Arthur Rackham: A Conventional Illustrator

'Famine' from The Westminster Budget, 10 November 1893

"Throughout 1891 Arthur Rackham's work proved increasingly acceptable to the 'Pall Mall Budget.' In 1891 and 1892 there were few weeks in which his drawing was not represented in that paper. He sketched in the shops and in the streets of London, in the railway stations, at the theatres, in the churches, at the zoo, and at Burlington House on ‘sending-in day’. He was ready to make excursions to the country or the seaside, and in July 1891, his drawings of ‘A Little Holiday in Belgium’ with his friend Walter Freeman filled two pages of the P.M.B. The humours of cockney cabmen or ‘Winter Bathing in the Serpentine’ alternated with funeral tributes to the Duke of Clarence or C. H. Spurgeon.

‘Sketches from the Life’ of public personalities became one of his specialities, and these appeared more frequently after he left the insurance office in 1892 and joined the staff of the 'Westminster Budget.' His work was published regularly for the next three years. The larger format of the 'Westminster Budget' gave him new scope; his drawings of well-known contemporaries became a popular feature, and in retrospect, form a remarkable record of life in the ’nineties. Ready to go anywhere and ​illustrate anything for his paper, Rackham portrayed many of the leading actresses, sportsmen, writers, and politicians of the day. The Queen and Mr. Gladstone were among his most frequent subjects. He was often called upon to celebrate royal occasions.

For the most part his work at this time was conventional and unimaginative – in striking contrast to the work by which he is best known – but already he was demonstrating his mastery of line. An artist so deft and conscientious was an asset to the Westminster Budget. And there were moments, as with his disquieting full-page fantasy ‘The Influenza Fiend’ (1893), which unmistakably foreshadowed the fanciful and at times weirdly imaginative illustrator that he was to become." 

To be continued

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