Kate Greenaway
(1846 - 1901)
Greenaway was the third in the triumvirate of Victorian children's book
illustrators who worked with Edmund Evans. Evans produced her first book,
Under The Window (1879) - a collection of simple and inconsequential verses for
children - at a time when she was relatively unknown and it made her reputation.
Through a costly process that involved the photographing of her dainty
water-colors on to wood blocks (see Muir, Victorian Illustrated Books, 172),
Evans was able to present all of the charm of Greenaway's idyllic pastoral
scenes and seemingly enchanted children. Against expert publishing advice
Evans printed a first edition of 20,000 copies, which immediately sold out.
It was a triumph for him as well as for Greenaway.
Greenaway was not, however, as great an artist as either Crane or Caldecott,
though she was extremely popular (no illustrator of her time was so adored by
her public) and won the adulation of John Ruskin. She never developed much
understanding of the anatomy of the human figure; the limbs in her drawings are
often mere appendages to her clothes. In fact her real genius was for
inventing and designing clothes and accessories which inspired not only devoted
readers and countless imitators, but also a persistent fashion in children's
dress. Her sweet, eighteenth-century children in their quaint costumes
made the name Kate Greenaway synonymous with style, catapulting her into fame,
and she seems to have been about the only English artist who was ever the
fashion in France.
The grace and charm of her children and young girls is still evident today,
though modern critics read a deeper, more disturbing meaning into them
(especially in regards to Ruskin's infatuation with her "girlies").
In particular Meyer (Treasury, 109) finds that their apparent innocence
may be misleading, that they are more complex than they appear to be: "In
fact these charming children dancing in the countryside seem strangely
dispirited, almost melancholy. Like china dolls, they are always well
behaved, smile only occasionally, and never laugh or cry. Their dreamy
figures seem disembodied in time and space. . . " Thus, although she
was not possessed of great artistic vision, she nonetheless created a small
world of her own that both idealized her immediate environment and expressed a
sadness and solitude that remained with her throughout her life.
These pages from an edition published by Warne (the
first was published by Routledge) show her strong decorative interest. Unlike
Crane, however, she enjoyed pale tints and spacious areas of white paper,
producing a delicate and airy effect. They also display her characteristic
repertoire of quaint clothes and accessories.
