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Arthur Rackham
From Neverpedia
Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator, whose illustrations for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens gave readers their first graphic depiction of the fantasy world that Peter Pan lived in.
Rackham was born in London as one of 12 children. At the age of 18, he worked as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office and began studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art.
In 1892 he quit his job and started working for The Westminster Budget as a reporter and illustrator. His first book illustrations were published in 1893 in To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, but his first serious commission was in 1894 for The Dolly Dialogues, the collected sketches of Anthony Hope, who later went on to write The Prisoner of Zenda. Book illustrating then became Rackham's career for the rest of his life.
In 1903 he married Edyth Starkie, with whom he had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914. Arthur Rackham died 1939 of cancer in his home in Limpsfield, Surrey.
Typically, Rackham contributed both colour and monotone illustrations towards the works incorporating his images - and in the case of Hawthorne's Wonder Book, he also provided a number of part-coloured block images similar in style to Meiji era Japanese woodblocks.
In one of the featurettes on the DVD of Pan's Labyrinth, and in the commentary track for Hellboy, director Guillermo Del Toro cites Rackham as an influence on the design of "The Faun" of Pan's Labyrinth. He liked the dark tone of Rackham's gritty realistic drawings and had decided to incorporate this into the film. In Hellboy, the design of the tree growing out of the altar in the ruined abbey off the coast of Scotland where Hellboy was brought over, is actually referred to as a "Rackham tree" by the director.
Gallery
 "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman." |
 "How at the Castle of Corbin a Maiden Bare in the Sangreal and Foretold the Achievements of Galahad", from The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, by Alfred W. Pollard, 1917 |
 "The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician transform the duke's daughter into a white hind", Illustration to English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel |
 "The giant Cormoran was the terror of all the country-side.", Illustration to English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel |
 "The Three Bears", Illustration to English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel |
 "Siegfried awakens Brünnhilde" Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 "Norns weaving destiny" Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 "Brünnhilde is visited by her Valkyrie sister Waltraute" Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 "Alberich speaking to Hagen" Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 One of Rackham's illustrations to Das Rheingold, depicting Fasolt and Fafnir seizing Freia |
 "Rhine maidens warn Siegfried" Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 Siegfried kills Fafner Illustration to Richard Wagner's "The Ring" |
 "The Twa Corbies", Illustration to Some British Ballads |
 Young Beichan in prison. |
- Wikipedia: Arthur Rackham