Whoever Saw Him Run Away 1917

Arthur Rackham made this drawing, ‘Whoever Saw Him Run Away’, with ink and watercolor, using thin washes of color that give the whole scene a kind of muted, dreamlike quality. Rackham lets the white of the paper do a lot of work, and the drawing stays loose and open. Look at how he renders the figure of the wild man. It’s all scratchy lines and spiky textures, like he’s made of twigs and leaves. The marks aren’t precise, but they convey a real sense of the wild. Then notice the kids, running away. He’s really thought about how to make the viewer know they are running in terror. This reminds me a bit of some of the illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, especially in the way Rackham uses line to create a sense of movement and drama. But where Beardsley’s work can be quite stylized and decorative, Rackham’s has a more natural, almost folksy feel. Art is an ongoing game of telephone, where artists pick up ideas and transform them into something new.