"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"
Faust -Illustrated by Harry Clarke
"Have you not led this life for quite long enough?"
A few years ago, I came across an illustration and deeply captured by its haunting beauty. The illustration is monochromatic, made up of strong and subtle contrast in black and white. The exquisite and delicate strokes were as if swirling. The profound gaze of the character in the illustration seemed like staring at me, pulling me into that enchanted and mysterious world. The illustration was done by Harry Clarke, a talented artist activated in the period known as “The Golden Age of Illustration”, where nursery and fantasy originated.
0 Prologue The so-called “Golden Age” refers to the period from the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century where children’s literature was boosted, considered as the epoch of fairytale development. Unlike the “children tailored” naive and positive styles of the children's book today, children's book context and illustrations in the Golden Age period was much deeper and, to some extent, haunting with the violent and eerie vision. This essay is divided into four parts to explore the fascination of the Golden Age Children Book Illustration. First, beginning with the artwork of Harry Clarke, the essay will introduce the art style of the Golden Age illustration. Then the focus will move on to explore how the climate in the Victorian Era prompted the movements and influenced the development of literature and art. After the investigation of the social context, the essay will discuss the relationship between “Camp” and the Golden Age period. Lastly, the essay will dig into the social context behind the visual imagination of children's literature.
1
I Welcome to the Golden Age The Golden Age can be dated back to mid 19th Century Europe, specifically starting from the 1860s to the 1930s. Children's classics authors such as Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, and H.C. Anderson activated during this period. The renaissance of earlier classics such as the Grimm Brothers series and Shakespeare series also took place at the same time. With the rising demand in graphic art for increasing publication and the revival of engraving technology, the illustrations for texts flourished, forming a splendid fusion of literature and illustration. It is hard to generalize a specific style to conclude the various illustrations in the Golden Age period. The highly visual and sensual qualities such as delicate strokes and strong contrast space are the mutual features of the Golden Age illustration, heavily influenced by the Ukiyo-e from Japan and the Aesthetic Movement in the 19th Century. Fantasy can be seen as the spirit of the Golden Age illustrations, as this is what these artworks were born for. These illustrations are not only the literal visual depiction of the texts that can be dispensable. Some Golden Age illustrators created the image to complement the texts instead of directly visualizing the contents. Therefore, artists’ execution of the connotation of the illustration endowed a deeper and richer symbolic meaning to the images.
The Child World -Illustrated by Charles Robinson
3
John Tenniel (1820-1914), the most renowned illustrator in the 1860s, was from the early period of the Golden Age. His bestknown work was probably the illustrations done for the Alice's Adventure in Wonderland series written by Lewis Carroll. Besides fiction illustrations, John Tenniel was also known for his caricatures illustrating the struggles of working class and the disturbing social phenomeon in Victorian period.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -Illustrated by John Tenniel
"Who stole the tart!" -Illustrated by John Tenniel from Alice's Adventrue in Wonderland
5
The three princesses in the blue mountain -Illustrated by Kay Nielson
Kay Nielson (1886-1957) was one of the representative illustrators of the later Golden Age from Denmark. His bold and asymmetrical composition and exquisite details went viral in the European illustration field. The illustrations series Nielson done for the Scandinavian folklore collection, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, was recognized as one of the most beautiful illustration books in western illustration book history. Harry Clarke (1889-1931), the leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and the Golden Age of Illustration, was known for his illustrations done for Anderson’s fairytale series and Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe. Clarke’s artworks were like a scope of eerie vision. Every subtle stroke is as if alive, dragging the readers into the trippy and fascinating world of dark beauty.
"She saw the Lindworm for the first time" -Illustrated by Kay Nielson
The Nightingale. -Illustrated by Harry Clarke
"I know what you want," said sea witch. -Illustrated by Harry Clarke from The Little Mermaid
9
II Victorian Era and Children Literature The expanded middle-class families owing to the 18th-century industrial revolution fostered the book's markets. The increasing demands on readings especially for youngsters lead to enlightenment in children’s literature. Before having a suitable reading for children, publishers or parents would often rewrite the existing fairytales for children. The adopted fairytales were originally more appropriate to adults, and therefore some of the gruesome tropes remained in the adoption, making the early nursery and rhyme more violent than the later ‘sanitized’ editions. The social climate in the Victorian Era was highly suppressive owing to the ‘Victorian morality’, which constrained and ruled people with high ethical values. The society under the strict and rational Victorian regime prospered. Children's literature was highly moralistic to educate the Victorian values to youngsters. At the same time, several opposite voices like the Aesthetic movements started to reflect on this unreasonable and over-rational restriction on humanity to act against the excess Victorianism, proclaiming art for art’s sake and refusing art for morality purpose. The art style of the Golden Age illustrations was heavily influenced by the Aesthetic movement, interestingly complemented with the moralistic children’s literature.
