The Golden age of Illustration 1880-1920

Lecture Notes

• People illustrated daily life in ancient Egypt. It was seen as an art form rather than a specialism.
• The 18th century saw a growth and increase in printing
• In the 19th century education became compulsory so more books were needing to be illustrated. 
• Artists were employed by book publishers and print houses.
• Mass production made books more available 
• Victorians were obsessed with medieval times and this reflected in the design at the time. 
• Woodcuts were used as illustrations.  
• William Morris created decretive woodcut illustrations 
• Pre raphaelites had a massive influence on illustration.
• illustration then became a occupation that was taken seriously 

The Aesthetic movement

• Interested in the beauty in everything. 
• Opening of trade from japan.
• Rapid increase in children's books.. 
• Interior design books started to be illustrated.

Queen Anne revival and the arts and crafts movement

• romantic ideals.
• Kate Greenway created Queen Anne revival style images because the world was moving to fast and she wanted to show a more old fashioned natural way of living. 
• Women started to become employed as illustrators a lot. 

The Golden age and Japan

• Japanese influences is one of the most important parts of developing illustration
• Mid 19th century japan opened its borders to begin trade with the west
• Wood block prints were popular with Chinese art.
• They started to flood the western market. 
• New aesthetic- 2D images.
• This influenced art nouveau.
• They depicted life using little detail.

Europe

• Growth in national identity.
• Scandinavia and Germany  started to look internally to create their own identity.  

Illustration and consumption 

• 19th century brought the first christmas cards. 
• Santa Clause was created. 
• Children wanted modern books for christmas.
• They wanted fantasy books to take them away from every day life. 
• Arthur Rackham started illustrating children's books.
• The Christmas market allowed illustrators to use their imagination. 
• fashion illustrations started to be made in the 1920's.
• Vogue- modern sleek women with elongated shape.

Research 

Women in the golden age of illustration

As the illustration industry was growing rapidly more opportunities seemed to be opening up for women to start taking roles

In 1860’s Britain, children’s literature entered into a golden age for many different reasons such as, the expediency of the economy and the technology of printing techniques. This coincided with the golden age of illustration because the combination of text and imagery often come hand in hand. This allowed books to be aesthetically pleasing, opening up a lot of freedom for artists to express their own styles.

‘The golden age of children's literature which began in Great Britain in the 1860s was also a golden age of design and illustration in children's books. The integration of text and pictures reached heights of aesthetic achieve­ment made possible by new printing techniques, a renewed interest in education, the arts and crafts movement, and economic fea­sibility. The landmark year of 1865 saw the publication of both Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with John Tcnnicl's illustra­tions, carefully executed under the author's supervision, and Walter Crane's ^“Toy Hooks" for Routledge, printed by Edmund Evans.’[1]

The illustration industry was growing rapidly, as a coincidence of this more opportunities seemed to be opening up for women to start taking roles within the illustration world. Although society was changing quickly this was a huge advance at this period of time, as gender equality, especially in the areas of art and women working, needed to be greatly improved. It could be said that a contributing factor to this change was the fact that women started to be allowed into art schools and even schools of higher class, with Sladc School of Fine Art, London, opening its doors to women in 1871. 

‘One of the factors behind this change in climate was the opening in 1871 of the Sladc School of Fine Art, London, which, in distinguishing itself from the Royal Academy Schools, promised better opportunities for women from the start.’[2]

Kate Greenaway is one of the most iconic female illustrators from this time period. Her art style focused on a romanticised version of daily life. In a time where society and industry were moving so fast her illustrations take a step back to the slower paced, countryside way of life. It could be said that her illustrations were so popular because of the way she let people escape into a perfect world through their imaginations. Her illustrations are easily recognisable through the use of her dark outlines and bright light hearted colours. (figure 1)

‘One of the first women to earn a living as an illustrator, Kate Greenaway was born in London. Her father was a wood engraver, and she studied art at the National Art Training School, Heatherley s School of Fine Art, and the Slade School…Taking the past as her inspiration, Greenaway created a idealised vision of childhood that captured the imagination of the public. By the mid- 1880s, she was at the height of her success and Greenaway dolls, wallpaper, fabrics, christening sets, fashions, and other items were manufactured at home in England and abroad.’ [3]

(Figure 1) Kate Greenaway, The Bubble,
 an illustration for William Allingham's poem
of the same title in Rhymes for the Young Folk

Greenaways parents supported her drawings and she first became known because her farther showed her sketchbook to Edmund Evans. Previous to this she Mainly illustrated christmas cards, after her first book 'Under the window' (figure 2) was released it became clear that she wold be a success as 70,000 copies of this book were sold in England alone. Because of the success of this book it became possible for her to make more books resulting in a steady stream her picture books and almanacs being realised. Kate Greenaway almost always focused on depicting children in lavish, perfect clothes this worked to get away from the ugly, dirty victorian streets of the time. She expressed and advocated the innocence, beauty and charm of childhood or what childhood should be. 

'Greenaway's popularity was by no means confined to her home country. Under the Window, for example, sold 70,000 copies at home and the other 30,000 or so in France and Germany (Carpenter and Prichard 226). Americans too enjoyed her work.'[4]

'As an escape from the squalor and ugliness of Victorian cities the artists and aesthetes of that arts and crafts movement tried to re-create a 'never-never' land of rural simplicity and promoted a cult of the innocence and charm of childhood.' [5] 

(Figure 2) Under the Window, Kate Greenaway, 1885

Another Female artist that led the way in children’s book illustration is Beatrix Potter. Potter came from a very wealthy background and was particularly good at depicting animals. She wrote and illustrated stories of the imaginary adventures of her own pets. She offered her manuscript to many different publishers but ended up self publishing a one off edition using pen and ink sketches (Figure 3). On the same day that she published this book Fredrick Warne a book publishers wrote to her accepting her book 'Peter rabbit' (figure 4.) The book was printed using the 3 colour print process by Edmund Evans, and because of its massive success  she continued on creating little children's story books for years and years to come. 

(Figure 3) Beatrix potter's self published edition of her book the tale of peter rabbit, 1901

(Figure 4) Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit first edition, 1902

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[1] Mitchell. S, Victorian Britain (Routledge Revivals): An Encyclopedia, p.144

[2] Gaze. D, Dictionary of Women Artists, Volume 1. P.83

[3] M. C. Waldrep, Women Illustrators of the Golden Age, p.1

[4] Kate Greenaway (1846-1901), The Victorian web, http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/art/illustration/greenaway/index.html , Accessed 17/11/2014

[5] J. Barr, Illustrated children’s books, p. 59