• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ransom Center Magazine

  • Articles
  • Sections
    • Art
    • Books + Manuscripts
    • Conservation
    • Exhibitions + Events
    • Film
    • Literature
    • Photography
    • Research + Teaching
    • Theatre + Performing Arts
  • Print Edition

illustrations

George Macy’s illustrated editions of Charles Dickens’s Christmas classic

December 19, 2017 - Tracy Bonfitto

Between July 1937 and March 1938, Nonesuch Press—under the direction of George Macy—set out to publish what it billed as the most extensive collection yet made of Charles Dickens’s writings. It had already been an energetic few years. Macy founded the subscription-based Limited Editions Club in 1929, and the Heritage Press in 1935, before acquiring London-based Nonesuch Press in 1936. Nonesuch’s practice of teaming up a small hand press for design and commercial printers for production allowed for a wider circulation of its fine-press quality books. [Read more…] about George Macy’s illustrated editions of Charles Dickens’s Christmas classic

Filed Under: Art, Featured1 Tagged With: Charles Dickens, Christmas, George Macy, illustrations, Limited Editions Club

Featured “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” artist Abelardo Morell delivers Amon Carter Lecture

March 24, 2015 - Marlene Renz

Abelardo Morell, Down the Rabbit Hole, from the series Alice in Wonderland, 1998; 2014. Inkjet print, 22.5 x 18 in. Image appears courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York. © Abelardo Morell

Photographer Abelardo Morell, whose work is featured in the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland exhibition, delivers the Amon Carter lecture on Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m. at the Ransom Center.

 

Morell’s work has been collected and shown at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

 

Five prints from Morell’s series Alice in Wonderland are on view in the Ransom Center’s current exhibition, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Morell says of this series, “When I began to make photographs illustrating this book by Lewis Carroll I had in mind that books themselves should form the architecture and landscape where the story takes place.”

 

The program is free and open to the public, but donations are welcome. Seating is first-come, first-served, and doors open at 6:30 p.m.

 

Morell’s photographs can be seen in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, on view through July 6. Share with #aliceinaustin.

 

Click thumbnails below to view larger images.

Abelardo Morell, Down the Rabbit Hole, from the series Alice in Wonderland, 1998; 2014. Inkjet print, 22.5 x 18 in. Image appears courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York. © Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell, “Down the Rabbit Hole,” from the series “Alice in Wonderland,” 1998; 2014.Inkjet print, 22.5 x 18 in. Image appears courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York. © Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell, A Mad Tea Party, from the series Alice in Wonderland, 1998; 2014. Inkjet print, 22.5 x 18 in. Image appears courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York. © Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell, “A Mad Tea Party,” from the series “Alice in Wonderland,” 1998; 2014.Inkjet print, 22.5 x 18 in. Image appears courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York. © Abelardo Morell

Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Photography Tagged With: Abelardo Morell, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Amon Carter Lecture, illustrations, Photography

Draw Me: A history of the illustrated Alice

February 19, 2015 - Alexandra Bass

John Tenniel's illustration of the "mad tea-party" from the first published edition of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Sir John Tenniel. Dalí. Yayoi Kusama. What do these artists of vastly different styles, mediums, and artistic movements have in common? Each, along with many other artists, has tried their hand at illustrating Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a tale so whimsical it demands illustrations. Alice appeals to such a broad range of artists because the creative quality of the story gives artists freedom to interpret the look of the story in any way they please, and the book’s quirky sense of fun is irresistible.

The novel’s first illustrator was none other than its author. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson—alias Lewis Carroll—created a handwritten manuscript with 37 illustrations for the story’s muse, Alice Liddell, after she asked him to write down the fantastical story he told her one lazy summer afternoon on a boat ride. Although somewhat amateurish, the ink illustrations depict a sweet, pretty Alice, not unlike the famous Tenniel illustrations. Indeed, Tenniel, a famous Victorian political cartoonist, and Dodgson worked closely together in creating the now-classic illustrations for the first published edition.

Tenniel’s classical and rather prim imagining of Alice remained the standard throughout the nineteenth century and still remains the most recognizable Alice illustration today. It was not until the turn of the twentieth century that other illustrators tried their hands at Alice. These illustrations reflect the aesthetic of their time. Mabel Lucie Attwell’s 1910 rendering of Alice and Margaret W. Tarrant’s 1916 version are sweet and feminine and still very much geared toward a young audience.

By the middle of the century, illustrations of Alice became more experimental. German illustrator Wiltraud Jasper’s 1958 version is edgy and minimal, all in black and red. In 1969, iconic surrealist Salvador Dalí put his spin on Carroll’s story, creating a dreamy, abstract, and characteristically melty Wonderland in a melancholy color palate.

More recently, Japanese pop artist Yayoi Kusama has re-imagined Alice in her signature polka dots in a 2012 Penguin publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Kusama steers away from the “classic” scenes of illustrations and instead focuses on details. For instance, the Mad Tea Party chapter features a red-and-black polka-dotted bowler hat instead of the traditional scene of the eccentric cast of characters tucking into high tea at a long table.

