Background

Rackham was born in Lewisham, Kent, United Kingdom, on September 19, 1867, to a family with 12 children. He was the son of Alfred Thomas Rackham and Annie Rackham.

Education

In 1884, accompanied by two aunts, Arthur Rackham went on an ocean voyage to Australia to improve his poor health. The same year he started to attend evening classes at the Lambeth School of Art and spent seven years studying there. He concurrently worked full-time in an insurance office.

Career

Rackham worked in the Fire Office from 1884 until 1892. He managed to combine his work with painting, and in 1888 his watercolor of Winchelsea, Australia, was accepted by the Royal Academy of Art and was purchased for two guineas. In 1892, Rackham started to illustrate for the Westminster Budget Newspaper. This job he kept until 1896. During this time Arthur Rackham produced occasional illustrations to magazines such as Scraps and Chums. It was during this time that he became notably interested in book illustration. His first book illustrations were for To the Other Side (1893), a travel guide, and the Dolly Dialogues (1894).

The real turning point came in the year 1900, when Arthur Rackham met the portraitist Edith Starkie, who was "his most stimulating, severest critic" and future wife. Starkie contributed to Rackham's artistic range expansion; moving away from simpler techniques of drawing, towards complex ones. This year he published The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm; the book featured ninety-nine black-and-white drawings with a color frontispiece.

In 1905, his illustrated version of Rip van Winkle made him the most significant illustrator of the Edwardian period. It was at this time that his illustrations started to be presented in Leicester Galleries, London. J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, asked Arthur Rackham to produce illustrations for the first edition of his children's tale Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906). In 1907 he was commissioned to illustrate another classic book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It was much more controversial because of the already beloved version illustrated by John Tenniel.

At the beginning of the 1920s sales of Rackham’s books in Great Britain diminished while those in the United States were on the rise. A number of exhibitions of Rackham’s work were organized in New York, and he was commissioned by the New York Public Library to produce a series of watercolors for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By the year 1936, shows of Rackham’s artworks took place in different parts of the world. Though by now he was suffering from chronic illness, he continued to work. The same year George Macy commissioned him to illustrate James Stephen’s The Crock of Gold and The Wind in the Willows. The Wind in the Willows was Arthur Rackham’s last completed illustrated book before his death in 1939.

Achievements

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  Arthur Rackham was a prominent painter. Even now his works are collectible and universally beloved. His illustrations were noted for their ability to express the spirit of each story. Children and adults equally found enjoyment in the unique art he provided for some of the world's greatest stories.
  
  Altogether Rackham produced illustrations for more than 60 books, including works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, James Barrie, Izaak Walton, John Milton, Jonathan Swift and Edgar Allan Poe.
  
  The Ingoldsby Legends (1898) and Tales from Shakespeare (1899) were considered his two most successful illustrated books. Both of these works were re-issued less than a decade later as deluxe editions, which included additional illustrations by Rackham. Rackham’s illustrations for Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen were named the best picture book of the year by Hugh Walpole for The Observer in 1932.

Works

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  • Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen - Illustrated by Arthur Rackham - Kindle edition by Hans Christian Andersen, Arthur Rackham. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

    (This collection, Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen w...)

• painting

  • Bob Cratchit went down a slide on Cornhill

  • The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste and moaning as they went

  • The dragon in the woods near Dublin

  • Old Mr. Salford was a crab-apple of an old gentleman who wandered all day in the Gardens

  • A chrysanthemum heard her, and said pointedly, 'Hoity-toity, what is this'

  • How now - said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever

  • Fairies are all more or less in hiding until dusk

  • Father! Father!

  • Alice and Pigeon

  • For years he had been quietly filling his stocking

  • Peter Pan is the fairies' orchestra

  • Isolde discovers the notch in the sword of Tristan

  • The young Prince said, ‘I am not afraid; I am determined to go and look upon the lovely Briar Rose’

  • Mock away! Mock! The Niblungs make for you Toy!

  • The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician transform the duke's

  • Curiouser and curiouser

  • Looking very undancey indeed

  • The Queen turned angrily away from him and said to the Knave, 'Turn them over'

  • Mime, howling. Ohé! Ohé!

  • Donner, your lord, summons his hosts!

  • The way he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker!

  • Imogen's Two Brothers then carried her to a Shady Covert

  • Blow, blow, little breeze, And Conrad’s hat seize

  • Husdan recognizes his master

  • The good little Sister cut off her own tiny finger, fitted it into the lock, and succeeded in opening it

  • Hunding discovers the likeness between Siegmund and Sieglinde

  • When he heard Peter's voice he popped in alarm behind a tulip

  • Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave

  • Paulina drew back the Curtain which concealed this famous Statue

  • Then the Youth took the axe and split the anvil with one blow, catching in the Old Man’s beard at the same time

  • Pig and Pepper

  • 'Mine is a long and sad tale' said the Mouse, turning to Alice and sighing

  • Freia, the fair one

  • Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman

  • As he moves slowly away, Wotan turns and looks sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde

  • She went away accompanied by the Lions

  • Raging, Wotan, rides to the Rock

  • Laden with Christmas toys and presents

  • She went along, and went along, and went along

  • Ashenputtel goes to the ball

  • Endpapers

  • After this the birds said that they would help him no more in his mad enterprise

  • Cordelia

  • Tristan comes to Tintagel dressed as a jester

  • Cover

  • Good Dwarf, can you not tell me where my brothers are

  • She sate down and plaited herself an overall of rushes and a cap to match

  • A grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life

  • And now which is which

  • Building the house for Maimie

  • Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing-gown

  • The King could not contain himself for joy

  • The Queen never left off quarrelling with the other players, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or, 'Off with her head!'

