Mabel Lucie Attwell
Mabel Lucie Attwell | |
---|---|
Born | Mabel Lucie Attwell 4 June 1879 Mile End, London, England |
Died | 5 November 1964 (aged 85) |
Education | Coopers' Company Regent Street Art School Heatherley Art School |
Occupation(s) | Author and illustrator |
Years active | 1900–1962 |
Known for | Illustrations depicting children; pottery designs |
Notable work | Peter Pan (1921) |
Spouse | Harold Cecil Earnshaw (d. 1937) |
Children | 3 |
Mabel Lucie Attwell (4 June 1879 – 5 November 1964) was a British illustrator and comics artist. She was known for her cute, nostalgic drawings of children. Her drawings are featured on many postcards, advertisements, posters, books and figurines.
Biography
Attwell was born in Mile End, London, 4 June 1879,[1] the sixth child of butcher Augustus Attwell and his wife Emily Ann. She was educated privately and at the Coopers' Company School and at the Regent Street school. She studied at Heatherley's and Saint Martin's School of Art, but left to develop her own interest in imaginary subjects, disliking the emphasis on still-life drawing and classical subjects.[1]
After she sold work to the
Works
Attwell's initial career was founded on magazine illustration, which she continued throughout her life, but around 1900 she began receiving commissions for book illustration, notably for
She illustrated children's classics such as
Attwell contributed illustrations to popular periodicals such as
In 1926 Shelley Potteries commissioned Attwell to produce designs for children's china ware, following the successful sales of china decorated with designs by Hilda Cowham. Attwell’s first six designs portrayed scenes involving children, animals and small green elves in green suits – these were called 'Boo Boos' and used on cups, mugs, bowls etc.[5][6]
She also produced a tea set, comprising a teapot in the shape of a mushroom house, a sugar bowl in the shape of a mushroom with the top cut off and a milk jug in the shape of a green Boo Boo in a coy saluting pose. The response to these designs was enthusiastic and the Pottery Gazette wrote that they were "a truly irresistible range of nursery ware, altogether in advance of what was usually put before the trade." Her success continued and from 1937 a series of children figures was introduced, followed by a series of small elves in various poses. Attwell continued to produce designs for Shelley ware which was still being manufactured in the 1960s.
Attwell was employed by William Webster, the chairman of Wright's Biscuits in the 1930s to create the Wright's logo, a curly-haired boy called Mischief. There was even a Mischief Club for children, with members getting a collectable badge.[7][8]
Comics
In 1943 she had her own comic strip, named Wot A Life, published in the magazine Playbox.[9]
Personal life
In 1908, she married painter and illustrator Harold Cecil Earnshaw and became the mother of one daughter and two sons.
Books by Attwell
- The Boo-Boos Series, Valentine, 1921–22.
- Lucie Attwell’s Annual, Partridge, 1922–1926.
- Baby’s Book, Raphael Tuck, 1922.
- Lucie Attwell’s Children’s Book, Dean, 1927–1932.
- Lucie Attwell’s Annual, Dean, (1926 or 1927?)–1974.
- Lucie Attwell’s Painting Books, Dean, 1934.
- Lucie Attwell’s Great Big Midget Books, Dean, 1934–35.
- Story Books, Dean, 1943–45.
- Jolly Book, 1953.
- Nursery Rhymes Pop-up Book, 1958.
- Book of Verse, 1960.
- Lucie Attwell's ABC Pop-Up Book, 1960.
- Book of Rhymes, Dean, 1962.
References
- ^ ISBN 0-8317-3910-X
- ^ OCLC 54778415.
- ISBN 978-1-871829-28-0.
- ISBN 978-1-84573-473-2.
- ISBN 0903685701
- ISBN 0903685302
- ^ "Wright's Biscuits factory in a dozen delicious archive photos from South Shields". Chronicle Live. 10 March 2015.
- ^ "Christmas in February". Tyne & Wear Museums. 5 February 2013.
- ^ "Mabel Lucie Attwell". Lambiek.net. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- Brian Alderson, "Attwell, Mabel Lucie (1879–1964)", rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 accessed 2 Dec 2007
External links
- Mabel – stated official website with merchandise
- Mabel Lucie Attwell at WorldCollectorsNet.com
- Mabel Lucie Attwell at Women Children's Book Illustrators (ortakales.com)
- Children's Book Illustrators Gallery – with Attwell's Alice Adventures in Wonderland, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and Water Babies
- Mabel Lucie Attwell at Library of Congress, with 6 library catalogue records