At the very onset of her story, Alice muses to herself about the importance of illustrations: “‘And what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without any pictures?’” What use indeed? Would Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland be the classic book and cultural phenomenon that it is without pictures? Likely not—both readers and illustrators alike have fun with the creative freedom offered by the Alice books.

See examples of some of these illustrations in the Ransom Center’s current exhibition Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, on view through July 6. Share with #aliceinaustin.

Please click on the thumbnails to view larger images.

John Tenniel's illustration of the "mad tea-party" from the first published edition of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
John Tenniel’s illustration of the “mad tea-party” from the first published edition of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Mabel Lucie Attwell illustration from a 1910 edition of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
Mabel Lucie Attwell illustration from a 1910 edition of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Cover of 1929 edition Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," illustrated by Willy Pogany.
Cover of 1929 edition Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” illustrated by Willy Pogany.

Filed Under: Art, Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events Tagged With: #aliceinaustin, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Art, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, exhibition, illustrations, John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll, Mabel Lucie Attwell, Margaret W. Tarrant, Salvador Dali, Sylvie and Bruno, Through the Looking Glass, Wiltraud Jasper, Yoyoi Kusama

Alice in Burnt Orange: Salvador Dalí’s rendition of the Lewis Carroll classic at the Ransom Center

June 22, 2012 - Sarah Sussman

"Advice From a Caterpillar." © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.

Sarah Sussman is a graduate student in the English Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Though currently writing about nineteenth-century American Spiritualism, she is interested in Surrealist art, children’s literature, and British literature as well.

Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel that stretches the imagination and playfully defies logic has been adapted by a number of artists throughout the years, but perhaps none have been so well-suited to put their own spin on the English author’s topsy-turvy adventure as Salvador Dalí. The surrealist artist’s galas might have rivaled the Mad Hatter’s tea parties, and his paradoxical identification of himself as a sane madman would have put him at home as one of Carroll’s whimsical characters.

Dalí’s illustrations for the novel come more than 100 years after its original printing with John Tenniel’s images. Although many will be familiar with Tenniel (a number of his images can be seen reproduced today on all sorts of Alice ephemera), the Dalí prints are far less common. Viewers will be struck by the artist’s intensely vivid, color-saturated heliogravure with woodblock prints. They offer a new way to read Alice’s Adventures, from a twentieth-century perspective only Dalí could provide—from an outlandishly sized, wide-eyed, dashing white rabbit, to dripping fluorescent mushrooms, to larger-than-life butterflies and, yes, even one of the artist’s signature melting clocks. It seems especially fitting that this portfolio is at The University of Texas at Austin, because Dali’s edition is highlighted entirely in burnt orange, from the portfolio’s burnt orange box, to its burnt orange typographical accents, to its featured frontispiece of Alice, looming large in frenetically etched orange lines, carrying a jump rope or a hoop against a cloud-scudded sky.

Published in New York by Maecenas Press–Random House in 1969, the portfolio-style book features 12 prints to correspond with each chapter of Carroll’s book and an original signed etching as the frontispiece. The Ransom Center’s copy is signed and one of 2,500 portfolios. Dalí’s rendition is a well-paired match for Carroll’s adventure and a lively part of the Ransom Center’s holdings.

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images.

"The Mouse's Tale." © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.
“The Mouse’s Tale.” © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.
"Down the Rabbit Hole." © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.
“Down the Rabbit Hole.” © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.
"Advice From a Caterpillar." © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.
“Advice From a Caterpillar.” © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2012.

Filed Under: Art, Books + Manuscripts Tagged With: Alice in Wonderland, Alice's Adventures, Art, illustrations, John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll, Maecenas Press–Random House, Sarah Sussman

Primary Sidebar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4_kazYMjNM

Recent Posts

  • Celebrate with us in 2023
  • Photographer Laura Wilson delves into the lives of writers with stunning portraits
  • A childhood gift inspires a lifelong passion for India and map-collecting
  • “Dog” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
  • A Greek fragment is the first-known New Testament papyrus written on the front side of a scroll

Tags

acquisition Alice's Adventures in Wonderland archive archives Art Books Cataloging Conservation Council on Library and Information Resources David Foster Wallace David O. Selznick digitization exhibition Exhibitions Fellows Find Fellowships Film Frank Reaugh Frank Reaugh: Landscapes of Texas and the American West Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gabriel Garcia Marquez archive Gone with the Wind I have seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America Lewis Carroll literature Magnum Photos Manuscripts Meet the Staff Nobel Prize Norman Bel Geddes Norman Mailer Performing Arts Photography poetry preservation Publishing Research Robert De Niro Shakespeare theater The King James Bible: Its History and Influence The Making of Gone With The Wind Undergraduate What is Research? World War I

Archives

Before Footer

Sign up for eNews

Our monthly newsletter highlights news, exhibitions, and programs.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

About

Ransom Center Magazine is an online and print publication sharing stories and news about the Harry Ransom Center, its collections, and the creative community surrounding it.

Copyright © 2023 Harry Ransom Center

Web Accessibility · Web Privacy