"Off with her head!" -Illustrated by John Tenniel from Alice's Adventrue in Wonderland.
11
Although Charles Lewis had never officially said that Alice's Adventure in Wonderland was implying the contemporary social climate, however many believed that Wonderland was in fact the miniature of Victorian society. The narrow-minded Wonderland residents strictly followed the nonsense logical rule for everything in life, which coincided, or intended to be the caricature of the Victorians lived under the Victorians Morality. Rumor has it that the Red Queen was based on Queen Victoria. The design of the Red Queen illustrated by John Tenniel was found to be similar to Queen Victoria. The grumpy and tyrant characteristic of Red Queen was considered to be inspired by the insecurity in Victoria’s childhood. Moreover some scholars believe that Queen Victoria wrote Alice's Adventure in Wonderland as a sort of grief therapy after the death of Prince Albert. However, the suspicion and implication about the connection between children’s literature and the Queen had never been officially confirmed. Nevertheless, children’s literature is no doubt an inner history of the Victorian Era.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination -Illustrated by Harry Clarke
14
III Camp and the Golden Age Camp is, said Susan Sontag, the love of unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. As Sontag mentioned in her notes, the features of camp art are “often decorative, emphasizing texture, sensuous surface, and style at the expense of context”. Influenced by Art Nouveau and the Aesthetic Movement, the Golden Age illustrations had no doubt inherited the extravagance and even elevated it into a higher campy level. The origin of camp, Sontag assumed, was the 18thcentury Gothic literature. Factually the children's literature tropes partially referenced from the 18th-century Gothic taste, and this could be supported by the violent tropes that remained in the very first children's literature. The rich camp context of the Golden Age creation suggests itself as part of the camp culture. To analyze the camp in the Golden Age illustrations, the essence of the children's literature is worth discussed first. Children's literature is the universe consisted of the children's vision. The nature of campnaïve, innocent, playful, and deadly serious- is interestingly identical to the nature of children. Perhaps the origin of camp may be far earlier than the 18th century. Camp may be the most primitive way of how children observe the world, or, inversely, the children's vision is the origin of camp. As Sontag described, “the Camp eye has the power
17
to transform experience”. Therefore, it would be shallow to merely see the illustrations as the subordinate supplement of literature. To truly appreciate the camp world, we need to put on camp eyes to immerse ourselves in the universe. The Golden Age illustrations are thus served as the camp's eyes that lead us into the campy world. Another camp eye that brings readers into the literature may be the social climate during the Golden Age period. The dominating Victorian morality in the 19th century western Europe perhaps is another form of camp. Without the ironic social context, the campy charisma of the Golden Age may be less fascinating. Camp is also a taste of morality; the Victorian morality is probably the campy taste of the queen. The strict Victorian morality suppressed and constrained humanity to reach the prosperity of the British empire. The unreasonable censorship on humanity and sexuality is intended to shape the society of innocence. The pursuit of Victorian morality was probably the pure and naïve characteristic of children. However, the superficial harmonious utopia was pretended. Victorians were playing their roles given by the queen to act seriously in everyday life stage, and therefore historians view the period as prudery. Victorian morality was a "Drink me"
"Those who visted the Goblin School declared everywhere that a wonder had been wrought" -Illustrated by Harry Clarke from Snow Queen
19
failed seriousness. People against the failed seriousness practiced their seriousness, the campy seriousness that seriously seeing life is “too important a thing to ever talk seriously about it”, which was the spirit of the Aestheticism that influenced the development of the literature and art creation. On the other hand, ironically, some people still acted seriously to maintain the failed seriousness. The interwoven camps made the 19th century become a period camp, nurturing the camp of the Gold Age creation. Perhaps the Victorian morality was the children's book written by the queen. Camp had never been intentionally included in children's literature, yet somehow it is indispensable, despite the later modified edition by popular media such as Disney. The significance of camp to children’s literature, in my opinion, is the universe of innocence given by camp. Innocence, whether in terms of virtue, vice, sexuality, or violence, is the essence of humanity and children are the embodiment of our primitive humanity. To children, camp in children’s literature is like a mirror that reflects their vision; to adults, it is playful paradise that was forbidden in adulthood.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Land -Illustrated by Kay Nielson
