ILLUSTRATORS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 15

ILLUSTRATORS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

.Of the men and women.'in England who give the largesse of their art to. the fascination ot the little ' ones, the most marked feature is their' love of children, writes Haldane Mac Fall in "Good Housekeeping." Whether it be a soldierly, virile personality like that of John Hassall, a poetic and dreamy; personality like that of Arthur Rackham, a wiry, hard-riding sportsinan like Cecil Aldin, a man of largo interests in the serious branches of all that appertains,. to the. 'arts and crafts like Walter Crane, or the sensitive and delicate womanhood, indee'd little more than girlhood, of Miss Florence Harrison, all glory in; romping with the children none poses as superior to the"'youngsters ;: all enjoy, and take- pride in the homage of childhood. None of them affects to. steep to the pretty business; all, with' one accord,' boast that it is the children who give them scope for the ranging of the imagination. It is ; perhaps for this reason that the .art of.;thoso of British blood excels,'. 4nd has'for ages excelled,, in ,the realm of childhood. . And it is. interesting to see how inevitably the American ■ sons; and daughters of the British race are, in their.turn, winning triumph after trjuniph in the samo: domain. In tho studios. of every one of theso English; artists, you shall find tho admired work of. Elizabeth Shippen 'Green, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Sarah Stilwell, and How- 1 ard . Pyle^-everywhere in . England, whomsoever art, rules, the . names of these American cousins are household words.

Needless to say that the artists have followed close on the heels of, the writers in England. Randolph Caldecott remains the 1 supreme, the sweetest-natur-ed, tho most fascinating, and the most exquisite . artist. of them all; and it is good to know that one of. England's greatest sculptors, Gilbert, wrought his monument; and that .it stands within St. Paul's Cathedral in : this London of ours.- - To-day, England can: boast <tf several artists who giv« ( as, 'Caldecott gaye, their full powers to the .entertainment of 'the. little ones.' ' : ' To know. Arthur Rackham'is to understand why a child , would unerringly go to him with the greatest, confidence arid slip her hand into his. ■- It is.. Grimm's Fairy Tales that 'Kaekham. is' to be l fouud at his - full ijcangp ijjhfith'er in ljlaek';iifa'd. ,: wlntb,6r in colour. It was in Grimm's Fairy "Tales, odd to say, that he mado, his first real venture in illustrating for children; and,. though 'the venture brought him ' neither fame • nor fortune, it sowed the seeds for, tho blossoming of tho later and more sumptuous volume that now represents his fantastic genius. T _lt was a happ;y inspiration that drew Hassall and Cecil Aldin together to design/friezes arid. panels, for tho little 'lords of " the nursery. These delightful works are now, widely known—indeed, are .world-famous." From:'tho, royal nurseries of the Queen' of Spain to tho. nurseries of the uttermost colonies you may find -them; Hassall's Noah's Ark frieze and Toy frieze; his panels of ■ Morning, Noon, and Night: and'the Flower Dances —surely all-tho lucky youngsters know them, and enjoy, them I

Who can draw dogs and animals, but, ■above all, dogs, like Cecil Aldin p The firm who produced the Hassall friezes also produced a large number of nursery friezes and humorous pictures by Cecil Aldin.. His six panels of Market Day in Normandy are the delight of youngsters, as Little Jack Horner, Little, , Tom Thumb and tho famous long panel of Old King Cole. There is a group of artists in England wild illustrate storibs for the youngsters, particularly for boys, from whom it is difficult to take one as preeminent. ■ But of them all' perhaps) Gordon Browne and Brock are most in favour for both men have sense of humour and of character, and facile hands. Of the; women who design for children.-ih .England, ,we have none to compare with their American sisters. It has ever been a strange fact with us that in. the art and literature for little ones our womenfolk have signally failed excepting only Mrs. Ewing, whose Jackanapes is among the • 'immortal works written in the English, tongue. Englishwomen seem to lack all sense of character in, their art and are shockingly deficient in humour therein. Now this is extraordinary, for Englishwomen are humorous and appreciate humour. As a matter of fact, American women the most keenly humorous in tho . world, though' ..they havo aohioved- astounding success iu literature, have not been eminent in humorous art. Yet in serious -painting America has produced the first of all women painters : in Cocilia Beaux. This failure of women in the nursery of England is almost inconceivable., We havo, .however, what we may call a group of younger artists- who are coming to the front in designing charming pictures, for children in which the fairy, and imaginative element are the -most pronounced characteristics; ' Of these one of the most promising; is Florence Harrison who is jTOetess as well as artist, and who is gifted with the romantic vision marked decorative sense and a glowing colour faculty. I always wonder why women found their art on "church windows," and "artiness" rather than upon Randolph Caldecott. For Caldecott is lord of -tho nursery. No one has ever approached him._ He is {supremo. We may not see his like again. Thero are other men whose artistry is as. superb as their vision. .And of these William' Nicholson is- one .of the first. ' No child's shelf should be without William . Nicholson's Alphabet, his _ Almanac of Twelvo Sports, his square Book of Animals and every one of theso designs make wondrous decorations for tho walls; No child 'should bo-without Tiol's illustrations to "Alive in Wonderland" and "Alice Through tho Looking Glass."