Who do you wish had illustrated the Alice books?

I’ve given a bit of thought to the question – of all the artists who have never to my knowledge illustrated the Alice books, which ones do I most wish had done it? I love this sort of question, and always when I come up with one, I start firming it up with rules and conditions. In this case I decided that the choice must be limited to only artists and illustrators who have been working at any time since 1865, the year of the publication of Wonderland. Strictly speaking I should possibly say only those working since the copyright ran out and anyone could have a go. Since this precludes one of my choices, though, I’m going to make 1865 the cut off point. My first choice, then, is a rather obvious one.

Sir Quentin Blake

I mean, it’s such an obvious choice, isn’t it, that I couldn’t help thinking that surely Sir Quentin must have illustrated the Alice books at one time or another. But if he did, I haven’t found any evidence of it whatsoever. Although he has illustrated the Walrus and the Carpenter for a book of poetry, anthologised in aid of the Children’s Trust.

It's interesting if you compare this to the equivalent Tenniel illustration.

 

At first sight they look very different, but look closer, and maybe you’ll agree with me that Sir Q., as I’d like to feel he’d let me call him, is actually drawing quite strongly on Tenniel, or at least paying an affectionate homage. Walrus on the left, carpenter on the right. Both sitting on the rocks. Big cliff on the far right. The oysters in both pictures seem to be very close cousins as well.

Sir Quentin is in his 80s now, and still going strong. He’s indelibly associated with the works of Roald Dahl – a couple of years ago when working my way through 50 great British illustrators I copied an illustration from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, the first Dahl novel I ever read. For me it’s difficult to think of Roald Dahl’s books without thinking of Quentin Blake’s illustrations – as writer and illustrator they were an absolutely perfect match. Then, in the last decade, his illustrations have become the 'face' of David Walliams' extremely popular books. However, Sir Quentin’s portfolio is much wider and more varied than that, and I can’t help thinking that his quirky, expressive and individual style would make for a very interesting interpretation of the Alice books. His style looks deceptively simple. Yet when you try to make a copy of one of his illustrations you start to realise just how clever and precise it actually is. No single pen stroke is wasted, and as a result all of his pictures crackle and sparkle with life and personality.

Aubrey Beardsley

Hear me out. I know that his illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salome, as an example, ooze sexuality. That is not something I am advocating should be brought into the Alice books. But I think he’s fair game since, although Aubrey Beardsley was very much not a children’s illustrator, he did at one point illustrate an edition of the 1001 Arabian Nights. And furthermore. . . he was a genius in my book. Effectively his career lasted about 6 years, before his tragic early death from tuberculosis at the age of 26 in 1898. For the later part of that career he was often vilified. However his work is now more popular than ever, and his influence on artists, and graphic designers ever since, and especially since the 60s has been frankly immense.

Looking at this famous image from Salome that I copied you can see some of the hallmarks of the Art Nouveau style of which Beardsley was an innovator – the elongated liquid forms, for example. But look at the way he uses monochrome – this was not years ahead of his time, but decades. I first came to know of Beardsley and his work when I was 17, and studying my English A levels. (A levels are/were the qualifications you needed to pass in England and Wales in order to gain a place to study at University). One of my fellow students was not, frankly, great at English, but he was a superb artist, and he told me about basing his final project on Beardsley. When I researched this name which I knew nothing about, I too fell instantly under his spell.

Maybe I’m being fanciful here, but I do think it’s possible to see the influence of Aubrey Beardsley in some of the representations that have been made of the Alice books since. I haven’t yet made a copy of a brilliant – if rather disturbing – Charles Heath Robinson illustration from 1907 which I think owes something to Beardsley. Still this is a copy of Ralph Steadman’s illustration for the ‘Wool and Water’ chapter of Looking Glass. The water at the bottom of the picture is one obvious comparison, but it also seems to me that Alice's arms in particular are elongated and the liquid way that Alice's hair spreads into the water seems pretty suggestive of Beardsley to me. I do know that Ralph Steadman contributed to a BBC documentary about Beardsley as well in the past, so I think it's reasonable to suggest he may well be a fan.