Contents

Editorial - Illustration 78
Simon Cooke

News and Reviews

A round-up of interesting new and forthcoming exhibitions for all tastes, along with a reflection on book towns and short reviews of outstanding illustrated books.

John Lawrence 

Now over 90, John Lawrence is one of the most versatile and productive illustrators of the post-war period, an artist who visualized everything from classic literary texts such as Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island to delightful books for children. Lawrence’s striking style never ceases to fascinate as he always catches a book’s tone and underlying messages. Professor Martin Salisbury explores the life and art of his friend.

The Illustrator’s Interview

Josephine Birch is a versatile illustrator and artist whose work extends from amusing images in a lyrical, sweetly pleasing style for children, to moody, Romantic nocturnal landscapes. Josephine talks in detail about her ideas, influences and challenges, and especially how she draws strength from the landscape and mood of special places.

Peter Newell

The American artist Peter Newell is a name barely known on this side of the Pond. Warren Clements considers Newell’s colour cartoons, unconventional humour and downright strangeness as he explores his iconography of bears, silly situations and comic characters. Once seen, this late nineteenth and early twentieth century artist is never forgotten.

A Favourite Book – the Haggadah

A childhood favourite is often a life-time’s friend. Professor Catherine Golden guides us through the pages of one of her precious books, which is illustrated in striking black and white and Art Deco lines by Isidore Lipton. Catherine reflects on her memories as she waited for the Seder and read the Haggadah.

Robert Taylor Pritchett

Pritchett was a Victorian all-rounder who moved between humour, landscape, seascapes and portraiture. His images are real works of graphic art, with strong contrasts of black and white. Dr Jacqueline Banerjee probes the life and art of this forgotten artist following her discovery of his work in an exhibition at a local library.

Honoré Daumier

The great French satirist needs no introduction as he savages cruelty and laughs at social ineptitude in his powerful cartoons, a humour that is just as relevant now as it was then. Brian McAvera helps us to appreciate this striking artist anew in his latest account of graphic art on the other side of the Channel.

Luke Fildes

Best known for his painting, the Victorian Fildes was an illustrator as well, notably for Dickens in the form of his sinister images for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Professor Philip Allingham introduces his complex and resonant illustrations for Boz and for Charles Lever.

Sheila Robinson

The Editor reviews a beautiful new book which explores the art of this highly accomplished British illustrator.

Edward Bawden

The Editor is still wearing his reviewing hat – this time exploring an impressive exhibition which is being held at The Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

The Edward Bawden Archive

Victorian Partridge describes the Gallery’s archive of Bawden’s prints and drawings at the Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Caitlin Holloway

A recent MA graduate, Caitlin talks about her work, ambitions, and current employment.

Resources

Look and Learn
The latest exhibitions along with details of important resources to facilitate study of illustration and graphic art.

Notes on our contributors

Martin Salisbury is Professor of Illustration at Cambridge School of Art in Anglia Ruskin University, where he designed the internationally renowned MA Children’s Book Illustration programme. He studied illustration under Gerald Rose at Maidstone College of Art in the 1970s before working as an illustrator and painter for many years. He is the author of a number of books on the practical and theoretical aspects of illustration which have been published in numerous languages around the world.

Josephine Birch is an artist, printmaker and Illustrator from South-West England. Josephine is passionate about drawing and all her illustrations are informed by her location drawing practise, bringing a strong sense of place and weather to the works. She is represented by Partnership Editions and currently teaches Print Making at the Arts University, Plymouth. Josephine graduated with first BA and MA Illustration from Cambridge School of Art and is a Royal Drawing School postgraduate Scholar. 

Warren Clements was for many years a writer and editor with The Globe and Mailnews paper in Toronto. He now publishes books through a small Canada-only imprint, Nestlings Press, specializing in humour and illustration.

Catherine J. Golden is professor of English and the former Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters at Skidmore College. She is the author of Serials to Graphic Novels: The Evolution of the Victorian Illustrated Book(Gainesville, FL: UPF, 2017), Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing(Gainesville, FL: 2000), and Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction(Gainesville, FL: UPF, 2003). She is also editor or co-editor of five additional books and numerous articles on topics ranging from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Victorian illustration, literature, and culture.

Dr Jacqueline Banerjee took her degrees in English Language and Literature from King’s College London, and subsequently taught English literature at universities in Canada, Ghana, Japan and England. She has written four books of literary criticism and two research guides, and has published widely in academic journals. For several decades, she has been a regular reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement. Since January 2021 she has been the Editor-in-Chief and Webmaster of the Victorian Web, a large scholarly not-for-profit website.

Brian McAvera is a playwright, art critic, curator and, occasionally, an art historian. His best-known plays are the cycle Picasso’s Women, which have been translated for productions into over 20 languages. His most recent book is a critical study of the Irish artist, Graham Gingles (“GrahamGingles Boxed In,” Cyphers, Secrecy And Sensuality, F.E. McWilliam Gallery, 2022). Brian is an avid collector of Frenchnineteenth century illustrated books.

Professor Philip Allingham has published widely on Dickens and Hardy with a focus on their illustrations, and is the longest-standing contributor to the Victorian Web. Having retired from his post at Lakehead University, he has continued to work on the Victorian and American illustrators of Dickens and Lever while teaching part-time for Vancouver Island University and Thompson Rivers University.

Victoria Partridge is the Keeper of Fine Art at the Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.