Derek Hudson

“ Rackham’s proofs reveal a perfectionist who drove himself to the limit in order to give his readers the very best of which his own art and contemporary reproduction technique were capable. Ironically, much of his effort was devoted to improving colour subtleties which the layman, seeing only an apparently successful plate, would never have been likely to question. It is almost a relief to discover one proof out of this batch, the drawing (see page 97) for
‘There was an old woman
Lived under a hill. ...’
in Mother Goose, of which the artist can say ‘This promises well’. ”

“ I am proud to be associated – though to so humble a degree – in a work so charming.’ It was typical of Rackham that he should not be content with serving his country as an artist. Like Keene in an earlier emergency, he had to serve also as a man. ”

“ The Rackham books published in 1912 and 1913 made a complete contrast to Wagner. In Aesop’s Fables (1912) and Mother Goose (1913) Rackham’s primary intention was to amuse, but his illustrations for the fables of ‘The Moon and her Mother’ and ‘The Gnat and the Lion’ suggest the imaginative refinement that he brought to the task. Rackham was often his own model; there are several self-caricatures to be detected in Aesop’s Fables. He is the man who catches the flea, the pompous gentleman who scolds the drowning boy, the credulous slave-owner who scrubs the black boy (see page 101) . ”

“ Red wants steadying badly. ... I think either the blue or grey block is too dense. ...’ On the second proof Rackham wrote: ‘This is a most unpleasant reproduction altogether. It is better than it was – which is the best I can say of it – & I suppose (with the little alterations made) I shall have to pass it.’ A momentary exasperation with the difficulties of four-colour reproduction flared up when he added: ‘Try to get the Suffragettes to knife the man who invented 4 col. & every living man who won’t swear never to use it again.’ The third proof found him slightly mollified. ”

“ He served the Guild with scrupulous devotion. A self-portrait in oils, dated 1924, hangs in the hall of the Guild to remind a later generation of what manner of man he was. It shows him wearing a bow-tie and a grey waistcoat; he holds a pencil in one hand, a sketch-book in the other. There is nothing smug about this face, of which the lines are sensitive and thoughtful to the point of severity (in Rackham’s case an introspective exaggeration) . The background shows the River Thames, Waterloo Bridge ”

“ He is not usually remembered as an illustrator of Dickens, but A Christmas Carol (1915) was decidedly successful, for he contrived to adapt the tradition of ‘Phiz’ and Cruikshank to his own characteristic style in the pictures of Victorian London (see page 107) and at the same time found scope for his fantasy in the ghost scenes. ”

“ Above and opposite: silhouette illustration from The Sleeping Beauty.
1920. Some of the silhouettes in this book were printed in three colours.
and the Shot Tower. Another self-portrait (the frontispiece of this book) painted in 1934, may be thought more successful in suggesting the kindly amusing man behind the mask. This again has a London background – St Paul’s Cathedral. Rackham was always proud to call himself a Cockney. ”