Alice in Wonderland Illustrations

Arthur Rackham is one of the most famous illustrators of Alice in Wonderland. He was born September 19, 1867 and died September 6, 1939. Rackham was British and is still regarded to be one of the premier book illustrators of the 20th Century. Born in London, Arthur Rackham studied at the Lambeth School of Art and supported himself by working as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office. Around when he was twenty five, he started working as a reporter and illustrator. Later on he moved over to just being an illustrator, which was his career thereafter.

Rackham married in 1903 and had one daughter, Barbara. Rackham won several awards for his work. Although today his work looks old-fashioned, part of his success was in how he embraced newer printing technologies. He began illustrating when printers were moving away from woodblocks and were able to print with more colors using photomechanical line block process. At this time it was common for printers to use three colors, and Rackham was a master at making the most of this medium.

Although Arthur Rackham is probably better known for his illustrations of other books, I think that his work on "Through the Looking Glass" is some of the best artwork around. In fact, I prefer his work to that of Sir John Tenniel, who is the illustrator most people think of when they think of Alice in Wonderland.

If you were to ask me what is better, I think Rackham added a sense of humor and beauty to the illustrations. Also, I guess that I like the illustrations better in color. Rackham was contracted to illustrate Alice in Wonderland in 1907, when he was 40, the year before his daughter was born.

So without further ado, on with the marvelous illustrations to Alice in Wonderland.