John Tenniel Research Paper

This essay will explore the influence John Tenniel brought to the field of illustration. I will examine his work and his life in order to acknowledge how this impacted on illustration and society. Furthermore, I will consider how over artists such as Eric Ravilious used similar techniques in their styles of work and how this directly or indirectly relates to the work of John Tenniel.

Sir John Tenniel was an English Illustrator in the nineteenth century who was famous for both his book and Punch magazine illustrations towards the end of the same century. Tenniel’s most credited illustrations were those featured in Lewis Carroll’s: ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (1865). John Tenniel was a secluded person and kept himself from society the
The process of which Tenniel’s final illustrations was achieved involved initial sketches which would later be ‘traced’ onto wood blocks. These wood blocks would then be engraved at different depths to achieve tone and lines. Tenniel’s first ever book illustration was for Samuel Carter Hall’s book titled ‘The Book of British Ballards’ (Engen, 1991). Although this did not help Tenniel achieve his personally unwanted fame, his offer to take the position as the Punch magazines; political cartoonist in 1851 truly did contribute to his national acknowledgement (Engen, 1991). The magazine’s cartoons took a satirical approach and often depicted actual life events in Britain in a humorous, metaphoric and political form. Most of Tenniel’s work for Punch magazine was produced according to editor’s instructions as with any newsprint, an employment Tenniel kept for fifty
As you can observe from the 2010 film adaptation, it features modern animation techniques and the characters closely resemble the ones drawn by Tenniel in the nineteenth century. This shows that even 150 years after publication the illustrative processes of Tenniel are still appreciated as this was a high budget film and has made over one billion American dollars according to the Box Office (2016).

The next two years after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1866-1868), Tenniel focused again on his Punch magazine work, putting in a tremendous amount of effort into his editorial illustrations, while still doing a handful of book illustrations for additional work. These book illustrations were mainly religious works and anthologies (Engen, 1991). In 1866, having debated whether to write a sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll approached Tenniel again to ask for help with the new book, which would later become Through the Looking Glass (Carrol, 1871). Tenniel declined the offer and Carroll desperately searched for a new illustrator. Carroll wrote a letter to Mrs Macdonald in 1868, who had originally encouraged Carroll to publish his first book, which said, “I shall try my luck again with Tenniel, and if he fails me, I really don’t know what to do…” Dodgson (1868 cited in Engen, 1991). This clearly demonstrated Carroll’s reliability