Rackham married a neighbour of his, Edyth Starkie, in 1903. Following that he was commissioned to illustrate Tales from Shakespeare (1899), Gulliver’s Travels (1900) and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which were exhibited at the Royal Watercolour Society in 1902 and became much acclaimed.Īrthur Rackham came to this area in 1901, when he moved to Wychcombe Studios off England’s Lane.

Adair Fitzgerald’s The Zankwank and the Blethwitch, illustrated in 1897. The first book that Rackham illustrated was To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, a travel journal about the United States and Canada. By this point he realised that photography was the upcoming medium for journalism, so he turned to book illustration. He moved on to the Westminster Budget, but didn’t enjoy the kind of work he had to cover. He illustrated music-hall events and at one time a Votes for Women meeting, where a fight broke out. In 1892, Arthur began work full time as an illustrator for the Pall Mall Budget. On his return he enrolled at the Lambeth School of Art and worked at the Westminster Fire Office in order to pay for classes. Throughout the trip, accompanied by two aunts, he kept a detailed notebook of watercolour landscapes. They had twelve children, of whom Arthur was one of the few to survive to adulthood.Īrthur was a sickly child, and when he was seventeen his parents sent him on a sea voyage to Australia in the hope that it would cure him. He was the fourth son of Alfred Rackham, who worked in government and became an admiralty marshal at the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts and Annie, who came from a family of lace manufacturers.

Feeney, Charles Whymper and Lawrence George Calkin.Īrthur Rackham was born in Lewisham on 19 September 1867. The first tenants included the painters John Dawson Watson, Joseph Wolf, John William Waterhouse, John Charles Dollman, P. Primrose Hill Studios were built in 1877-82 as artists’ studio houses. Many of his most celebrated illustrations were done at a time when Rackham lived in Primrose Hill Studios off Fitzroy Road. Throughout his life he illustrated more than 65 books, including Shakespeare, the Brothers Grimm and Charles Dickens. One hundred and fifty years ago this month, the well-known illustrator Arthur Rackham was born in London.

Arthur rackham poe