British Illustrators 21: Aubrey Beardsley and Salome

Off Prompt: British Illustrators 21: Aubrey Beardsley and Salome

OK, Salome was very much not a children’s book. So how does Aubrey Beardsley qualify? Well, I can stretch the point because although Aubrey Beardsley was very much not a children’s illustrator, he did at one point illustrate an edition of the 1001 Arabian Nights. And furthermore. . . he was a genius in my book. Effectively his career lasted about 6 years, before his tragic early death from tuberculosis at the age of 26. For the later part of that career he was often vilified. However his work is now more popular than ever, and his influence on artists, and graphic designers since the 60s has been frankly immense.

Looking at this famous image you can see some of the hallmarks of the Art Nouveau style of which Beardsley was an innovator – the elongated liquid forms, for example. But look at the way he uses monochrome – this was not years ahead of his time, but decades. I first came to know of Beardsley and his work when I was 17, and studying my English A levels. (A levels are/were the qualifications you needed to pass in England and Wales in order to gain a place to study at University). One of my fellow students was not, frankly, great at English, but he was a superb artist, and he told me about basing his final project on Beardsley. When I researched this name which I knew nothing about, I too fell instantly under his spell.

British Illustrators 20: Mervyn Peake and Treasure Island

Mervyn Peake is another of our great writer-illustrators. Today he’s best remembered for his three dark, gothic Gormenghast fantasy novels. I thoroughly enjoyed both “Titus Groan” and “Gormenghast”, the first two novels of the series, although I really couldn’t get on with “Titus Alone”, the final novel of the series. However, focusing on Mervyn Peake as an illustrator,  I’ve chosen to copy one of his brilliant illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Mervyn Peake was actually born in China, of British parents, although he left China never to return when he was 11 years old. He trained as an artist in the Royal Academy Schools, but by his early 20s he was already writing poetry as well as painting. In a varied career, Peake actually designed the logo for Pan Books, a popular paperback imprint. The story goes that he was offered the choice of either a flat fee or a royalty of a farthing (1/4 of an old penny) per book, and on the advice of Graham Greene turned down the royalty and thus lost a small fortune. Peake was a lifelong lover of the work of Robert Louis Stevenson, and his illustrations for Treasure Island are, in my opinion, among the finest ever made of a book which has always been a favourite of mine as well. It took ages to make this copy. Peake’s style in this illustration eschews long continuous lines – apart from in the shading of the background.

British Illustrators 19: George Cruikshank and Oliver Twist

Contrary to what you might think, not all of Charles Dickens’ novels were originally illustrated by Phiz (real name Hablot Knight Brown). His second novel, Oliver Twist, was illustrated by George Cruikshank, a very well-known illustrator of his day.

We could argue about whether it’s fair to put Dickens’ novels into the category of children’s literature. Certainly his contemporary audience included all ages and pretty much all classes. Leaving that to one side, though, I’ve been a lover of Dickens ever since I first read “David Copperfield” as a kid. It took me longer than any other novel I’d read up to that point, but it was well worth it.

As for George Cruickshank, in the early part of his career he was pretty much a successor to political cartoonist James Gillray. When he illustrated Dickens “Sketches by Boz” he was far more well known and popular than the author, although Dickens’ success would come to far outstrip Cruikshank. In later years Cruickshank claimed credit for much of the plot of Olver Twist, which frankly seems unlikely. It’s worth noting that he waited until Dickens had died before writing a letter to the Times to claim as much in 1871. Cruikshank is interesting to me because he provides a link between the cartoonist illustrators of Gillray’s generation, and those of Tenniel’s generation.

British Illustrators 18: Rudyard Kipling and Just So Stories

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I liked “The Jungle Book” when I read it. The problem was, though, that I’d already seen Disney’s wonderful film version, and this was something altogether different. My favourites of Kipling’s works are a number of his poems, and also his “Just So Stories”. These are stories, concerning how various animals came to be the way that they are, that Kipling made up for his daughter Josephine. The title comes from the fact that Kipling had to tell each tale exactly the same way he had told it previously – just so – or Josephine would complain. Maybe it’s because these stories were so personal to his own family that Kipling decided to illustrate the stories himself. I’ve copied The Elephant’s Child, which may possibly be the best known of the collection. Looking at it you can see that either his Dad taught him a thing or two about art, or he inherited some of his old man’s talent, because there’s not just skill at draughtsmanship here, but also a strong sense of the effect you can get by using large areas of black within a monochrome sketch. I can only surmise that maybe Kipling was just too prolific a writer to have the time to illustrate his own books for the most part, but even if just for his illustrations to the Just So Stories alone he deserves to be considered among the ranks of very fine writer-illustrators.

