Wandering about and ‘boo-hoo’-ing. 1911

Arthur Rackham made "Wandering about and ‘boo-hoo’-ing" using pen and ink, and it's like a dream caught on paper. The lines are so delicate, almost like whispers. You can see Rackham building up the image bit by bit, like layering thoughts. The texture in this piece is amazing! Look at the way he suggests the flow of the river with these wispy lines, or the tangled undergrowth where the children are standing. It's not just about what things look like, but how they feel – the coolness of the water, the scratchy leaves. And the children! Those red marks on their faces. Are they crying? Or perhaps just really, really frustrated? Rackham reminds me a little of Edward Gorey, in that he creates this whole world with just a few, carefully placed marks. It's like they're both inviting us into their own private theater of the absurd, where things are never quite what they seem.