Charles Ricketts: A Biography

This is the first major study of the life and times of Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), whose spririted career encompassed many aspects of late Victorian and Edwardian culture--including book and theatre design, painting, sculpture, and art criticism--and whose friends included Yeats, Thomas Moore, Housman, and Bottomley. Drawing on a wide range of material, much of it unpublished or newly discovered, Delaney reveals a man of strong opinions and artistic convictions, a fierce opponent of Postimpressionism and modernism who was noted for his wit, liveliness, generosity, and versatility. His story gives a fascinating look at the cultural and artistic life of England before and after the turn of the century.