Art in Literature: Alice - Esther

If someone says “Alice” in relation to any aspect of popular culture, it’s so recognisable as linked with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass it's almost universal. Like Madonna, she only needs one name. & it’s not only the name; the books are a wider contributor to modern idiom & language: “mad as a Hatter,” “curiouser & curiouser,” “down the rabbit hole” & my personal favourite, “Off with their heads!” Not only is there a verbal shorthand, there’s a visual one too. 

When we hear “Alice,” we’re quite likely to think of a very particular visual – a girl with long, straight, blonde hair, a blue dress with white apron, striped socks (although these seem to have derived from later colouring). Her hair is swept back by what we now even call an “Alice band.” The hair band & socks have certainly made their way into the fashion world & several subcultures; sometimes they’re quite ordinary & common. Not so much the dress.

You’d like to think such a peculiar & imaginative book would have made it into the mainstream in any case, but I don’t think so. If we’d never had John Tenniel’s beautiful images dovetailing into the text, I think it might have become a mere cult classic, popular among psychedelic bands & obscure graphic novels – I enjoy these things as much as the next person taking an interest in the world but I can’t help thinking Alice would have disappeared down the rabbit hole of esoteric book stores & head shops. Who knows? She might be there already.

John Tenniel’s works were so vivid & showed such a perfectly formulated & complete vision of Carroll’s Wonderland that they are still recognised well over a hundred & fifty years later (although Carroll was said to have forced Tenniel into changing details, despite giving him overall freedom). Were Alice not conceived by Carroll & birthed by Tenniel, many of us might never have seen her at all. That would have been a tragedy as she has by now enriched our cultural lives in unquantifiable ways. 

Alice is one of the lucky characters have stepped out of the book – although of course book illustrations have continued to be commissioned - & onto the wall. Today I present a mere handful. Beware: some artists tinker with her original look…

John Tenniel (1865)

The original & classic Alice template & by far the greatest Cheshire Cat of them all. Here Chesh’s personality is summed up: designed to confuse, infuriating, impudent, possibly wise (?), constantly disappearing, independent (even of his own body…), inscrutable & superior. In other words: A CAT. Whole sections of the internet are devoted to the mysterious character of cats. Part of the deep genius of Carroll & Tenniel’s collaboration is to encapsulate an entire species in a single animal.

Salvador Dalí (1969)

Of course, when Random House commissioned Dalí to illustrate Wonderland, they knew that a work that deviated from the usual would deviate from the usual in the hands of one that deviates from the usual. This concept itself is so cyclical, so “Wonderland,” I can barely believe it happened despite seeing several of the originals in person. It’s like the creeping metamorphosis a caterpillar has to undertake to reach full adulthood. Obviously Dalí’s Caterpillar was going to play around with this. Alice taking Advice From a Caterpillar is a child taking advice from a child.

Kev Crossley (2015)

Crossley’s Hatter & March Hare combination pick up several influences on the way, not least Tenniel himself & Steadman, but also the art of landfill, like an installation on paper. The potentially weaponised animal concept is also reminiscent of Frank Quitely’s “We3” graphic novel in concept. The characters here are like one ghastly Terminator & as two of Carroll’s more unsettling & possibly dangerous individuals, playing out their tea party as two sides of the same coin, this work is an interesting conception.

Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson (1864)

There exist of course, Carroll’s own illustrations. He was her first illustrator. Here, Alice has grown & is taking up the space, but we can see the proportions are a little off & this occurs more obviously in his other illustrations. It was definitely better to get another illustrator – Tenniel not only makes the figures believable, but creates a plausible Victorian world around them.  

Esther Green (2013)

When I was making my own Alice images, I was interested in the possibility of her being a Changeling which fitted in with some of Dodgson’s/Carroll’s ideas about fairies. As an aside, my Alice was loosely based on the features of Lauren Laverne & the Hatter’s equally loosely on Blixa Bargeld…

Peter Blake (1970)

In general I like the photographic/collage style of Peter Blake’s work & I think it works well for Alice. In Blake’s Wonderland, she herself is a slightly sulky figure & his creepy Humpty sets a perfect tone for the possibility of danger & sinister events present in all good adventures. 

Tove Jansson (1966)

Jansson’s distinctive style works surprisingly well for Alice. I like this queasy pink background. In reading about her version of Alice in Wonderland, I’ve learned that in Swedish, this would be written Alice I Underlandet; Under means both wonder & under which is an interesting twist for the rabbit hole.

Kuniyoshi Kaneko (1974)

I love Kuniyoshi Kaneko’s imperious Queen of Hearts. Here she is younger & more delicate than Tenniel’s harridan but that expression is a warning that her mood could swing at any given time. Just watch what you’re doing with those roses.

 

Yayoi Kusama (2012) & Marlon McKenney (2018)

Yayoi Kusama can mean only one thing: spots. & with Alice, she does not disappoint. What gave me pause for thought though was that her Alice was pictured as white, which led me explore whether there were interpretations of Alice as a person of colour. Indeed, there is a film with an all-black cast. Through Conscious Colour Publishing, I found the beautiful Alice in Wonderland Re-mixed with illustrations by Marlon McKenney.

Leonard Weisgard (1949)

There’s an oddly old-fashioned feel about Weisgard’s attempts to wrangle the concept of Wonderland into an ordinary style of children’s illustration. It’s partly his style but it’s also the simple colours that lend the images an overall naivety. I’m not sure if it’s to do with the printing methods available at the time too but they appear faded & somewhat European folk.

Lisbeth Zwerger (1999)

At first glance, these seem simple enough versions of Tweedles -Dee & -Dum but look closer & they’re detailed, clever & full of expression.

Ralph Steadman (1973)

If you want Alice-based nightmares, Ralph’s your man. Subverting the notion of a children’s illustrated book more than most, Steadman’s Wonderland is a complex yet unified dreamscape at times filled with chaotic pathos. Other times, just the chaos. His anthropomorphised White Rabbit is the stuff of believable dreams, tangling the world of wonder with a drunk guy you may well have seen on a London bus. Add a dash of unnerving instability & you’re off to the land of nod with a hop, a skip & a silent scream. Don’t be late.