These convictions represent a splendid tradition. They are expressive,
in their regard for the unity of the page, for harmony between type and
decoration, of the universal truth in all fine bookmaking. Only at
times, Birmingham work seems rather heavy in spirit, rather too rigid
for development. Still, judging by results, a code that would appear to
be against individual expression is inspiring individual artists. Some
of these--as Mr. E. H. New--have turned their attention to
architectural and 'open-air' illustration, in which connection their
work will be considered, and many have illustrated children's books.
Their quaint and naive fancy has there, at times, produced a portentous
embodiment of the 'old-fashioned' child of fiction. Mr. Gere, though he
has done little book-illustration, is one of the strongest artists of
the school. His original wood engravings show unmistakably his
decorative power and his craftsmanship. With Mr. K. Fairfax Muckley he
was responsible for 'The Quest' (1894-96). Mr. Fairfax Muckley has
illustrated and decorated a three-volume edition of 'The Faerie Queene'
(1897), wherein the forest branches and winding ways of woodland and of
plain are more happily conventionalized than are Spenser's figures.
Some of the headpieces are especially successful. The artist uses the
'mixed convention' of solid black and line with less confusion than
many modern draughtsmen. Once its dangers must have been evident, but
now the puzzle pattern, with solid blacks in the foreground,
background, and mid-distance--only there is no distance in these
drawings--is a common form of black and white.
Miss Celia Levetus, Mr. Henry Payne, Mr. F. Mason, and Mr. Bernard
Sleigh, are also to the credit of the school. Miss Levetus, in her
later work, shows that an inclination towards a more flexible style is
not incompatible with the training in Gothic convention. Mr. Mason's
illustrations to ancient romances of chivalry give evidence of
conscientious craftsmanship, and of a spirit sympathetic to themes such
as 'Renaud of Montauban.' Mr. Bernard Sleigh's original wood-engravings
are well known and justly appreciated. Strong in tradition and logic
as is the work of these designers, it is, for many, too consistent with
convention to be delightful. Perhaps the best result of the Birmingham
school will hardly be achieved until the formal effect of its training
is less patent.
The 'sixties' might have been void of art, so far as these designers
are concerned, save that in those days Morris and Burne-Jones and
Walter Crane, as well as Millais and Houghton and Sandys, were about
their work. Far other is the case with artists such as Mr. Byam Shaw,
or with the many draughtsmen, including Messrs. P. V. Woodroffe, Henry
Ospovat, Philip Connard, and Herbert Cole, whose art derives its form
and intention from the sixties. Differing in technical power and
fineness of invention, in all that distinguishes good from less good,
they have this in common--that the form of their art would have been
quite other if the illustrated books of that period were among things
unseen. Mr. Byam Shaw began his work as an illustrator in 1897 with a
volume of 'Browning's Poems,' edited by Dr. Garnett. He proved himself
in these drawings, as in his pictures and later illustrations, an
artist with a definite memory for the forms, and a genuine sympathy
with the aims of pre-Raphaelite art. Evidently, too, he admires the
black-and-white of Mr. Abbey. He has the gift of dramatic conception,
sees a situation at high pitch, and has a pleasant way of giving
side-lights, pictorial asides, by means of decorative head and
tailpieces. His illustrations to the little green and gold volumes of
the 'Chiswick Shakespeare' are more emphatic than his earlier work, and
in the decorations his power of summarizing the chief motive is put to
good use. There is no need of his signature to distinguish the work of
Byam Shaw, though he shows himself under the influence of various
masters. Probably he is only an illustrator of books by the way, but in
the meantime, as the 'Boccaccio,' 'Browning,' and 'Shakespeare'
drawings show, he works in black and white with vigorous intention.
Mr. Ospovat's illustrations to 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' and to 'Matthew
Arnold's Poems' are interesting, if not very markedly his own. He
illustrates the Sonnets as a celebration of a poet's passion for his
mistress. As in these, so in the Matthew Arnold drawings, he shows some
genuine creative power and an aptitude for illustrative decoration. Mr.