21
Iv Visual Imagination in Children's Literature The visual representation of children’s literature has long been an interesting topic. Scholars and readers are passionate about deciphering the visual code, whether actually existed or not, hide in the illustration. Children’s literature initially served as the approach for morality education. The content is of course wrapped up with morals and implications. How about illustration in children’s literature? Are the visual elements in the images programmed with messages that try to tell us something beyond text description? “Life intimates Art more than Art intimate life”, said Oscar Wilde in The Decay of Lying. According to his statement, life and nature are the anticipations of poetry or painting. If so, what are the illustrations of children's literature trying to reveal? The visual styles to some degree reflect artists’ reflection on society. The 19th century was Europe was the period of “purified” righteousness and harmony. People concealed their true self and the whole society became a preposterous theatre were people acting to be serious. In my opinion, the eerie and lunatic wonder of the golden age illustration may be the artists’ accusation to the “pretending” society. More than the visual narrative, the cringy and trippy depiction may be the revelation and liberation of the dark sides and desires that
22
were suppressed in reality. The “reality” that was hidden in the reality was, ironically, represented and taught in the world of fantasy and imagination. On the other hand, the dreamy and playful depiction may be a blessing and reminiscent of adulthood. While blessing children to retain the light of their true self, the illustrations also provide a sanctuary for those who escape from the pretending reality.
A Midsummernight Dream -Illustrated by William Heath Robinson
23
v Epilogue
Children’s literature accompanied us through our childhood and plays an important role in our wonders to the fantasy. As the first generation for the children’s literature illustration, the Golden Age illustration deserved its high esteem in the literature illustration history. What is the fascination of the Golden Age illustration? For me, the fascination of the Golden Age illustration is far beyond the delicate visual expression and the fantasy depiction. The camp in the artistic motif and the social context is the biggest fascination of the Golden Age illustration. The illustrations were not only the visual narrative of the imagination but also the parallel universe where everyone can live up to their true self that was prohibited in the reality. Another fascination of the Golden Age illustration is the gathering dream of the period. In this fascination, the perspective of the illustration expands from 2D to 3D. The pursuit of Victorian morality was the “concrete” children literature written by Queen Victoria and the Victorians were the illustrators of the queen’s failed dream. Therefore, the complete image of the Golden Age illustration is the narrative of two worlds, the “reality” of the 19th century and the “fascination” of the 19th century, which should be an entity yet separated into two. What is the fascination of the Golden Age illustration? It is the sincere and awkward pursuit of ideal of individuals and an era.
Morella -Illustrated by Harry Clarke
Bibliography Hiroshi Uno (2018), Fairy Tale Illustrations in Black and White. Susan Sontag (1966), Against Intepretation, Notes on "Camp". "Golden Age of Children's Illustrated Books ." Children's Literature Review. . Retrieved October 16, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/academic-andeducational-journals/golden-age-childrens-illustrated-books Corryn Kosik | Jun 26, 2. (2018, June 26). Children's Book Illustrators in the Golden Age of Illustration. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.illustrationhistory.org/essays/ childrens-book-illustrators-in-the-golden-age-of-illustration John Tenniel Biography Alice in Wonderland Illustrations. (2017, July 03). Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/john-tenniel-biography/ Kay Nielsen Illustrator Biography: Life, Art and Illustration. (2017, July 25). Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/kay-nielsen-biography/ Harry Clarke - Artist Biography Illustration, Art and Books. (2017, September 05). Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/harry-clarke-biography/ McLellan, J. (1984, January 28). Clouded Looking Glass. Retrieved December 11, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/01/28/clouded-looking-glass/cc75955434d5-42bc-8012-5fa04f320136/ Victorian Era Alices Adventures in Wonderland. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2020, from http:// victorian-era.org/victorian-era-alices-adventures-in-wonderland.html In Cultural Communication, P. (2018, April 23). Victorianism. Retrieved December 11, 2020, from https://www.communicationtheory.org/victorianism/