![\"Arthur_Rackham_001\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/societyforritualarts.org\/coreopsis\/spring-2016-issuewp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Arthur_Rackham_001-251x300.jpg?resize=251%2C300&ssl=1\")
\u201cI cannot remember the time when I hadn\u2019t a pencil in my hand and from the very first my bent was toward the fantastic and the imaginative,\u201d he recalled in 1907. (Ismann, 2003)<\/p>\n
Rackham\u2019s portfolio include the classic works of the golden age of fairytales, from roughly 1880 to 1925. He worked on original editions by JM Barrie, Maggie Browne, Washington Irvine, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, a lavish edition of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, Jonathan Swift, and the libretto for Wagner\u2019s Ring Cycle … among many more.<\/p>\n Rackham\u2019s dreamlike use of colors were created by pairing watercolor and india ink. He perfected his caricature style in ink as a journalistic illustrator, then applied that style to fairy tale illustrations. He inked in each painting over a rough pencil sketch, then used a neutral wet wash over the work. He colored in the details with a dry brush technique using multiple thin color layerings, and, often finished each plate by over-inking the illustration with a variety of pen and ink techniques. He was able to achieve his unique results through the use of the newly developed photographic reproduction technologies of the early 20th century. Rackham\u2019s work is much sought after to this day with original plates commanding high prices at international auctions. Rackham left this world in 1933 and his ashes were scattered in the Rose Garden at Golders Green Crematorium, to be joined there two years later by Edyth.<\/p>\n There is a very nice biography of Rackham\u2019s life and works here : http:\/\/www.bpib.com\/illustrat\/rackham.htm<\/a><\/p>\n We herein present a small selection of Rackham\u2019s faeries for your pleasure\u2026<\/p>\n\n\t\t