Philip Connard has made spirited and well-realized illustrations in
somewhat the same kind; Miss Amelia Bauerle, and Mr. Bulcock, who began
by illustrating 'The Blessed Damozel' in memory of Rossetti, have made
appearance in the 'Flowers of Parnassus' series, and Mr. Herbert Cole,
with three of these little green volumes, prepared one for more
important work in 'Gulliver's Travels' (1900).
The work of Mr. Woodroffe was, I think, first seen in the 'Quarto'--the
organ of the Slade School--where also Mr. A. Garth Jones, Mr. Cyril
Goldie, and Mr. Robert Spence, gave unmistakable evidence of
individuality. Mr. Woodroffe's wood-engravings in the 'Quarto' showed
strength, which is apparent, too, in the delicately characterized
figures to 'Songs from Shakespeare's Plays' (1898), with their borders
of lightly-strung field flowers. His drawings to 'The Confessions of
S. Augustine,' engraved by Miss Clemence Housman, are in keeping with
the text, not impertinent. Mr. A. Garth Jones in the 'Quarto' seemed
much influenced by Japanese grotesques; but in illustrations to
Milton's 'Minor Poems' (1898) he has shown development towards the
expression of beauty more austere, classical, controlled to the
presentment of Milton's high thought. His recent 'Essays of Elia'
remind one of the forcible work of Mr. E. J. Sullivan in 'Sartor
Resartus.' Mr. Sullivan's 'Sartor' and 'Dream of Fair Women' must be
mentioned. His mastery over an assertive use of line and solid black,
the unity of his effects, the humour and imagination of his decorative
designs, are not likely to be forgotten, though the balance of his work
in illustrations to Sheridan, Marryat, Sir Walter Scott, obliges one to
class him with "character" illustrators, and so to leave a blank in
this article.
Mr. Laurence Housman stands alone among modern illustrators, though one
may, if one will, speak of him as representing the succession of the
sixties, or as connected with the group of artists whose noteworthy
development dates from the publication of 'The Dial' by Charles
Ricketts and Charles Shannon in 1889. To look at Mr. Housman's art in
either connection, or to record the effect of Duerer, of Blake, of
Edward Calvert, on his technique, is only to come back to appreciation
of all that is his own. As an illustrator he has hardly surpassed the
spirit of the 'forty-four designs, drawn and written by Laurence
Housman,' that express his idea of George Meredith's 'Jump to Glory
Jane' (1890). These designs were the result of the appreciation which
the editor, Mr. Harry Quilter, felt for Mr. Housman's drawings to 'The
Green Gaffer' in 'The Universal Review.' Jane--the village woman with
'wistful eyes in a touching but bony face,' leaping with countenance
composed, arms and feet 'like those who hang,' leaping in crude
expression of the unity of soul and body, making her converts, failing
to move the bishop, dying at last, though not ingloriously, by the
wayside--this most difficult conception has no 'burlesque outline' in
Mr. Housman's work, inexperienced and unacademic as is the drawing.
'Weird Tales from Northern Seas,' by Jonas Lie, was the next book
illustrated by Mr. Housman. Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market'
(1893), offered greater scope for freakish imagination than did 'Jane.'
The goblins, pale-eyed, mole and rat and weasel-faced; the sisters,
whose simple life they surround with hideous fantasy, are realized in
harmony with the unique effect of the poem--an effect of simplicity, of
naive imagination, of power, of things stranger than are told in the
cry of the goblin merchants, as at evening time they invade quiet
places to traffic with their evil fruits for the souls of maidens. The
frail-bodied elves of 'The End of Elfin Town,' moving and sleeping
among the white mushrooms and slender stalks of field flowers, are of
another land than that of the goblin merchant-folk. Illustrations to
'The Imitation of Christ,' to 'The Sensitive Plant,' and drawings to
'The Were-Wolf,' by Miss Clemence Housman, complete the list of Mr.
Housman's illustrations to writings not his own, with the exception of
frontispiece drawings to several books.
[Illustration: MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH FAVOURABLE EYES