Arthur Rackham Illustrations From Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939); One of if not the best illustrator of childrens books from early last century. This English artist painted Alphonse Mucha-esque compositions full of incredible detail, and fantastic vision. For a children's book illustrator he definitely had kind of a darker almost gothic style, I really dig it. These two illustrations below are from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1907) and Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie, (1906).

Arthur Rackham, Advice From A Caterpillar, 1907.

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

-Arthur Rackham

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Rackham's quote, it reminds me of part of the engraving that sits atop the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art:

"The soul has greater need of the ideal than of the real."

-Victor Hugo

Fantasy author's like Robert Jordan, Tolkien, Gary Gygax, and a host of others have had a huge influence on my imagination and therefore my artistic style. I had a friend once who always expressed his dismay with fantasy and imagination works of art or literature, saying they had no use in reality. I could not disagree more with that line of thinking, to not have any idealistic vision would mean that there is no goals for us to reach towards. It is by developing our imagination that our perspective and understanding of this world grows.

Rackham's collection of gnomes, sprites, fairies, woodlands, and more definitely inspires wonder and imagination. I think I would like to acquire an original book with his illustrations in it, but anyways to see more of his work, check out his biography: Arthur Rackham and His Art.

Arthur Rackham, Put his strange case before old Solomon Caw, 1906

Digg It! ,