Tenniel's Alice illustrations to Rackham's. To each his own.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:48 AM on August 8, 2006


The Tenniel illustrations you mention are available for download via Project Gutenberg.

My personal Rackham favorites are the illustrations for Die Nibelungen.
posted by sciurus at 11:53 AM on August 8, 2006


Some Tenniel that doesn't require download. I love Rackham's technique ('creamy' is a great description, iconomy!) but his compositions are just wonderfully balanced. Thanks for this, scurius.
posted by maryh at 12:15 PM on August 8, 2006


Since I seem to have accidentally changed the subject, here are the highest-resolution scans of Tenniel's illustrations I've found online.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:19 PM on August 8, 2006


Thank you for this - fascinating. Some of Rackham's pictures are quite sinister - Jack Sprat and His Wife, for instance.
posted by paduasoy at 12:55 PM on August 8, 2006


Hey, that's the tattoo I wanna get (just the smaller of the two fairies, I think), that I talked about last month on MetaChat. I didn't know who Rackham was at first; I'd saved the illustration from an old datebook. Deborah linked me to the same page as this for further information and samples of his work. No biggie; just the surprise of recognition/coincidence. Quite lovely.
posted by pips at 2:03 PM on August 8, 2006


FoB, the comparison with Tenniel is fine. The difference seems to lie in the approach to form & light -- Tenniel's forms are adventurous, his light is raw. Rackham's forms are faithful, his light is delicate. What grabs me is there's almost a smell to the smudging action and reworking of R's lines. As illustrations they back up the text nicely.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 2:39 PM on August 8, 2006


texts
posted by gorgor_balabala at 2:41 PM on August 8, 2006


This is a nifty site - bookmarked! I dug a bit and found his/her design site: also very nice with most excellent Bosch backgrounds - but the links are mostly broken. Still, it's also bookmarked; thanks, sciurus.
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:46 PM on August 8, 2006


Peerless and way before his time. I would have loved to have grown up reading the stories coupled with these illustrations.
posted by fire&wings at 6:24 PM on August 8, 2006


This is great, thanks; Rackham has been one of my favorite illustrators for a while now. For what it's worth, the Bud Plant illustration site has better biographical info.
posted by mediareport at 6:49 PM on August 8, 2006


If anyone enjoys Rackham, Edmund Dulac might tickle your fancy also. This is one of my favorite Dulacs.

The Bud Plant site mediareport linked to above is a wonderful source for information on classic illustrators.
posted by marxchivist at 7:20 PM on August 8, 2006


Almost irrelevant, I know, and liable to get me shouted at by the "information wants to be free like bunnies and butterflies" crowd, but Rackham died in 1939 so his art is still in copyright.
posted by Hogshead at 3:14 AM on August 9, 2006


My daughter loves his 'the sleeping beauty'...so much more than the Disney crap, thank goodness
posted by das_2099 at 1:20 PM on August 9, 2006


I love the Undine illustrations - eerie and epic, yet somehow so intimate and human, too.

FTR, my favorite illustrator of the period is Howard Pyle. Love especially his Arthuriana (scroll).
posted by melixxa600 at 10:59 PM on August 9, 2006


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