The trees in The Tempest
Greatest illustrator of all time wove human figures into trees
Arthur Rackham?Tempest 1926 Illustrations
( 1867 – 1939 )?
Sneaking pencils into his bed to draw under the covers, Arthur Rackham eventually resorted to drawing on his pillow case when paper was taken from him. Inspired to become an artist while traveling to Australia in 1884, Rackham drew avidly during his journey, and also began painting in watercolor. haunting and dreamlike style has added to the enchantment and fantasy of the children's literature.
?Rackham was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator.
Rackham's 51 colour pieces for the early American tale?Rip Van Winkle?became a turning point in the production of books since – through colour-separated printing – it featured the accurate reproduction of colour artwork. His best-known works also include the illustrations for?Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and?Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.
But I love his Tempest illustrations.It weaves the human figure with trees and create an atmospheric aura of deep angst and magical intonations.Treatment, style and technique all tell us that the world of drawing has to be nestled deep into the realms of fantasia.The little faces in the tree branches as well as the musicians in the canopy both create a discerning enchantment as well as nebulous world of fairy tale narratives.Lithe and light a subtle erotica stems from these tree spirits that play mandolins and guitars and remind us of Shakespeare's words: Come let us meet tonight /Under the summer moon/While soft the mandolin /Plays us a gypsy tune.
These two images bring the commentary of Natalie Hodges alive:?
“ Music sculpts time. Indeed, it is a?structuring?of time, as a layered arrangement of audible temporal events. Rhythm is at the heart of that arrangement, on every scale: the cycling and patterning of repeated sound or movement and the “measured flow” that that repetition creates. The most fundamental rhythm is the beat itself, the pulse that occurs at regular intervals and thus dictates the tempo, keeps musical time."