figures in the wondrous forests and fields of the fairytales elicit remarkable cognitive
Sensations. The muted earth tones and attention to minute detail make it piece of
work timeless to the lover of Victorian style art. Born in England, he studied at the
City of London. He clerked during the day and attended night school for seven years
the Lambeth School of Art.
Watercolour. His style owes a great deal to 16th century artists such as
Albrecht Durer and Albrecht Altdorfer and he often holidayed in South
Germany and the Alps.
gave in to the baser styles that fell in and out of favor over the
years. From Queen Victoria's death in 1901 to the start of World
War I, Rackham's illustrations preserved a lifestyle and a
sensibility that kept the frighteningly modern future at bay. His
beautiful drawings were the antithesis of the industrial advances
that allowed them to be printed at affordable prices. Even into
the twenties and thirties, his art was a constant reminder of
those aspects of innocence that had been left behind. He always
kept his gentle humor and his Wind in the Willows, published
posthumously in 1940, is as much a children's classic as his
Peter Pan. Rackham died in 1939, but his artwork continues to
enchant the public of all ages and all cultures.
Tales' 1900 (revised ed. 1909), 'Rip Van
Winkle' 1905 and an exhibition held at the
Leicester Galleries in 1905. Hardie notes
that in these books he showed "the full
measure of his exquisite fancy and fertility of
imagination coupled with unusual technique
and a rare quality of line and tone". He also
illustrated, among many others, J.M.
Barrie's 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'
1906; Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer-Night's
Dream' 1908; Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels'
1909; Hans Andersen's 'Fairy Tales' 1932;
and Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the
Willows' 1940. He also exhibited many
watercolour landscapes not conceived as
book illustrations at the Old Watercolour
Society, New Watercolour Society and Royal
Academy (from 1888), and became Associate
of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1902,
Member of the Royal Watercolour Society in
1908. His collected works were shown in
1912 at the Société Nationale des
Beaux-Arts, Paris, of which he was elected
an Associate Master of the Art Workers'
Guild in 1919. He designed the scenery and
costumes for 'Hansel and Gretel', Cambridge
Theatre, 1934. A memorial exhibition was
held at the Leicester Galleries in 1939.
