Many people have either heard of or know of Alice in Wonderland. People may know the story through the children’s Disney movie, the movie including actors Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, or through reading the original novel. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass are works of children’s literature that are well-known for their quirky, riddle filled, and unique stories. As with almost all children books, Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland includes many illustrations to engage with the viewer.
In 1969, Salvador Dali decided to create illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Who better than one of the greatest surrealist to create illustrations for this quirky, crazy, and amazing book!
There were only 2,300 copies made for this limited edition, and the prices were relatively high. The antique versions are still expensive to this day. Recently however, as a 150th anniversary, Princeton University reissued another printing of the limited editions in 2015 for much less money. Overall, It’s fascinating to see that Dali illustrated a book that many have heard or read about.
Here are most of the illustrations that Dali created for the chapters within Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
These illustrations are heliogravures (also called photogravure). This is a type of intaglio printmaking. The process can be very demanding and requires a lot of practice and work. Here is a video showing the preparation process, and another one showing how artworks are created on heliogravures.
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All pictures (except feature) are from My Modern Art.
