‘Ohe! Ohe! Horrible dragon, O swallow me not! 1910

Curator: This striking drawing, rendered in watercolor, colored pencil, and ink, is Arthur Rackham’s "'Ohe! Ohe! Horrible dragon, O swallow me not!'," created in 1910. Editor: The urgency jumps right out, doesn't it? It’s cramped and claustrophobic. I can practically smell the damp stone and serpent's musk. Curator: Exactly! Rackham really understood how to convey psychological tension. It's from the "Siegfried" opera and what interests me most is how he translates this heroic opera moment into such an intimate image. He's playing with scale, giving us epic drama on a small scale! Editor: Intimate maybe, but those frenetic lines—especially in the hair and clothing—they make the character appear volatile and unhinged. It's less heroic, more like someone who’s stumbled into a really bad situation unprepared. Look at the details around the rocks at the character's feet. Are those meant to be decorative, illustrative, or some statement about nature’s harsh reality? Curator: Interesting you picked up on the rock formation; that type of staging feels essential. You get the raw materials on display! Remember this was at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement: showing how it’s made is just as significant as what it depicts. Editor: Definitely. And consider the market for Rackham's art at that time: not wealthy elite commissioning grand works, but the growing middle class. This explains that narrative accessibility—everyone knew dragon slaying made a good tale—which they'd want for a mass reproduced print. Curator: Perhaps a subtle way for the owner of the work to find something more noble in the manufacturing methods used in commercial printing and distribution methods... A validation of the aesthetic tastes through craftsmanship, even as it hits the mass market? It’s that little push and pull. It gives you space for contemplation... It lets you imagine the dragon's fire and hero's dilemma all at once! Editor: Leaving aside the story behind it, this drawing captures the way industrial printing brought these timeless battles and stories directly into people’s living rooms! "Ohe! Ohe! Horrible dragon"—more like, "Ohe! Ohe! Horrible factory conditions brought affordable fantasy to my parlour". Curator: And with Rackham’s hand bringing both aspects together; it feels as contemporary today as it surely did back in 1910.