"Arriving by Boat"
[London]: , 1890. Item #03838
A Bustling Scene at the Landing Stage
A Fine Early Arthur Rackham Pencil Drawing
Possibly Connected with His First Illustrated Book, To the Other Side
RACKHAM, Arthur (1867-1939), artist. Arriving by Boat. [N.p., n.d., ca. 1890-1893].
Original pencil drawing on paper. Image size 8 1/2 x 5 inches (215 x 127 mm.). Matted, framed and glazed; frame size 16 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches (423 x 323 mm.).
A wonderfully animated early pencil drawing by Arthur Rackham, with provenance from the artist's family and dating from the formative years immediately preceding his first work as a book illustrator.
The drawing depicts a busy landing stage or quayside, observed with the rapidity and economy characteristic of Rackham's early sketches from life. In the foreground a small boat lies alongside the landing. A seated figure in a hat occupies the boat, while immediately above him several figures gather around the steps: one bends forward, another appears to examine or handle an object, while a woman ascends the steps toward the quay.
Above them Rackham rapidly suggests the bustle of the landing stage, with railings, steps and a further group of figures gathered along the upper level. At the foot of the composition the darkly shaded reflections of the landing in the water provide an effective visual anchor to an otherwise exceptionally free and spontaneous drawing.
Particularly attractive is Rackham's ability to suggest an entire scene with remarkably little finish. Individual figures emerge from a succession of abbreviated pencil strokes; clothing is indicated by patches of cross-hatching, faces by little more than profiles, and architectural details by rapidly drawn horizontal and diagonal lines. Nevertheless, the whole conveys a convincing impression of movement, activity and observation from life.
The drawing may possibly relate to Rackham's earliest work in book illustration, Thomas Rhodes's To the Other Side, published by George Philip & Son in 1893. That volume - a promotional travel book encouraging travel through the United States and Canada - was Rackham's first book containing illustrations and is today among the rarest publications associated with the artist's early career. Contemporary bibliographical accounts note that many of Rackham's illustrations were based upon photographs.
The subject matter of the present drawing - a crowded landing stage, boat and travelers - is certainly compatible with the transatlantic journey described in To the Other Side. However, no corresponding published illustration has presently been identified, and the surviving original artwork for the book includes both published and unpublished designs.
The Free Library of Philadelphia, for example, preserves Rackham drawings for Pike's Peak and Royal Gorge that were prepared for the project but ultimately omitted from the finished book. The possibility that the present drawing represents an unused preliminary study for the project is therefore intriguing, but cannot presently be established.
The drawing belongs in any event to a particularly interesting moment in Rackham's development. He left his clerical employment in 1892 to pursue illustration professionally, and To the Other Side followed in 1893, immediately preceding the book and periodical work through which his distinctive graphic style gradually emerged.
Provenance: From the family of Arthur Rackham.
Exhibited: The British Art of Illustration, 26 November-20 December 1991, no. 223.
An unusually lively and substantial early Rackham study, capturing the bustle of a Victorian landing stage with remarkable economy of line - and tantalizingly close in date and subject to the artist's first illustrated book.
Price: $1,750.00