1922
Little Red Riding Hood
Illustration from the Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
This piece is from a book published in 1922 called The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, an anthology of the classic tales originally written by Charles Perrault (1628-1703) which he based upon various local folktales. Charles Perrault, along with Hans Christian Andersen & the Brothers Grimm, was one of the most important men in the recording of children's tales, something which would have been very important to Harry Clarke as folklore was a large influence on his style of illustration. Clarke (1889-1931) battled with ill health & bouts of melancholia which gave him an insight into the darker side of life. This fascination with disturbing imagery lead him to illustrate Faust & Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery & Imagination, very dark stories which gave his disturbing & highly stylized illustrating style an excellent opportunity to display as much darkness as possible. This is why it could be deemed unusual that he also provided beautiful (& sometimes full-colour, such as this one) illustrations for children's fairy tales. In reality, most fairy tales as we know them hold their roots in violent & disturbing folktales of our distant ancestors. Clarke would have known this & added subtle hints to the darker side of childhood tales into his work. For example, Red Riding Hood looks quite menacing as she is enormous & is carrying a dangerously pointy umbrella, whereas the 'big bad' wolf looks comparatively tame, with blue eyes & fluffy fur. Red is traditionally the colour of danger & Hood looks like she would be more dangerous to the wolf than he to her, as is the case in some versions of the tale, where she & the woodcutter slice the wolf open while he is still conscious to retrieve her grandmother.
There also seem to be tiny dark figures in the background, which is a bit eerie. The trees look very serene & beautiful, as if they are unaware of the brutality going to be committed in their midst soon. They seem to glitter with freshly fallen snow, snow which suggests the depths of a cold European winter in which a wolf would not be able to obtain much food.
Clarke was influenced by Art Nouveau & traditional stained glass. Stained glass was his other main medium & he was world-renowned for his amazingly (for the time) delicate & detailed work with highly stylized figures with intense expressions.
