The Witch climbed up 1920

Arthur Rackham conjured this image of the witch climbing up the tower, probably with watercolor and ink. You know, I often think of drawing and painting as being like a dance – a back and forth between intention and accident. Look at the texture he’s created on that tower, a mass of individual strokes which give a real sense of age and decay. The color is muted, almost dreamlike, which lends the scene an otherworldly quality. Notice how the witch’s cloak is rendered with a flurry of tiny marks, a real contrast to the smoother rendering of Rapunzel herself. It's almost as if he's suggesting that the witch is more of a tangible, grounded presence, while Rapunzel is still trapped in a fantasy. Rackham’s work reminds me a little of Aubrey Beardsley, another master of illustration with a slightly dark, subversive edge. But while Beardsley’s line is sharp and decisive, Rackham’s feels more organic, more rooted in the natural world. Ultimately, what I love about this piece is its ambiguity. Is the witch a villain or a misunderstood figure? Is Rapunzel a damsel in distress, or a symbol of youthful hope? Rackham doesn’t give us any easy answers.