‘Mopsa The Fairy’ by Jean Ingelow 1920

This beautiful monochromatic illustration titled ‘Mopsa The Fairy’ was made by Dorothy Lathrop. I imagine her working with a very fine nib, creating all those tiny, precise marks. The fairy’s long hair looks as though it’s been caught in a breeze, while the surrounding foliage is so upright and still. I wonder whether she was trying to evoke a sense of the ethereal, or perhaps the uncanny? It's as if she is trying to capture something fleeting and magical, a brief encounter between two worlds. What does it feel like to be in the presence of magic? I’m reminded of other illustrators, like Aubrey Beardsley, who were similarly obsessed with black and white. There is an intimacy with the artist’s hand in the work that connects us, as viewers, to other artists across time. We see their process, and how they create a space of inquiry.