Carpenter, Humphrey, and Mari Prichard. (1984). "Kate Greenaway" in Carpenter and Prichard (eds.) The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-211582-0
225 - "English artist, writer of verses, and illustrator of children's books, whose vision of sunlit and flower surrounded children clothed in imaginary 18th-century costume inspired not only devoted readers and countless imitators, but also a persistent fashion in children't dress."
Born Catherine in Hoxton, 2nd of 4 children. Father John left job at Landells to engrave illustrations for new edition of Dickens novels; sent family to the live w/ relatives to concentrate on his work; family gone for 2 yrs. Publisher went bankrupt, no commission, no money.
225 - Kate returned to Rolleston throughout out children for extended visits; she considered it her real home, idealized it in her mind, creating and embellishing memories.
225 - back in London filled her with longing for the country, writing later, "I live in a London street then I long & long to be the whole day the sweet flowers among"
225 - at home, father's work = chapbook editions of fairytales, favorites = Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast. Read illustrated Shakespeare, writing, "Children often don't care a bit about the books people think they will and I think they often like grown-up books - at any rate I did"
226 - interesting in drawing, in her father's work, shared a bond with him. At 12 to National Course of Art Instruction, then to Female School of Art in South Kensington and then the Slade School.
226 - terrible at anatomy; could not draw human figures
226 - 1st public exhibition at age 22, not long after took work designing Christmas & Valentine's cards & illustrations for toy books (for Frederick Warne) - poorly painted & colored
226 - some line engravings, father engraved them
226 - Children dressed in imaginary 18th-cent dress appear in earliest work - she made the clothing herself
226 - 1877/78 - meets Evans
226 - Under the Window, six shillings, because Evans process expensive, 4-5 blocks and outline per illustration. Paid to print 20,000; published for Christmas 1879 (1878) - sold out, Evans printed 70k & then another 30k
226 - KG good relationship w/ Evans and only him to print her work - later Ruskin would tell her Evans ruined her work & urged hand-coloring
227 - Long list of titles Evans printed: Almanacks every year from 1883 to 1897, except 1896, all "hugely successful" widely imitated and her sales fell b/c of imitations
227 - The April Baby's Book of Tunes (1900) last commission of illustrations
Taylor, Ina. (1991). The Art of Kate Greenaway: A Nostalgic Portrait of Childhood. Gretna, LA: Pelican Books. ISBN978-0882-898-674
As a childrens' book illustrator KG's fame is unprecedented; persists century plus after death; most books still in print; widespread > Europe to Asia (8)
Decorative designs still used on objects (8)
KG represents a "style" vs a person; the style = pastoral setting, children frolicking; a place that's "forever beatiful and innocent" (8)
Taylor: "In the Greenaway world it is nearly always May ... Children are tempted outdoors to play, wearing sprigged muslin frocks and summer bonnets. Older sisters take afternoon tea in formal gardens where Nature has been thoroughly tamed. Geraniums and lilies bloom in geometrically shaped beds contained by neat box hedges and gravel paths; the trees are model of the topiarist's art ... There is beauty in order and security; nothing is allowed to run wild and threaten the tranquility (8)
Yet landscapes based on real models/cottages/places/gardens (8)
KG made the clothing & hats depicted in her art for child models (8)
Early
Elizabeth Greenaway = rebelled against corseting, made her own loose fashions similar pre-Raphaelite dresses, dressmaker, friends acknowledged her skill as a seamstress, particularly tucking (16)
Weak after KG's birth; agreed to leave London; John to cheaper lodgings; (19)
Fully recuperated wanted active part in family's financial troubles; leveraged sewing skill & opened shop. Chose a "large, dilapidated Elizabethan house divided into three shop units with living accommodations above and behind" opened shop offering self-made children's frocks & elaborate trimmings (19)
Only lived there 3 yrs yet Kate came away w/ memories of crumbling/rambling dwelling - artwork features half-timbered Elizabethan dwellings (19)
Elizabeth supported family, popular shop, hired assistants, moved to larger premises (19)
Up street (Upper Street)in Islington 1852 to larger shop added ladies millinery; business continued to grow; family lived close by in separate house; Kate spent 20 yrs in fashionable end of Islington; (20)
KG = "quiet observer" as child; observant w/ good memory, i.e details of mother's children's fashions; used shop scraps to sew clothing for dolls; thought fashionable Islington street life exciting; went to Rolleston each year for 4-5 months (23)
In Rolleston strong bond w/ Chapell family (infant nurse during mother's illness); smallholders w/ cows/dairy/etc; inspiration for pastoral themes (24-5)
In Chapell's cottage fascinated her; old-fashioned four poster bed; clothing chest w/ old costumes; patchwork quilt with hundreds of fabric/patterns/texture (27)
Rolleston = flowers +++. KG re Rolleston it "was a sort of Eden - or Paradise - where the air was scented with apple blossom and you walked through cowslips or seemed to live in a sea of buttercups and daisies that were everywhere - a world covered with flowers and blue sky and divinely fresh air" Affected & informed her art. (27)
