Death of Arthur Rackham

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 11

Death of Arthur Rackham

The death recently occurred of the illustrator, Arthur Rackham, and the following obituary note by “J.N.” was printed in The Saturday Review of Literature: — One of the most interesting gatherings would be the writers whose books were illustrated by the late Arthur Rackham. It would include such apparently different temperaments as Lewis Carroll, Washington Irving, J. M. Barrie, Hawthorne, Anderson, Goldsmith, Ruskin, the Brothers Grimm, John Milton, Charles Dickens, and Shakespeare. Each of these, as he rose to propose a health to his illustrator, would admit that Rackham had found in his writing something of which the prime mover was probably only half aware. What word they would apply to it one hesitates to suggest: perhaps “fey.” He saw, more clearly than most, the suggestions offered by the shapes of things. If a thing has a queer shape—like a riverside pollard willow—it has a. queer meaning or overtone. In the sidelong glint of a child’s gaze he saw the

mischief or cruelty of Puck. Even in his most innocent and tender, work there were shooting pains of mischief. His work became fashionable, which was creditable to the public—and never became discreditable to him. Rackham’s work in colour is best known and most widely admired; but it is a sound judgment, perhaps, that he reached his finest and most distinctive achievement in certain illustrations in silhouette. The drawings of this sort for an edition of Aesop’s Fables, for example, are superb in fantasy and strength. Just before his recent death, Arthur Rackham completed for the Limited Editions Club a set of illustrations for Kenneth Grahame’s “'A?he Wind. in • the Willows.” The set consists of 16 watercolours, and these are to be included in the Limited. Editions Club edition, designed by Bruce Rogers and printed at the Walpole Printing Office. The edition will be large enough to accommodate the members of the club and also collectors of Kenneth Grahame and collectors of Arthur Rackham.