Kate Greenaway

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Kate Greenaway (Catherine Greenaway) (born March 17, 1846 in London , † November 6, 1901 in Hampstead ) was an English watercolor painter and illustrator of children's books.

Woodcuts by Kate aged 16 and 21 respectively

Youth and education

Catherine Greenaway (known as Kate Greenaway) was born on Cavendish Street, Hoxton. She was the daughter of the draftsman and woodcut artist John Greenaway , who mainly worked for the " Illustrated London News " and " Punch ". Her mother was Elizabeth Jones, a seamstress and cleaner who later ran a ladies' outfitter business in Islington, where the family lived above the store on Upper Street. The family included her siblings Elizabeth Mary * 1841, Frances Rebecca (Fanny) * 1850 and Alfred John * 1852. She was supposed to be registered as Kate on the birth register, but she accidentally became Catherine.

Kate spent two years of her childhood with relatives in the countryside in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire and it was an idyllic landscape that would become her inspiration. These years in the country impressed her sensitive nature and she remembered the hills, clouds and blossoming trees all her life as well as romping around as a child - and incorporated all of this in her later watercolors. She loved her childhood and remembered, "I hated growing up and cried when I received my first long dress". Even later she liked to visit Rolleston again and again.

When she was brought to Rolleston she was the youngest child in her books and was supposed to be living with her great-aunt Mrs. Wise. However, in a small red stone house where the road to Fiskerton branches off, she spent many of her happiest days with her aunt's housekeeper, Mary Chappell and her husband Thomas Chappell. Kate later painted him in his skirt and tall hat. When she lived in London, she spent long holidays in this farmer's cottage, which she never forgot, as well as the village in the green meadows, where the river Greet turns the old mill wheel on its way to Trent. Behind the Chappell House was Mrs. Neale's farm, which Kate and Mrs. Chappell took to Newark Market . Even farther away in front of the forest stood the farmhouse of Kate's aunt Aldridge, who sometimes took her to the market in horse and cart and bought her a meal with the farmers and their wives in an old inn.

At the age of 12 she was already a laureate of the South Kensington School of Art (Islington branch), which in 1896 became the Royal College of Art . She also later won several medals, including the "National". She attended Heatherley's School and the newly opened Slade School of Fine Art . She studied there under Alphonse Legros . Here she also met Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler) and Helen Paterson (Mrs. Allinton), to whom she remained friends.

Her illustrations had an extraordinary charm. They showed cheeky or modest children with curly hair, in old-fashioned clothes - pretty girls in frock aprons with hoods or frilly dresses with hats and boys in short jackets - who lived in an innocent world where they never suffered serious harm. Her books, maps, and almanac series show Kate's empathy for lines and her instinct for figure composition. The decorative effect of her innocent children in nature with bouquets of flowers, garlands and wreaths is the characteristic and the magical charm of Kate's world.

First successes

Photo of Elliot & Fry aged 34
Kate Greenaway's home in Hampstead Architect: R. Norman Shaw
Kate Greenaway in her study 1895

In addition to designing Christmas and Valentine's cards for the Marcus Ward and Co. company, she went public. She first exhibited at the Dudley Gallery in 1868 when she was 22 . Rev. William John Loftie liked her six little drawings on wood , who published them in the old People's Magazine .

In the 1870s Kate began with book illustrations such as "Fairy Gifts or a Wallet of Wonders" by Kathleen Knox and "Starlight Stories Told to Bright Eyes and Listening Ears" by Fanny Lablache. In 1871 she illustrated nine fairy tales by Madame Marie-Catherine the Elder 'Aulnoy 's' Fairy Tales' for Messrs. Kronheim; Then in 1876 'Quiver of Love' (with Walter Crane ), a collection of Valentines; In 1878 she illustrated 'Poor Nelly' for Madeline Bonavia Hunt ; Also in 1878 she illustrated 'Topo' 'A Tale about English Children in Italy' by Lady Colin Campbell , which she had written under the pseudonym GE Brunefille; and in 1879 for Charlotte Mary Yonge 'Heir of Redclyffe' and 'Heartsease'.

In 1873 she exhibited " A Fern Gatherer " at the Royal Manchester Institution and she sold the painting. In 1877 she sold her first painting at the Royal Academy "Missing" for twenty guineas.

She worked for "The Graphic" and "Illustrated London News". In 1878 she began working with Charles Scribner 's Sons, for whom she worked for a number of years. This also had a positive effect on income. In 1878 she made nearly £ 550, in 1879 over £ 800 and more in 1880. In 1881 her earnings rose to over £ 1500 due to royalty payments on her books, which were engraved and printed by Mr. Evans and the publisher George Routledge & Sons.

In 1880 she was invited by the Grosvenor Gallery to exhibit her paintings. Until now she had sold her pictures without copyright, but from now on she received the copyright to protect against imitators.

