The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens 1910

Arthur Rackham made this drawing of frolicking Rhine-Maidens with pencil and watercolor. I love that it's so unabashedly illustrative. It’s that early 20th-century graphic style, with the swirling lines and muted colors, so stylized. But get up close, look at the way the pencil lines are layered, almost like cross-hatching. See how Rackham builds up this atmosphere with just the graphite, then adds these washes of color. The texture of the paper is doing so much work here! It's not just about the drawing. It's about the paper and the materials themselves. I love the hair of the Rhine-Maidens, swirling into the water like seaweed. It’s as though the artist were totally immersed in the world that he's creating. Rackham was a master of fantasy illustration, and this piece reminds me a bit of Kay Nielsen, another genius of the era. Both artists bring a kind of dreamy, ethereal quality to their work that's just so enchanting. Art is a conversation that carries on through generations.