British Illustrators 17: John Lockwood Kipling and The Jungle Book

Yes, we all know that “The Jungle Book” was written by Rudyard Kipling, but be honest, how many of us knew that the original illustrations for the book were made by Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling? I didn’t, that’s for sure.

I’ll be honest, I only found this out while researching who the original illustrator of Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” was. John Lockwood Kipling first moved to India from England in the 1860s to teach architectural sculpture at a school of Art in Mumbai, where he later became the school Principal. He was later commissioned by the government to make sketches of Indian craftsmen, and moved to teach in Lahore, where he also became curator of the original Lahore Museum. On retirement in 1893 he returned to England. John Lockwood Kipling’s work is that of a professional and highly competent professional artist of his era. In particular, the pencil and ink sketches he made of Indian craftsmen at work are very effective and evocative.

One shouldn’t speculate about the relationship between John Lockwood Kipling and his son Rudyard, but it’s hard not to. On the one hand Rudyard would call his own beloved son John, and turned to John Lockwood to provide illustrations for several of his works. On the other hand, certainly with “The Jungle Book” but also others of his works, childhood loss and abandonment are significant themes, and maybe this is a reflection of the trauma Rudyard went through when sent at age 5 to school in England.

British illustrators 16: D. L. Mays and Jennings

Anthony Buckeridge wrote 22 novels chronicling the adventures of JCT Jennings and his best friend Darbishire at Linbury Court Preparatory School between 1950 and 1977, and another 2 novels in the 1990s. I loved the Jennings novels every bit as much as I loved Richmal Crompton’s Just William books. When I first read “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorceror’s) Stone” my immediate thought was that there was something cosy and familiar about the school set up in Hogwarts, and I’ve no doubt it was my memories of Jennings’ adventures which prompted this feeling. They’re charming and fairly light-hearted stories, centring on the results of the literal minded Jennings’ good-natured misunderstandings and the misadventures arising therefrom.

11 of the books were illustrated by Douglas (D.L.) Mays. Mays attended my alma mater, University of London Goldsmiths College, at the same time as Graham Sutherland. He worked for a wide range of children’s comics and other magazines, including the famous Punch. His best-known work is the illustrations for Jennings, and other popular children’s authors of the time like Noel Streatfield. His line sketch work is relatively typical of the period – illustrative and unfussy, although I do think he was particularly good at summing up a boy’s personality with just a few well-placed lines.

British Illustrators 15: H.R. Millar ad Five Children and It

Off Prompt: British Illustrators 15: H.R. Millar and Five Children and It

Scottish illustrator H.R. Millar was the original illustrator for several children’ books written by Edith Nesbit. Edith Nesbit, or E. Nesbit as she was known, authored something like 60 children’s books before her death in 1924. Extremely popular in the first few decades of the 20^th century, her works are still read today. Her most enduring novel is probably “The Railway Children”, due in no small part to lasting affection for the popular film. However my particular favourite, “Five Children and It” was also made into a film in 2004, with Eddie Izzard providing the voice of the Psammead, or sand fairy, which you can see in the illustration, which resulted in a mini revival of interest in Nesbit’s work. “Five Children and It” has never been out of print since publication. My first contact with the book came through television. In the 60s and 70s the BBC in the UK used to broadcast a programme called Jackanory. In this, a popular story – e.g. Five Children and It – would be abridged into 5 ten- or fifteen-minute segments, - one for each day of the week, and be read out by an actor, and this where I first encountered the story. At least three Jackanory readers went on to win Oscars – feel free to suggest which ones in the comments section. Sadly, I can’t remember who read this story, though.

H.R. Millar was a prolific artist, and he worked with many famous authors including Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. He’s probably best remembered for his illustrations for books like this and “The Phoenix and the Carpet” for E. Nesbit, though.