Course not full-time; had time to prepare for exhibitions and begin to take commissions; exhibited at Dudley two yrs after it opened, set of line drawings meant for wood engraving sold to Loftie (34)
Through father's contacts received commissions early in career; through Loftie met Marcus Ward; received card commission from Marcus Ward & Co. 1868 +++ (36)
Early work
Early cards identifiable re characteristic fashions but gaudy; later less so; Quiver of Love features medieval garments; others feature 18th cent fashions (36)
KG made the clothing featured in artwork; usually doll-sized miniature versions & used as models to draw; one card set sold 25,000+ in three weeks; she only received 3 pounds; Quiver of Love reissued repeatedly & as book (38)
Earnings low but caught public attention (38)
Evans
Descriptions of Edmund Evans intro - (copy from that article)
KG's "unfussy lines and pure colours" were perfect for Evans' wood block Chromoxylography technique (50)
Evans' did not like her verse, wanted the illustrations w/out the verse and said, "I should say she was decidedly a strong-minded woman" despite being quiet & shy. She insisted illustrations + verse (50)
Compromise > corrections to verse; illustrations sold outright & 30% profit to KG (51)
Fruitful association; KG became good friends w/ Evans & family; collaborated with Randolph Caldecott & Walter Crane, (51)
Window published for Xmas 1879 >> Evans paid to have 20,000 copies printed, price = 6 shillings, sold out + another 70k immediately. Evans: "George Rutledge 'chaffed' me considerably for printing 20,000 first editions of a book to sell at six shillings, but we can soon found out that we had not printed nearly enough to satisfy the first demand. I know booksellers sold copies at a premium, getting ten shillings each for them: it was of course long out of print, for I could not print fast enough to keep up the sale" (58)
Success
KG instant commercial success and critical praise; receive many letters including from John Ruskin, first long letter arrived January 1880 (58)
2nd Evans book a year later - xmas 1880 - Kate Greenaway's Birthday Book for Children - smaller format for children/382 drawings/ 12 colored/ 365 verse to be written by Lucy Sale-Barker (58)
1880s many invitations to social functions but innate shyness prevented acceptances w/ few exceptions. Mary Jeune, Baroness St Helier made her a protege & invited KG to her pop. salon; made sure KG was comfortable w/ the invited company; the two enjoyed regular summer visits 1880 to end of life; in 1881 Lady Jeune arranged for KG to meet with Princess Victoria (58)
KG gradually less shy; travelled; visited friends; Punch parodied her; much re Locker-Lampson (return to this) (62)
Moved family from Islington to Pemberton Gardens; then spend 2000 pounds for lot in Hampstead Heath - an area that resonated w/ her love for countryside - hired Richard Norman Shaw to build arts & crafts style house fronting Frognal Green - his smallest house; he suited it to the client, creating a doll house for KG. (64)
At the same time KG spent too much money; elaborately decorated tea sets, etc; & house (64)
KG provided for entire family; Elizabeth gave up her shop in 1879; John retired at 70 (64)
1880s > earnings = 1000 pounds per annum; The Birthday Book (1880) > sold 150,000 copies brought in 1100 pounds + commissions for magazine illustrations, books, cards, up to 1880 18 books 8 journals calendars (check dates here) (65)
1881 Mother Goose w/ Evans; some criticism; KG wanted rough paper unsuitable for printing, he flattened paper, printed, wet paper again for rough effect, but printing process prolonged, no proofs, faces blurred, poor registers, magazine reviews were good, sold 66,000 (65-6)
1883 first KG Almanack fit niche market, sold 90,000; publishers began reissuing cards b/c everything Greenaway profitable (69)
Ruskin
Ruskin correspondence begins 1880 > sporadic first three years (72)
Ruskin invited himself to visit her xmas 1882; KG nervous, Ruskin enormous reputation in art community; his critical reviews elevated artists, her father's age (72)
Subsequent letters more affectionate and frequent ("My darling Kate"), invited her to visit his home in Lake District April 1883 (72)
KG w/ Ruskin for a month, described the visit as "devine", believed he loved her (and her art) despite age difference (36/64) b/c of shared interests; expected marriage proposal (72)
Locker-Lampson & other friends/acquaintances pushed to background unwisely. Taylor, "Ruskin gave out advice on her career which wrecked it, his attempt to improve her drawing ability destroyed her confidence ... " (74)
Ruskin's mental deterioration obvious, subject of London gossip, long absences & silences in correspondence when his cousin Joan Severn removed him to Lake District to recover from breakdowns (75)
Locker-Lampson disapproved of KG/Ruskin friendship, but wouldn't tell an unmarried woman the unsavory public knowledge & gossip re Ruskin's proclivities & obsessions w/ very young women; he believed Ruskin cultivated friendship for access to KG's child models, not at all interested in her or her art. Taylor it's possible KG never knew b/c of societal secrecy & she was spinster (75)
Ruskin made KG change her style, friends, told her to stop illustrating & devote herself to Art; his admonition to her to learn to draw figures from life = justified criticism (78)
Asked her to send sketches of nude child models; she refused b/c too embarrassed (80)
Vested in her career Evans invited her to frequent visits in Surrey, suggested Language of Flowers as their next collaboration (80)
