Comparison - 3 Cheshire Cats

Right, if you were with me yesterday you’ll know I posted a copy of one of John Tenniel’s illustrations of the Cheshire Cat. I made the point that the Cheshire Cat illustrations really aren’t my favourite examples of Tenniel’s work. After that I made copies of a couple of other illustrations of said cat, for comparison.

This is my copy of Helen Oxenbury’s illustration of the Cheshire Cat. Helen Oxenbury won the 1999 Kate Greenaway medal for her illustrations for Alice in Wonderland. At first look you might be struck by the differences between her style and Tenniel’s. Helen Oxenbury’s Alice is a modern girl, and her illustrations are clean and unfussy. But if you look again, Alice and he cat are actualy in very similar positions to those they adopt in the Tenniel sketch. The cat is in the tree, on the rtop right of the illustration, Alice is to the bottom left, looking up, just like in Tenniel’s. Helen Oxenbury’s illustrations interpret Alice as a funny, slightly ridiculous, children’s tale, with none of the darkness of some other illustrations, and that’s a perfectly valid interpretation.

This is my copy of Mervyn Peake’s Cheshire Cat. Now, I have to say that this is my favourite. Peake’s Cheshire Cat is grinning, but those fangs and those demonic eyes convey he’s up to no good at all.

This is the Tenniel copy I posted yesterday.