Since its publication, 150 years ago today, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has sparked the imagination of myriad illustrators, artists and designers. Here, we examine depictions from the 1860s up to Aly and her digital avatar in wonder.land, using images from the British Library’s Alice in Wonderland exhibition.
A drawing of Alice from Lewis Carroll’s manuscript of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, written between 1862-64 © The British Library Board
The story began in 1862, when Lewis Carroll took a boat trip near Oxford with Henry Liddell and his three daughters: Lorina, Edith and, of course, Alice. The story he told to the girls on that trip would become Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and, later, in Wonderland. The girls loved it so much that they demanded he write it down. Their wish was granted in 1864, when Carroll gifted Alice a handwritten manuscript containing an early version of the story, complete with the first ever drawings of the character he named after her.
Sir John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the Cheshire Cat from the 1866 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll © The British Library Board
Probably the most famous of all Alice depictions are those by Sir John Tenniel. A prolific political cartoonist and the chief artist at Punch, it is nonetheless through his illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass that Tenniel is best known. The Alice he drew, her hair long and blonde, has become the standard for future representations – she is not, though, the real Liddell, who had short, dark hair.
Tenniel’s illustrations were carved into wooden blocks by the Brothers Dalziel, a firm of Victorian engravers. These blocks, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, were used as masters for copies that were used in the actual printing process of the books. On publication, it was Tenniel’s illustrations that drew the highest praise from critics and Carroll did ask for his help in a future project. However, Tenniel replied:
‘It is a curious fact that with “Looking-Glass” the faculty of making drawings for book illustrations departed from me, and … I have done nothing in that direction since.’
The Wonderland postage stamp case designed by Lewis Carroll (1889-1890) © The British Library Board
Perhaps surprisingly, given its current place in the children’s canon, the first reviews of Wonderland were lukewarm. However, towards the end of the 19th century, this had rightly changed, to the extent that Carroll was asked to design a postage stamp based on the series. Here, we see Alice holding what could either be a very ugly baby, or a rather handsome pig.
Three illustrations from the same year
Illustration of Alice from the Arthur Rackham illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1907) © The British Library Board
An illustration of Alice with the Red Queen from an illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Charles Robinson (1907) © The British Library Board
An illustration of Alice at the Hatter’s tea party from W.H. Walker’s illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1907) © The British Library Board
The years from the end of the 19th century to the outbreak of the First World War are sometimes referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ for British illustration. The above are three examples of hugely different styles, each from the same year. Compare Arthur Rackham’s animals floating in muted greys to Charles Robinson’s Technicolor Alice and playing-card queen, and note the difference between W H Walker’s Mad Hatter and that of Mabel Lucie Attwell, published three years later.
Title page of the 1910 edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland pictured by Mabel Lucie Attwell © Lucie Attwell Ltd www.mabellucieattwell.com
An illustration of Alice with the White Rabbit from an illustrated edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Leonard Weisgard (1949) © The Estate of Leonard Weisgard
Throughout the 20th century, depictions of Alice became more and more varied, from the surrealist lithographs by Salvador Dali to Mervyn Peake’s darker vision, influenced by his experiences in World War Two. Above, we see American illustrator Leonard Weisgard’s modernist Alice from 1949.
Lois Chimimba as Aly and Carly Bawden as her avatar, Alice, in wonder.land. Photography by Brinkhoff and Mögenburg
Carly Bawden as Alice and Lois Chimimba as Aly. Photography by Brinkhoff and Mögenburg
wonder.land, the new musical now playing in the Olivier Theatre, is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic tale. In it, creators Damon Albarn, Moira Buffini and Rufus Norris take us down the modern version of the rabbit hole, to an online world called wonder.land. The story follows Aly, a teenager who finds solace from her bullies online, creating an avatar that allows her to ‘be someone else’. We have several versions of Aly, or Alice: the character, played by Lois Chimimba, her avatar, played by Carly Bawden and the digital representation shown on a giant screen.
These are the latest in a line of images dating back 150 years, through which Alice Liddell has found herself represented in an impossible number of ways. We don’t doubt that this will continue for another 150. And that they’ll keep getting curiouser and curiouser.
wonder.land is playing in the Olivier Theatre until April 2016. Click here for tickets.
The British Library’s free Alice in Wonderland exhibition is open until Sunday 17 April 2016 an is accompanied by an Alice in Wonderland Pop-up Shop until 31 January 2016 and a series of Alice-inspired events, including a family workshop, and an evening of live comedy, music and experiments hosted by Festival of the Spoken Nerd.
