Artwork Page for The Parrot and the Cat (Sketch for "Good-Night" by Eleanor Gates)

Details / Information for The Parrot and the Cat (Sketch for "Good-Night" by Eleanor Gates)

The Parrot and the Cat (Sketch for "Good-Night" by Eleanor Gates)

c. 1905

Arthur Rackham

(British, 1867–1939)
Culture
England, late 19th-early 20th century
Medium
black ink wash with graphite on paper
Measurements
Sheet: 26 x 37 cm (10 1/4 x 14 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Ralph Perkins in memory of Coburn Haskell 1946.158
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

This sketch shows the climax of the story when Loretta the Parrot confronts her enemy, Tomasso the cat, to protect her friend, Tony the canary.

Description

Arthur Rackham was one of the most successful book illustrators of the early 20th century. He is best known for his colored illustrations for luxury editions intended as Christmas gifts. However, Rackham also did some work as a commercial illustrator. He designed ephemera like bookplates and greeting cards, and created illustrations for several magazines. The image associated with this sketch is an example of the later. It was one of six published in the February 1906 issue of Scribner's Magazine accompanying the short story "Buenas Noches" by Eleanor Gates. This sketch shows the tale's two subjects in the same positions and poses as in the finished composition.
Black ink and graphite on horizontally oriented tan paper features two animals mid-encounter. On the left, a dark cat crouches, facing a speckled parrot with outspread wings. Watery washes of gray ink bleed across the surface, framing the central figures. A dense, bird-shaped shadow stretches across the foreground. Splotches and layered strokes create movement, contrasting defined lines with blurred, atmospheric remnants of ink that preserve the paper's texture.

The Parrot and the Cat (Sketch for "Good-Night" by Eleanor Gates)

c. 1905

Arthur Rackham

(British, 1867–1939)
England, late 19th-early 20th century

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