The fame

Her father showed her work to the color printer Edmund Evans , who agreed to work with Kate. For her book Under the Window (1878), new photolithography techniques were used to print her watercolors. Evans was able to translate the charm of Greenaway's idyllic, pastoral scenes onto paper through an expensive process that involved photographing her dainty watercolors on blocks of wood. These were then arranged so that some colors overlapped. Contrary to the expert advice, Evans only printed 20,000 copies because the book cost 6 shillings in contrast to the usual sixpence children's books. This first edition sold out immediately and a second print was made, this time of 70,000 books. This book gave her the breakthrough. 100,000 pieces were sold during her lifetime.

This was followed by

  • Kate Greenaway's Birthday Book for Children (1880), (9 × 9 cm) with verse by Mrs. Lucy Elizabeth Drummond Sale-Barker;
  • Mother goose; or, the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881);
  • A Day in a Child's Life, with music (sheet music) by Myles B. Foster, the organist of the Foundling Hospital (1881);
  • Little Ann and other Poems, by Jane and Ann Taylor (1883).

She made £ 8,000 on the first three books and the last of those five books. Now she was floating on the wave of success:

Painting Book of Kate Greenaway (1884); the Language of Flowers (1884); Mayor's English Spelling Book (1884); 'Marigold Garden' (1885); 'Kate Greenaway's Alphabet' (1885); 'Kate Greenaway's Album' (1885); 'A Apple Pie' (1886);

In 1881 the Crown Princess of Germany Victoria (Kaiserin Friedrich) and her sister, Princess Helena, both daughters of Queen Victoria , sought their acquaintance and received Kate at Buckingham Palace .

Now she had enough money to commission the famous architect Richard Norman Shaw to build a house in Hampstead, which she and her parents moved into in 1885.

Also known abroad

“Under the Window” has been translated into the following languages:

  • Norwegian 1880
  • German 1880
  • French 1880
  • Swedish 1882
  • Dutch 1888
  • Japanese 1979

In 1894 they began working with " The Ladies' Home Journal, " which was published in Philadelphia with a circulation of 700,000 copies. With this, Kate also conquered the American market. The collaboration spanned four editions and proved highly profitable. She was paid £ 30 per side for the series rights. For this she provided only seven or eight beautiful, little pen drawings to illustrate verses by Miss Laura E. Richards.

The friendship with John Ruskin

When the two met in 1882 he was sixty-three and she thirty-six. Ruskin admired her, and from then on he supervised her work and dominated her life. He always admired childlike innocence in women, and the way Kate portrayed her girlies . Kate was fascinated by him. They spoke child language to each other, he was her "darling Dinie" and she signed her letters with a different number of kisses depending on her mood. He wanted her to draw her children's models naked just for him and send the drawings to him, but Kate refused. The relationship was almost certainly purely platonic, but her devotion to him survived his bad mood, fits of madness, and eventual senility and lasted until his death in 1900.

There was a nursery rhyme book from 1823, Lady Wiggings of Lee , that Ruskin particularly liked and to which he wanted to add a few verses of his own. For this purpose, the book with the woodcuts had to be reissued. Ruskin wrote four verses of his own explaining how the cats were educated, and asked Kate to illustrate them. Kate made four outline drawings for readers to color in - in contrast to the bold lines of the old woodblock prints. Ruskin decided that her drawings were spot on and didn't need any changes. Ruskin's verses and Kate Greenaway's woodcut drawings are on the pages. 3, 4, 8, and 9.

Her most famous critic of "Under the Window" was, of course, her friend John Ruskin, who viewed her work as a "pastoral fairyland" and praised her for creating something that was "decent, neat, beautiful and pure".

Through her association with Edward Evans, Kate made the acquaintance of Randolph Caldecott , the illustrator of a very successful series of children's books that have been published regularly at Christmas for the past eight years. Caldecott's work was more detailed and varied the subjects more than Kate. They were friends of each other until Caldecott's death in 1886.

Although many were imitating Kate, she had no real rivals. Caldecott wanted the children to have fun with his books, and Walter Crane wanted to entertain the children. Kate alone showed that she was a friend of the children who could create a unique, intimate bond with her readers. Chubby, simple and shy, she was never married and had no children of her own.

Because of her work, she was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors in 1889 .

From 1883 to 1897, Kate published her own almanac annually.

