Norman Thelwell

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Norman Thelwell
Born(1923-05-23)23 May 1923
Birkenhead, England
Died7 February 2004(2004-02-07) (aged 80)
NationalityEnglish
Other namesThelwell
Occupation(s)Cartoonist, comic artist
Notable workPenelope and Kipper

Norman Thelwell (3 May 1923 – 7 February 2004) was an English cartoonist well known for his humorous illustrations of ponies and horses. He was also active as a comic artist, drawing the series Penelope and Kipper. [1]

Life and career

Born in

Second World War in the East Yorkshire Regiment,[2] having signed up at the age of 18 in 1941,[3] and was art editor of an army magazine in New Delhi, India.[2]

His first published cartoon, in the London Opinion, was an Indian subject.[3]

In 1944, he took evening classes in art at

Nottingham Art School.[3] A fellow art student, Rhona, became his wife in 1949.[3] They had one son and one daughter.[2][3]

After Nottingham, he took a degree at

freelance in 1956.[2][3]

He became a contributor to the satirical magazine Punch, who first published his work in 1952,[3] beginning a 25-year relationship that resulted in more than 1,500 cartoons, of which 60 were used as front covers.[3] He also worked as political cartoonist for the News Chronicle from 1956 until the paper closed in 1960.[4]

His first collection of cartoons, Angels on Horseback, was published in 1957.[3]

Known to many only as "Thelwell", he found his true comic niche with

Eagle
.

For the last quarter of a century of his life he lived in the

South Today programme. Written much earlier, but published three years later, A Millstone Round My Neck described his experiences in re-building a Cornish water mill (Addicroft Mill at Liskeard
, which he called Penruin), which was sold before the book was published. He always loved old buildings, and in his autobiography, Wrestling with a Pencil, wrote about his joy in the beauty of old cottages.

In the 1970s, Thelwell also illustrated the front covers of the first six James Herriot books in the series.

Exhibitions

An exhibition of Thelwell's drawings and cartoons was scheduled to be held at the Nature in Art gallery in Gloucester, England, from 30 July to 1 September 2019.[6]

Published books

  • Angels on Horseback (1957)
  • Thelwell Country (1959)
  • A Place of Your Own – A Guide for House-Hunters (1960)
  • Thelwell in Orbit (1961)
  • A Leg at Each Corner (1962)
  • Top Dog (1964) [Dogs]
  • Thelwell's Riding Academy (1965)
  • Drawing Ponies (1966)
  • Up the Garden Path (1967) [gardening]
  • Thelwell's Compleat Tangler (1967) [fishing]
  • Thelwell's Book of Leisure (1968)
  • This Desirable Plot (1970) [real estate]
  • The Effluent Society (1971) [waste and ecology]
  • Penelope (1972)
  • Three Sheets in the Wind (1973) [sailing]
  • Belt Up (1974) [motoring]
  • Thelwell Goes West (1975)
  • Brat Race (1977)
  • Riding Frieze (1977)
  • A Plank Bridge by a Pool (1978)
  • Thelwell's Gymkhana (1979)
  • Horse Sense (1980; previously published as Riding Frieze, 1977)
  • A Millstone Round My Neck (1981)
  • Pony Calvalcade (1981) (3 in 1: Angels on Horseback, A Leg at Each Corner, Riding Academy)
  • Some Damn Fool's Signed the Rubens Again (1982) [owning a stately home]
  • Sporting Prints (1982)
  • How to Draw Ponies (1982; based on Drawing Ponies, 1966)
  • Magnificat (1983) [cats]
  • Wrestling with a Pencil: The Life of a Freelance Artist (1986)
  • Play It As It Lies (1987) [golfing]
  • Pony Panorama (1988) (3 in 1: Gymkhana, Goes West, Penelope)
  • Penelope Rides Again (1989)
  • The Cat's Pyjamas (1992) [cats]

Other published works/or works involved with

  • The Penguin Thelwell (1963)
  • The Delinquent Equine RS Summerhayes and Thelwell (Moss Bros) (undated)
  • Thelwell
    ISBN 1-871136-07-5
    (1989) [sale catalogue]
  • Ploughmans Punch (1995)
  • The Definitive Thelwell
    ISBN 978-1-905738-14-4
    (2009) [sale catalogue]
  • Thelwell Country: 70 years of Norman Thelwell
    ISBN 0-901723-33-9
    (2003–4) [exhibition catalogue, Southampton City Art Gallery]

Forewords written by/contains some illustrations

  • Punch Afloat (1974) – contains two sections written by Thelwell, pp. 36 and 80, as well as additional illustrations
  • Travelling with a Sketchbook by Ray Evans, foreword by Norman Thelwell (1980)

References

  1. ^ "Norman Thelwell". lambiek.net. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e Thelwell (1960). A Place of Your Own. Methuen.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Thelwell's". Estate of Norman Thelwell. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  4. ^ Norman Thelwell Biography, The British Cartoon Archive.
  5. ^ "Norman Thelwell" (obituary), The Daily Telegraph, 9 February 2004.
  6. ^ "Special Exhibitions" (PDF). Natue in Art. Retrieved 18 December 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norman_Thelwell&oldid=1188434161"