Women
Images of women in children’s literature have encompassed every aspect of human and spiritual life, whether good or evil, beautiful or ugly, innocent or depraved.
As authors employed their words to convey such characteristics, artists and illustrators translated words into idiosyncratic, individualized, yet curiously imitative portraits to convey their interpretation of an author’s intent. In this grouping, and in reference to the works by Arthur Rackham, illustrators brought an author’s imagination from words to pictures that captivated both younger and older readers. Often, an illustrator might pay homage to a predecessor by painting a sympathetic or reflective depiction of that artist’s imagined portrait of a woman whose actual image exists originally in words. Compare the depictions of women as imagined by Beardsley, Pogány and Rackham for examples of such real or imagined influence.