Kate's last book illustration 1900

The Macmillan publishing house offered Kate a new assignment to illustrate the “April Baby Book of Melodies” by one of her favorite authors and whom Kate greatly admired, the Countess von Arnim, the author of “Elizabeth and Her German Garden”. Having recommended Elizabeth's book to John Ruskin once, it influenced Kate's decision to accept the assignment. After three years of not illustrating a book but turning to oil painting, she found it particularly difficult to complete the work on time and she wrote a pathetic apology to the Countess to assure her that she would work as soon as she could. She was already suffering from her illness. Finally, a few weeks before her appointment, she finished the drawings and the book was published in early December 1900. The author's friends who knew the real 'April Babies' (namely the Countess' daughters) were amazed at how well Kate had captured their likeness. (she had not yet worked from photographs). The Anthenaeum wrote that it was' Miss Greenawa | in top form "(Engen, Kate Greenaway. A Biography, pp. 209-210). The April Baby's Book of Tunes by Elizabeth von Arnim . It was the first of Kate's illustrated books to be printed in chromolithography - sixteen chromolithographic plates (six Full pages) including cover picture.

The Fine Art Society (Bond Street) held three exhibitions of her work during her lifetime in 1880, 1891 and 1898, and a fourth after her death in January 1902. She sold her paintings worth several thousand pounds. It was not until 1899 that she turned to painting portraits in oil. In the same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The uncrowned queen of the golden age of children's book illustration was fifty-four when she moved to her house no. 39 Frognal, died in Hampstead. Her urn was buried in the Hampstead cemetery. A verse she wrote for the occasion was carved on her tombstone:

  • Heaven's blue skies may shine above my head,
  • While you stand there - and say that I am dead!

Translation:

Heaven's blue skies shine above my head While you stand there - and say I'm dead!

The children's clothes

Despite her nearsightedness, Kate was a good seamstress and she made her own 1800-style children's clothing for her purposes. She paid special attention to the children's clothes, which she drew down to the smallest detail. So a new style was born. The clothes in her drawings became very well known and caught the attention of the fashion world to the extent that the name Kate Greenaway became as familiar in fashion circles as it was in literary circles. The gowns, bonnets, aprons, and ruffles were old-fashioned and reminiscent of the Regency era , but they captured the nostalgic imagination of readers and the style experienced a rebirth. Liberty of London , a well-known UK department store, took fashion from Kate's illustrations in 1884 and made a range of children's clothing. When Liberty's opened a branch in Paris in 1889, their style spread throughout France.

An entire generation of mothers in the liberal-minded British artist circles who called themselves "The Souls" and embraced the Arts and Crafts movement dressed their daughters in Kate Greenaway harem pants and bonnets in the 1880s and 90s Years.

' Greenawisme ' represents a phase in art and clothing that was included in the 1904 Hachette Almanac under the heading 'L'Histoire du Costume des Enfants' (History of Children's Clothing), accompanied by the hairstyles. The "Wiener Neue Freie Presse" said that Kate Greenaway had set a monument for herself by reforming children's clothing.

Kate Greenaway's signature designs were later widely copied for the manufacture of china, tiles, wallpaper, and other everyday objects.

The Kate Greenaway Medal has been awarded in her honor since 1955 .

literature

Works

Web links

Commons : Kate Greenaway  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

Sources: Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) , Victorian Art History

  1. ↑ The Little Encyclopedia. Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich 1950, Volume 1, p. 646
  2. ↑ Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School)
  3. ^ Founded in 1845, The Heatherley School of Fine Art is the oldest independent art school in London, after the Royal Academy
  4. ↑ Kate at Slade School
  5. ↑ Helen Paterson Allingham, RWS (1848-1926)
  6. ↑ Marcus Ward and Co.
  7. ^ Dudley Gallery
  8. ↑ William John Loftie by WB Owen in: DNB Biography 1912 supplement
  9. ↑ A Wallet of Wonders by Kathleen Knox
  10. ↑ Fanny Lablache: Starlight stories told to bright eyes and listening ears, illustr. by K. Greenaway Publisher: Griffith & Farran, London 1877
  11. ↑ UNDER THE WINDOW in the Gutemberg project
  12. ↑ Victoria of Prussia, called "Kaiserin Friedrich"
  13. ^ Princess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
  14. ↑ Various covers of her book “Under the Window”
  15. ↑ Ladies Home Journal ”developed under Louisa Knapp Curtis and Edward W. Bok  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Collecting old magazines@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / collectingoldmagazines.com  
  16. ↑ Laura Richards
  17. ↑ Dame Wiggins of Lee, and Her Seven Wonderful Cats . Edited by John RUSKIN, Illustrated by Kate Greenaway. Published by George Allen, Orpington, Kent 1885
  18. ↑ Review “Under the Window”
  19. ↑ Kate Greenaway Almanacks 1883-1897 in miniature format approx. 10.5 × 8 cm
  20. ^ The April Baby's Book of Tunes -Online book page of Penn University
  21. ↑ Kate Greenaway By Richard Cavendish - Published in “History Today”, Volume 51, Issue 11, November 2001
  22. ↑ 33 People in sitter grouping: The Souls
personal data
SURNAME Greenaway, Kate
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English watercolor painter and illustrator of children's books
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1901
Place of death Hampstead