Charles Ricketts
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- For the former Australian rules footballer, see Charlie Ricketts.
Charles De Sousy Ricketts (1866 - 1931) was a versatile English artist and designer, best known for his work as book designer and typographer from 1896 to 1904 with the Vale Press, and his work in the theatre as a set designer.
He was born in Geneva to a French mother and an English father. He grew up mainly in France and Italy. He began his studies in art at the City and Guilds Technical Art School in Lambeth, in 1882, after both his parents had died.
There he met Charles Shannon (1863-1937), painter and lithographer, who would be his lifelong partner in both his artistic and personal life. On the advice of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, they settled in England rather than abroad. They founded The Dial, a magazine, which had five issues from 1889 to 1897, and the Vale Press, named after their house, The Vale in Chelsea, London.
Ricketts was one of two illustrators of Oscar Wilde's work, the other being Aubrey Beardsley who worked on Salomé. He and Shannon were friends and supporters of Wilde.
It was in the work of the Vale Press that Ricketts would find his talents were best employed. The enterprise also involved Thomas Sturge Moore, and later William Llewellyn Hacon (1860-1910), a barrister. The actual printing was carried out by Ballantyne Press under the supervision of Charles McCall. A total of about 75 books were produced, including a complete Shakespeare in 39 volumes, before the special type fonts were destroyed. In parallel, Ricketts was involved with the Eragny Press, run by Lucien Pissarro and his wife Esther, from 1894 to 1914.
After 1902, he became a more serious painter and sculpturer. He also wrote on art, was a collector, and became a member of the Royal Academy in 1928. He designed sets for plays by Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Cecil Lewis; and also the revived Savoy Operas of the 1920s.
A play, Last Romantics by Michael Lewis MacLennan, has been based on Ricketts and Shannon and their circle, including Michael Field.
[edit] Works
- The Prado and its Masterpieces (1903)
- Titian (1910)
- Pages on Art (1913)
- Self-Portrait (1939)
[edit] References
- Self-Portrait Taken from the Letters & Journals of Charles Ricketts, R.A. (1939) edited by T. Sturge Moore and Cecil Lewis
- Charles Ricketts: Subtle and Fantastic Decorator (1979) Stephen Calloway
- The Vale Press: Charles Ricketts, a Publisher in Earnest2003) Maureen M. Watry
- History of the Eragny Press, 1894-19142003) Marcella D. Genz
