The pen-drawings of Mr. T. H. Robinson in the "Andersen" illustrated by
the brother artists, show ability to realize not only the incidents and
ideas of the stories, but also something of the national inspiration
that is an element in all _maerchen_. At times determinedly decorative,
his work is generally in closer alliance with actuality than is the
typical work of Mr. Charles or of Mr. W. H. Robinson. Character,
action, costume, picturesque facts of life and scenery are suggested,
and suggested with interest in the actual geographical and
chronological circumstances of the stories, whether a poet's Denmark,
the Arabia of Scheherazade, the Greece of Kingsley's 'The Heroes,' or
the rivers and mountains of Carmen Sylva's stories determine the
fact-scheme for his decorative invention. In addition to these vigorous
and generally harmonious illustrations, the artist's drawings to
'Cranford,' 'The Scarlet Letter,' 'Lichtenstein,' 'The Sentimental
Journey,' and 'Esmond,' prove his interest and inventive sense to be
effective in realizing actual historical and local conditions. If Mr.
W. H. Robinson is also an apt illustrator of legends and of folk-tales,
whose setting demands attention to the facts of life as they were to
story-tellers in far countries of once-upon-a-time, the more individual
side of his talent is discovered in work of wilder and more intense
fancy. Andersen's 'Marsh King's Daughter,' the Snow Queen with her
frozen eyes, the picaresque mood of Little Claus, or the doom of proud
Inger, are to his mind, and in illustrations to 'Don Quixote' (1897),
to 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' and especially in the fully decorated
volume of Poe's 'Poems,' the forcible conceptions of the text find
pictorial expression.
Mr. A. G. Walker, though a sculptor by profession, claims notice as an
illustrator of various children's books, notably 'The Lost Princess'
(1895), 'Stories from the Faerie Queene' (1897), and 'The Book of King
Arthur.' His pen-drawings are expressive of a thoughtful realization of
the subject in its actual and moral beauty. The nobility of Spenser's
conceptions, the remote beauty of the Arthurian legend, appeal to him,
and the careful rendering of costume, landscape and the aspect of
things, is only part of a scheme of execution that has as its complete
intention the rendering of the 'mood' of the narrative. These drawings
are realizations rather than illuminations of the text, and one
appreciates their thoroughness, clearness, and dignity.
Miss Helen Stratton published some pleasant but not very vigorous
drawings of children in 'Songs for Little People' (1896), and
illustrations to a selection from Andersen suggested the later
direction of her ability. This, as the copiously illustrated 'Fairy
Tales from Hans Christian Andersen' (1899), and the large number of
drawings contributed to Messrs. Newnes' edition of 'The Arabian
Nights,' show, is in realizing themes less actual than those of Nursery
Lyrics. A sense of drama in the pose and grouping of the multitudes of
figures on the pages of the Danish and Arabian stories, and a
sufficient care for the background, as the poet's eyes might have seen
it behind the dream-figures that passed between him and reality, are
qualities that give Miss Stratton's competent work imaginative value.
The work of Miss R. M. M. Pitman comes within the subject in her
illustrations to Lady Jersey's fairy tale, 'Maurice and the Red Jar,'
and to 'The Magic Nuts' of Mrs. Molesworth. But though their decorative
intention and technique represent the forms of the artist's work, the
spirit of fantasy that informs her illustrations to 'Undine' finds only
modified expression. The symbolism of 'Undine' is wrought into
decorations of inventive elaborateness. The technical ideal of Miss
Pitman suggests study of Duerer's pen-drawing, and though at times there
is too much sweetness and luxury in her representation of beauty, at
her best she expresses free fancy with distinction not common in modern
book-illustration.
Brief allusion only--where drawings of more definitely illustrative
purpose over-crowd the available space--can be made to the numerous
animal books, serious and comic. Mr. Percy J. Billinghurst's full-page
designs to 'A Hundred Fables of AEsop,' 'A Hundred Fables of La
Fontaine,' and 'A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals' deserve more than
passing mention for their decorative and observant qualities and their
enlivening humour. Another decorative draughtsman of animals for
children's books is Mr. Carton Moore Park, who, since 1899, when the
'Alphabet of Animals' and 'The Book of Birds' appeared, has published
seven or eight volumes of his strongly devised designs. One can hardly
conclude without reference to Mr. Louis Wain, the cats' artist of
twenty years' standing, and to Mr. J. A. Shepherd, chief caricaturist
of animals; but while toy-book artists such as Mrs. Percy Dearmer, Mrs.
Farmiloe, Miss Rosamond Praeger, Mr. Aldin, and Mr. Hassall (whose
subject--the child--takes precedence of Zoological subjects) must be
left unconsidered, the humourists of the Zoo can hardly be included.