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Inspiration from Artists Week 170 featuring Cicely Mary Barker and John Cuneo.
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Posted
CICELY MARY BARKER (1895-1973) was a British artist best known for her Flower Fairy paintings. Born in Croydon, she was physically frail throughout her life - suffering from epilepsy, she spent much of her early childhood in bed, entertaining herself with painting books. Her father, an accomplished artist himself, encouraged her artistic talent, and aged 13 she enrolled on an evening class at the Croydon School of Art, where aged 16 she became the youngest ever life member.
She soon sold her first piece of work and decided to make a career out of painting. In the early 20th Century fairies became a popular theme in art and literature. She created a postcard series featuring fairies and elves in 1918, and in 1923 her work was published as ‘Flower Fairies of the Spring’ followed two years later by ‘Flower Fairies of the Summer’ which saw her earning royalties for the first time.
The Pre-Raphaelite artists were a major influence on her work and she believed, as they did, in ‘truth to nature’. To this end, her flowers and figures were painted from life as far as possible, with the fairies being modelled on the children from her sister’s nursery school. Her plants - always botanically accurate - were often painted with the help of staff at Kew Gardens.
Since their publication in 1923 her Flower Fairies have enchanted adults and children alike around the world. Her 170 original illustrations were often accompanied by a poem or verse dedicated to the individual Flower Fairy and her characters and artwork have been translated into fiction for young readers. She also used art to express her deeply held Christian beliefs and painted a number of, sometimes large scale, religious works. Nature and her spiritual beliefs formed much of the inspiration for her work.
Edited
by Jenny Harris
Posted
I really like Barkers body of work, alongside other illustrators of the time like Margaret Tarrent and Molly Brett. Amazing attention to detail in the natural world. I also like the what I call Sunday School pictures featuring angels with young children and Jesus's looking like one of the Eagles or some other 1970s californian rock band.
Although she painted these Christian pictures, and indeed was a devout Christian she also gave talks for the Theosophical Society on the subject of Faerie, very different from the sweet illustrations. I still have her books and still take them of the shelf now and again and look at them. I have done so more in old age.
The painting of the two children is my favourite painting by her. The other painting is very High victorian and pre Raphaelite influenced.
Posted
I've just remembered I saw this artist's original work on a visit to the Watts Gallery, near Guildford. I admired her art skills very much.
As I play with pen and watercolour myself, I like to see this work. In the work below, as in all her pictures, I note that she mostly outlines her subject completely, and uses minimal pen with the subject matter within the subject...folds in clothing, and details on flowers, for example. Mostly, she doesn't use pen on the background very much. This, of course, keeps it in the background. I don't consider this pen and wash, the colours are vivid which I like. Washes on pen drawings can often look faint and 'wishy-washy'. You may disagree.
I saw a lot of her drawings at the Watts Gallery.
A very clever lady.
I saw a lot of her drawings at the Watts Gallery.
A very clever lady.
Posted
I agree with you Lewis about the drawing round the images and softer background. Something I often do in my own paintings. Having said that I've always loved these illustrators that did a much of their work between the wars. Many of them used this technique including the two I mentioned before, but also Alfred Bestall (Rupert books) used this technique an awful lot. I often wondered did they fill in an outline, or did they outline after. I do both depending on picture, so I suppose they might have done also. Quite fascinating isn't it.
Posted
It’s Jenny who posted this. I’m not overly keen on fairies as a subject, but the art involved appeals very much. I occasionally draw fairies in my fantasy pics, but mine usually have faces like old boots. I had lots of Dandy and Eagle annuals when I was kid, they got dumped along the ways…pity…I’d quite like to look at them now I’m in my second childhood.