Walter Crane 1845-1915
In
the 1870s, Walter Crane brought an oriental influence to the printing of children's
toybooks--eight page, inexpensive pamphlets
printed in color. Crane illustrated a number of fairy tales using the strong
outlines, flat tints, and solid blacks that he saw in Japanese prints. Working
with the printer Edmund Evans, Crane would make his drawings on blocks of
wood. Evans would then create a series of wooden plates, one for each color,
to print the illustration. Crane's multiple-framed illustrations , his use
of decorative patterns, and his attention to the design of the text as well
as to the presentation of images, clearly identify him as a member of the
Arts and Crafts Movement in England (Sample
Woodcuts)
In fact, in 1884, Crane served as the president of the Arts Workers Guild
and was the long-time president of the Arts and Crafts Society. He lectured
widely in England on taste and the importance of good design in addition to
writing numerous books and essays on the subject.
He did much to establish the importance of design to the entire book--from
endpapers to
frontispieces to page decoraion and illustration. His Household
Stories from the Collection of the Bros. Grimm (1882) is a good example
of his approach and has become a classic anthology of the folk tales.
Crane's own household was in some ways as colorful as his children's books.
He, his wife, and their two children lived with a wide variety of pets including,
at one time or other, an alligator, owl, jerboa, golden pheasant, marmoset,
mongoose, and squirrel, as well as rabbits, cats, and dogs. The squirrel was
fond of sitting on his shoulder as he worked in his studio.