Helen Mary Jacobs
Helen Mary Jacobs (1888 – 1970) was an English artist and illustrator known for her work on comic strips for children's annuals, especially fairy art. She also illustrated children's novels and educational school books.
Early life
[edit]She was born 10 October 1888 in Ilford, Essex, the youngest of five children of wharf manager William Jacobs and his second wife Ellen, née Flory.[1][2] She had four half-siblings by her father’s previous marriage, including short story writer W. W. Jacobs.[3][1] She grew up in Stoke Newington, London, and studied at the art school of West Ham Municipal College under watercolourist Arthur Legge.[3]
From 1910, she began exhibiting watercolours at Royal Academy of Arts and Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours exhibitions. She made entomological drawings for Charles Rothschild.[2]
Illustration
[edit]Jacobs contributed watercolour and pen-and-ink drawings and comic strips to children's annuals and periodicals, including The Sunday Fairy (later Bubbles), Playbox, Rainbow, Little Folks, and Joy Street.[4]
She was the main illustrator for children's books by Stella Mead, also providing illustrations for other authors including Enid Blyton, Lilian Gask, Ethel McPherson, and Constance M. Martin.[5][6]
Her 'charming' illustrations 'sum up the transition of fairy painting into the world of children’s books.'[7] Her precise, naturalistic style became brighter and bolder when she began illustrating school books later in life, while she was a primary school teacher in Stoke Newington.[1][4]
She died on 15 December 1970.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Wootton, David (1996). The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration, 1780-1996. Chris Beetles Limited. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-871136-52-4.
- ^ a b "Chris Beetles Gallery". www.chrisbeetles.com. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ a b Peppin, Brigid; Micklethwait, Lucy (1984). Book Illustrators of the Twentieth Century. Arco Pub. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-668-05670-0.
- ^ a b "Helen Jacobs". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ Cope, Dawn; Cope, Peter (2000). Postcards from the Nursery: The Illustrators of Children's Books and Postcards 1900-1950. New Cavendish. ISBN 978-1-872727-88-2.
- ^ Keiken, Cynthia (2006-01-01), "Jacobs, Helen", The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195146561.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-514656-1, retrieved 2024-07-05
- ^ Wood, Christopher (2008). Fairies in Victorian Art. Antique Collectors' Club. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-85149-545-0.
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