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As anyone who has ever beheld the glory of a medieval manuscript knows, text and image have had a long relationship. So what is it that distinguishes the period from the 1880s to the 1930s? Why has this era come to be known as the Golden Age of Illustration? Certainly there are advances in both technology – for instance, the lineblock process that allowed for such authentic replications a master draftsman such as Beardsley – and in technique and craft – most notably the rise of wood engraving and the beguiling intricacy of image that it facilitated. If we seek to answer the question with a single answer, though, it must be what these advances brought about: from Tenniel in the 1880s up to Nash working at the end of this golden era, we see the ‘illustration’ rise above its raison d’être and transcend its functionality as mere illustration to become a work of art in its own right.
- Luke Wallis, June 2022
