Edmund Dulac

"The Snow Queen" from Stories of Hans Andersen, 1911

Edmund Dulac was greatly admired for his depictions of ethereal and romantic fairy tales. He had a talent for envisioning scenes in shimmering, jewel toned splendor.

Dulac was born in Toulouse, France, in 1882. He cultivated a passion for art as a boy, and grew to admire the works of William Morris, Walter Crane and Aubrey Beardsley. Dulac dedicated himself to becoming an illustrator after shrugging off two years of law school. He entered the profession just as the publishing industry underwent great technological advancements, introducing new methods of inexpensive colour reproductions. Dulac’s first illustrations appeared in a publication of Jane Eyre in 1905. His best known work appears in Stories from the Arabian Nights (1907), the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1909), The Sleeping Beauty and Other Tales (1910), Stories from Hans Andersen (1911), Princess Badoura (1913), Sinbad the Sailor and Other Stories from the Arabian Nights (1914), the Dreamer of Dreams (1915) and Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Book (1916). Dulac actively illustrated until 1918. He died in 1953.

It is difficult to envision his work without the necessary advances in colour reproductions.

"The Real Princess" from Stories of Hans Andersen, 1911

"The Garden of Paradise" from Stories of Hans Andersen, 1911

From the Dreamer of Dreams, 1915

1916

Menges, Jeff A., ed. Dulac’s Fairy Tale Illustrations. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2004. Print.

In honour of March 17th: Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke was born in Dublin, Ireland, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1889. He began his artistic career as an apprentice to his father, Joshua, a skilled stained glass craftsman. In 1907, Clarke attended the Irish International Exhibition and was first exposed to the works of Aubrey Beardsley. It left a profound impression on him and he began to pursue illustration jobs as well as stained glass work. Clarke is best known for illustrating Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (1916), Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919) by Edgar Allen Poe, Years at the Spring (1920), the Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (1922), the Ship that Sailed to Mars (1923), Goethe’s Faust (1925) and Swineburnes Collected Poems (1928). Clarke died in 1931. He was only 41.

Clarke’s ability to capture line and contrasting tones is exceptional, influenced by his work with stained glass, as well as the art nouveau and symbolist movements. The ghoulish figures from Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919) and Goethe’s Faust (1925) are unparalleled! Clarke revels in the bizarre and twisted, and yet his illustrations are strangely beautiful.

From Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919)

From Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919)

From Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919)

From Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1919)

Goethe’s Faust (1925)

Goethe’s Faust (1925)

“Harry Clarke.” The Wee Web: Authors and Illustrators Archive. The Wee Web, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

Arthur Rackham: Master of Magic and Ink

"Suddenly the branches twined around her..." From Little Brother and Little Sister, the Brother's Grimm, 1917.

The amazing Arthur Rackham is among the best known of Golden Age illustrators. He was renowned for his graceful pen and inks, subtle watercolors and ability to recreate the magical and whimsical.

Rackham was born on September 19, 1867 in London, England and attended night classes at the Lambeth School of Art while working full time as a clerk in an insurance office. He eventually left his clerk position to draw for the newspaper, Westminster Budget and it was then that he began to illustrate books on the side. The 1905 publication of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle featuring Rackham’s illustrations launched his career. Rackham died on September 6, 1939 in Limpsfield, Surrey, England. He illustrated more than 60 books in his lifetime and his oeuvre is as engaging and striking as it was when first published. His art remains unrivaled and many consider his death as the end to the Golden Age of illustration.

The major works illustrated by Rackham include Rip Van Winkle (1905), Peter Pan in Kensington Garden (1906), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1907), Ingoldsby Legends (1907), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1908), Undine (1909), Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1909), The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie (1910), Mother Goose (1913), A Christmas Carol (1915), Romance of King Arthur (1917), Cinderella (1919), Irish Fairy Tales (1920), Sleeping Beauty (1920), The Tempest (1926), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1928), Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1932), Arthur Rackham Fairy Book (1933), Goblin Market (1933), Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1935).

From Peter Pan in Kensington Garden, 1906


From Undine, 1909


"Elves" from Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures, 1913

"Arthur Rackham." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.

Welcome to the Golden Age -

A retrospective of the world of book illustrations. The Golden Age is considered the pinnacle of book illustration and spanned the mid 1800s to the 1930s. It encompassed the works of George Cruickshank, Richard Doyle, Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenway Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Neilsen, Tasha Tudor, Sidney Sime and many, many more. This blog will explore an area of art that has long captivated imaginations, and share illustrations of the gruesome and fearsome, the mysterious and magical, and the simply wondrous.