THE IMPACT OF 1914
The proof of the drawing ‘Adrift’, an illustration of Hans Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’ included in the Book of Pictures – it is here reproduced afresh from the original (see page 103) – shows Rackham at his most despairing. ‘Is it possible anything can be made of this?’ he wrote at the top of the proof. ‘If so, I am afraid I can be of no assistance.’ And at the foot of the proof he lamented: ‘I can’t make any remarks about this. It is too hopelessly muddled. I can only leave it to the block-makers to pull through.’
Rackham’s proofs reveal a perfectionist who drove himself to the limit in order to give his readers the very best of which his own art and contemporary reproduction technique were capable. Ironically, much of his effort was devoted to improving colour subtleties which the layman, seeing only an apparently successful plate, would never have been likely to question. It is almost a relief to discover one proof out of this batch, the drawing (see page 97) for
Lived under a hill. …’
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