The Witch’s Pool 1904

Arthur Rackham created "The Witch’s Pool" using watercolor and ink, likely on paper. These materials, unassuming as they are, lend themselves particularly well to Rackham’s illustrative style. The fluid nature of watercolor allows for the ethereal quality seen in the wisps of smoke and bubbling pool, while the ink provides a crispness to the gnarled branches and jagged rocks, essential to capturing the dark magic central to the image. Rackham’s process involved layering washes of color to create depth and texture, and then adding fine details with ink. This painstaking method echoes the meticulousness one might associate with the making of potions or casting of spells. Rackham elevates the traditional role of the illustrator to that of a master storyteller. In doing so, he asks us to consider the time-intensive labor that goes into each image, blurring the lines between commercial art and high art.