  • The ride of the Valkyries

  • The Pool of Tears

  • Galahad draws the sword from the floating stone

  • A Transpontine Cockney

  • And that is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar

  • These tricky fairies sometimes change the board on a ball night

  • PERDITA

  • The Ducks, which he had once saved, dived and brought up the key from the depths

  • The sleep of Brünnhilde

  • Tattercoats dancing while the gooseherd pipes

  • The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo

  • The Holy Grail is carried in

  • Map of Peter Pan's Kensington Gardens

  • The Beggar took her by the hand and led her away

  • A Mad Tea Party

  • Queen Guinevere

  • They were stopped by the Strange Appearance of Three Figures

  • WHEN CALIBAN WAS LAZY AND NEGLECTED HIS WORK

  • Mock Turtle

  • Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw

  • A flushed and boisterous group

  • Alas! dear Falada, there thou hangest

  • She began to think of confessing that she was a Woman

  • But they said one after another

  • The boat with the dead Maid of Astolat before the palace at Westminster

  • King Arthur for the first time draws his sword Excalibur from its sheath

  • Set it first to thy lips

  • The Cat seemed to think that there was enough of it now in sight, and no more of it appeared

  • The next witness was the Duchess's cook

  • What do you call this - said Joe

  • He nears, he nears, in fury!

  • When Puss saw the rats and mice she didn't wait to be told

  • The king's troops lay siege to Lancelot's castle

  • The executioner's argument was, that you couldn't cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from

  • Title

  • Brünnhilde with her horse, at the mouth of the cave

  • The lady with the balloons, who sits just outside

  • How are you - said one

  • Tristan and Isolde drink the love potion

  • Сover

  • An unusually large saucepan flew close by it, and very nearly carried it off

  • The Mock Turtle drew a long breath and said, 'That's very curious'

  • Keeps watch over Alberich's ring

  • It's I, your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred

  • Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here

  • Fricka approaches in anger

  • They thanked her and said good-bye, and she went on her journey

  • Erec is attacked in the forest by a stranger knight

  • The Dwarfs, when they came in the evening, found Snowdrop lying on the ground

  • The struggle between King Arthur and Modred

  • Mime writhes under the lashes he receives

  • The fisherman and his wife had no children, and they were just longing

  • They all crowded round it panting and asking, 'But who has won'

  • Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!

  • When her Majesty wants to know the time

  • Then he ran after him, still holding the carving-knife, and cried, ‘Only one, only one!’

  • Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar at home

  • Sir Lancelot and Sir Balin

  • The giant Cormoran was the terror of all the country-side

  • It grunted again so violently that she looked down into its face in some alarm

  • The Son made a circle, and his Father and he took their places within it, and the little black Mannikin appeared

  • Advice from a Caterpillar

  • So the four Brothers took their sticks in their hands, bade their Father good-bye, and passed out of the town gate

  • Merlin is lured by the evil fairy Vivien in her home

  • He brings thee this sword

  • Petruchio, pretending to find Fault with every Dish, threw the Meat about the Floor

  • Tree of mine! O Tree of mine! Have you seen my naughty little maid

  • Many's the beating he had from the broomstick or the ladle

  • Ganymede assumed the Forward Manners often seen in Youths when they are between Boys and Men

  • Tristan

  • Lancelot fights against a dragon at the Castle of Corbin

  • Seize the despoiler

  • Erda bids thee beware

  • The victims of the Red Knight

  • Shook his bald head and murmured, 'Cold, quite cold.'

  • The King’s only daughter had been carried off by a Dragon

  • Alberich drives in a band of Niblungs laden with gold and silver treasure

  • At the Cell of Friar Lawrence

  • Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner

  • The Kensington Gardens are in London, where the King lives.

  • Title

  • Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel

  • Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig

  • The King’s only daughter had been carried off by a Dragon

  • The Fishes, in their joy, stretched up their heads above the water, and promised to reward him

  • Brünnhilde stands for a long time dazed and alarmed

  • Alice

  • Once upon a time a poor Peasant, named Crabb, was taking a load of wood drawn by two oxen to the town for sale

  • Brünnhilde

  • Cheshire Puss

  • Fairies never say, 'We feel happy', what they say is, 'We feel dancey.'

  • Taking the keys of the castle, Jack unlocked all the doors

  • Well! - she chuckled, - I am in luck!

  • To this Brook Ophelia came

  • Enide with the golden hawk

  • Who stole the tarts

  • Hey! Come hither

  • Where is Pease-Blossom

  • Gawain's journey through the snowy landscape

  • Fafner kills Fasolt

  • The child is given over to Merlin

  • At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her

  • Now, I'll tell you what, my friend, said Scrooge. I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer

  • Gryphon

  • The Seven Kids and their mother capered and danced round the spring in their joy

  • Lady Lyonors confronts Gareth

  • Loge! Loge! Appear!

Views

Quotations: "For children in their most impressionable years, there is, in fantasy, the highest of stimulating and educational powers."

"Like the sundial, my paint box counts no hours but sunny ones."

Membership

In 1908 Rackham was made a full member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours.

• Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours , United Kingdom

  1908

Personality

Arthur Rackham was a perfectionist, and he could not rest until he was satisfied with the appearance of each illustration.

Connections

In 1903 Rackham married Edyth Starkie. She suffered a miscarriage in 1904, but eventually the couple had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908.

Father:

Alfred Thomas Rackham

Mother:

Annie Rackham

Spouse:

Edyth Starkie

Daughter:

Barbara Rackham

References

• Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration
• Arthur Rackham Masterpieces of Art
• Arthur Rackham: A Biography
• Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work