Thursday, February 23, 2012

Arthur Rackham ~ Snickerty Nick and the Giant ~ 1919

Wow. Here's another Arthur Rackham illustrated book I'd never seen before, until I stumbled into it a few days ago. The illustration, Dance of Spring, is gorgeous, with both grace in the figures and unexpected cartoonish humor in the flying insect-like winged creature in the upper right hand corner wearing a caricature of Rackham's face, along with the Arthur Rackham "self portraits" repeating in the border framing the painting, as printed in the book, Snickerty Nick and the Giant  by Julia Ellsworth Ford.

Snickerty Nick is a play for children with a giant named Baron Bill-Arron Bomberrum, a dwarf named Snickerty Nick, The Little Boy, The Children, Winter's Gnomes, and Spring's Faeries, published in 1919 by Moffat, Yard & Company.

Quoting the author from the foreward:

"To Arthur Rackham I tender my most sincere thanks whose magic touch as in Peter Pan, Grimm's Faery Tales, and Undine, making real all faeries and gnomes, endears all child life to grown-ups as well as to children." ~ Julia Ellsworth Ford






Arthur Rackham ~ 1919
Snickerty Nick and the Giant

Dance of Spring


























Arthur Rackham ~ 1919
Snickerty Nick and the Giant

Dance of Winter and Gnomes














Arthur Rackham ~ 1919
Snickerty Nick and the Giant

The Little Boy























I can't say I like all of the characters in this little play, as depicted by Rackham. Snickerty and the Giant, based it seems on an aspect of Rackham's own visage, do not appeal to me, but I enjoy the children, and the woman who is Spring. Rackham himself also appears as The Sandman.

Like Rackham's illustration of the mermaids in my earlier post featuring his work for the book, Imagina, I get the sense Rackham probably had a lot of fun creating these images, perhaps relaxing his exacting standards to capture a purely playful quality. There must be satirical or ironic significance to the illustration of the great Cornish ogre. All of the illustrations capture great expression, characterization and movement.

Dance of Spring  is my favorite, and the woman in Spring reminds me a bit of the bewitchery the viewer experiences, as in viewing Rackham's characterizations of Undine, though Spring is more mature and the two women look nothing alike. I'll be featuring and discussing my favorite illustrations from Undine in a future post.

Click each image for great detail.

Arthur Rackham ~ Imagina ~ Mermaids & Faerie Folk ~ 1914

Have you ever seen these illustrations? Both are from Julia Ellsworth Ford's Imagina, a story for children incorporating three poems, with two beautiful color illustrations by Arthur Rackham, and many line drawings executed by Julia's daughter, Lauren Ford.

Imagina was published in 1914 by Duffield and Company (New York). Earlier this evening is the first time I've ever seen these images. Click on the title link to see all of the illustrations in their original context.

Click the images posted here to view them in great detail.

Coming Soon: More Surprising Images from Arthur Rackham.





Arthur Rackham ~ 1914
Imagina by Julia Ellsworth Ford
New York: Duffield & Company

"Please, Mermaid, come out where it is sunny."






Arthur Rackham ~ 1914
Imagina by Julia Ellsworth Ford
New York: Duffield & Company

Frontispiece ~ Faerie Folk



I almost, almost think I've seen the bottom image before, but there is so much majesty in the tree and the confidence in the fairy who must be queen, I'm sure it's evoking other wonderful Rackham images. I love the moon in the background, and the subtlety of the color in the nightime scene.

The quality of sunlight filtering through the water, the shimmer of the mermaid's hair, and Rackham's ability to portray their strength and bouyancy, their individuality, and their pure joy as they swim, unstung and free with the jellyfish, makes this one of my favorite Rackham mermaid paintings.

I also enjoy it because it seems he must have had a lot of fun painting it, employing his expert skills with watercolor, while accepting any imperfections as lending to the freedom of the composition, which I find to be perfectly balanced in shape, color, tone, and movement.

Welcome, new and old followers. Please leave your comments.

Note: I've discovered why these images are familiar/not familiar to me. My friend, Thom, at The Pictorial Arts, posted them last June in a post titled Delicious. I even commented on them, so you know that I both love them, and I stayed up entirely too late last night. It is very difficult for me to find an image Thom does not know about. Visit The Pictorial Arts for an amazing archive of golden age illustration and comic book art, with lively dialogue in the comments from artists, illustrators and fans.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927






Rie Cramer (1887-1977) was a Dutch children's book illustrator. She moved to the Netherlands from Indonesia when she was nine years old, and studied at the Art Academy in the Hague. I just discovered her illustrations a few days ago. Fascinated, I am still in the process of researching her life and her work.

I've included fourteen of the twenty-three full page color illustrations here at the Art of Narrative along with the lovely book cover and the plain but informative title page. I'm charmed by these illustrations. They are reminding me of everything from Anne Anderson and Virginia Sterrett to Kay Nielsen, and even Arthur Rackham and Gustaf Tenggren, though they are completely her own.

The complete illustrations for this edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales  are available to view in their original context along with each story by clicking the title link. You can also enjoy the illustrations for each chapter heading for stories with full page art and many more, like Haensel and Grethel.

The cover inset illustration is from the story, King Thrushbeard, where Cramer flatters not only the charismatic main characters, but also the little boy servant who is both handsome and winsome. The full page art for this story is included in the body of the book.

My favorite illustrations include the ones for Little Brother and Little Sister, The White Snake, The Six Swans, Rumpelstiltskin, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Snow-White and Rose-Red, The Goose Girl at the Well, Iron John; and especially the little star children from The Seven Swans, and The Gold-Children where the little maiden pledges her heart to the roughshod man.

Click each image for great detail.





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927






Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927






Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

Little Brother and Little Sister





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The White Snake





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Seven Ravens





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Elves and the Shoemaker





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

Iron John





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Six Swans





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Gold-Children





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

Rumpelstiltskin





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Golden Bird





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Goose-Girl





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

Snow-White and Rose-Red





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Goose Girl at the Well





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

The Nix of the Mill Pond





Rie Cramer ~ Grimm's Fairy Tales ~ 1927

Maid Maleen



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