Art History Talk; The Invisible Man: Sir John Tenniel as Lewis Carroll’s Illustrator

Illustration is the marriage of two very separate arts: words and images, author and artist, and they are generally two separate people.

How does the illustrator enter the mind of the author? Tenniel’s and Lewis Carroll’s collaboration has been described as the most perfect in the history of book illustration.

The images seem inevitable. It’s said that’s because Carroll had the imagination and Tenniel was a drudge who in effect traced over his words to make what had to be. It’s much more complicated than that. That inevitability comes from the great illustrator’s willingness to submit entirely to their text. In the process they become invisible.

This is an Art History talk on The Invisible Man: Sir John Tenniel as Lewis Carroll’s Illustrator.

Presented by Roger Simpson. Roger was born 1951 in Hampshire, grew up in Canada and has a BFA in studio art, 1977, University of Calgary, an MA in History in Art, 1984, University of Victoria, Canada, and a PhD in History of Art, 1988, Essex University (thesis: monograph of Sir John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll’s illustrator). He has written his own publication on the subject, entitled Sir John Tenniel, Aspects of his work (Associated University Presses, 1994).

Doors open at 19:15. The event begins at 19:30.