The Golden Age of Fairy Tale Illustration: the role of the visual image in remaking legends, myths and children’s stories. The first two decades of the 20th century saw the blossoming of the illustrators, Arthur Rackham, Edmund du Lac and Kay Nielsen. They produced images of spell-binding charm and suggestive depth. They changed the way the English-speaking world thought about legends, myths and fairy tales. But the economics of printing and publishing gradually closed down that window. Their role has been taken up largely by film companies like Disney. They have continued the ongoing remaking of these classic stories to fit with new technology, new tastes and new culture.
It is important for therapists to be aware of the ongoing presence of archetypes continually being reborn in our lives through artistic representations; to be aware of the enrichment and deepening of fairy tales through illustration, and to understand that often client awareness of fairy tales is based on powerful illustrations.