Arthur Rackham: An Art Education

‘The king could not contain himself for joy.’
The Fairy Tales of the Brothers
Grimm; a drawing of 1907 by Arthur Rackham.

"In the autumn of 1884 Arthur Rackham entered the Lambeth School of Art. But there was no question of his art studies occupying the whole of his time. He had to prove his ability and work his way. So in addition to his studies, throughout the next seven years, from 1885-1892, Rackham sat on his stool in an insurance office. He also sent occasional contributions to the cheaper illustrated papers. His first crude published drawings had appeared in 'Scraps' of 4th October 1884, illustrating the thesis: 'Mothers in Ceylon have a curious way of preventing their children from eating too much. A fine thread is tied round the child before it commences its meal, and when the thread breaks, the child is considered to have had enough.'

We are fortunate in having his own reminiscences of this strenuous period in the office and the art school in a letter to an aspiring artist:

Dear Mr. Dawe, I was much interested by your letter and it will need rather a long letter to answer it satisfactorily. You appear to be in much the same case as myself in having to go out into the world & earn your living at the age of 17 (and for the next seven years or so I worked as hard as I could outside of business hours (9-5) to equip myself as an artist - not being able to embark on a professional career till I was nearly 25 & then for many years getting the barest living from my profession & having to do much distasteful hack work.)

This is my advice: Stick to your business. Go as regularly as you can with enthusiasm to a school of art. Among other things you will be associating & measuring yourself with the men who will be your professional companions later on & you will be able to estimate your relative powers (remembering that if 2 or 3 in the school at any one time are ever heard of as artists in 10 or 20 years time, it is about as much as you can expect. Then in 5 or 6 years you may find that your proved ability justifies you in joining the ranks of professional artists. And if, it doesn't, you will be far happier living by your business, and practicing art as an enthusiastic amateur than as a disappointed, pot-boiling professional."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work by Derek Hudson.")