Flowers published 1884; Victorian concept of assigning meaning to each flower, "was Kate's first real opportunity to demonstrate her outstanding ability to paint flowers" (80)
Ruskin loathed it, telling her "you and your publishers are both and all geese" (80)
Evans wanted another book; KG started w/ Marigold Garden but lacked interest and confidence, the illustrations took too long, sales were disappointing - only 6500 when published in 1885. Ruskin hated it. (82)
KG became despondent; not a romance as she envisioned it progressing, yet continued to make occasional visits to Brentwood in Lake District. In summer of 1885 KG witnessed Ruskin as agitated, his cousin/caretaker Joan Severn asked her to leave. During her 1888 visit she witnessed Ruskin having the "most distressing and violent attack"; yet that year she refused to leave, insisted on staying to nurse him. Broke with Severn who knew KG was only one of several young women w/ whom Ruskin corresponded regularly and inappropriately. Older female relatives intervened in the other correspondences, but KG old enough & independent; refused to listen & face situation. (87)
KG approached Robert Browning to illustrate Pied Piper one of her childhood favorites, researched medieval costumes, Evans engraved & printed, published 1888, sold 10,000. (90)
Mixeed reviews, in England Pied Piper dismissed as "pseudo-German medievalism on the large scale" but in the US good reviews. (90)
Ruskin said it was a disappointment and it was sublime > v. contradictory (90)
Kate Greenaway's Book of Games published 1889, 24 color pages, her own favorite childhood games, sales continued low, w/ 10,000 at publication. (90)
1890s
Early 1890s KG moved away from illustrating and tried her hand at watercolor painting; renewed friendship with Helen Allingham, took outdoor painting excursions, painted cottages, elected member of Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1899, less prestigious than the Royal Watercolor Society (95)
Ended cottage-painting project, couldn't keep pace w/ Allingham, preferred to work in studio, realized the public compared the results unfavorably w/ Allingham's (95)
1st exhibition Feb. 1891 at Fine Art Society, 151 pieces, new watercolors not ready in time, exhibited & sold original watercolors for book illustrations, earned 964 pounds. (101)
John Greenaway died Aug 1890; Elizabeth Greenaway died 1894. Financial hardship, house too expensive to maintain, income too low. Tried her hand at oil paint but the oil technique eluded her (104)
To earn money, started autobiography b/c Ruskin's auto had good sales. (107)
V. ill by 1896; devastated by Ruskin's death 1900; died of breast cancer at Frognal 6 Nov. 1901 (107)
Engen, Rodney. (1981) Kate Greenaway: A biography. New York: Schocken Books. ISBN0-8052-3775-5
Parents' background: John apprenticed to Robert Brandford & then worked for Landell, (premier printing shop at that time) became assistant, needed income to support widowed mother & two sisters (7)
Elizabeth Jones married John at age 27; they moved to Hoxton, Kate born five years after Lizzie (8-9)
Edmund Appleyard hired John to engrave 32 illustrations for new edition of Pickwick Papers w/ promise of subsequent work, i.e Nicholas Nickleby; John left secure job at Landells & sent Elizabeth w/ children to live w/ her sister in Rollston to give himself "period of absolute freedom to devote to his work" (9)
Took two years to finish Pickwick engravings, started Nickleby, brought E & children back to London, Appleby declared bankruptcy, John left with bills for past two years, no income, and began to accept any engraving commission for income (10)
The family moved to smaller quarters, John had steady commissions from Illustrated London News & for children's books, much for little pay, built a reputation, but needed to work as much as quickly as possible & had to bring work home to finish during the nights (10-11)
Hoxton was an overcrowded district; Kate was a shy & introspective child; the family lived with irregular income, Elizabeth borrowed from her mother to open millinery shop, selling "fancy goods" & children's clothes in Islington, moved the family to the large Elizabethan house, flat upstairs, windows overlooking large back garden & street in front (12)
Kate's brother born two years later (1852); shop thrived, moved upstreet, generated sufficient income. Family lived near the new shop, where Kate lived her formative years (13)
KG's early childhood in Rolleston happy; in London she was shy, introspective, quiet & didn't want to grow up: "I hated to be grown-up, and cried when I had my first long dress". (26)
Mother prepared KG for schooling, first infant school & dame schools; KG intimidated, overly sensitive, bullied, terrified of headmistress & other children, begged to stay at home and learn at her own pace. Eventually Elizabeth relented; KG good at reading books, especially w/ pictures, needed visuals, disliked text without illustrations. (27)
Suffered childhood nightmares, especially after reading weeklies w/ disturbing images i.e Indian Mutiny & Edward Underhill (her father's engravings) (34)
When KG's cousin sent to Finsbury School to learn wood engraving KG sent to accompany her on the nighttime walk; causin stopped the lessons, KG enrolled fulltime within a year (35)
Her style strongly influenced by her early training (36)
KG socially awkward; had difficulty at Female School of Art (38)
1869 - first commission = Diamonds & Toads, used younger sister as model, spent a year on the watercolors (40)
1873 earning enough to leave school (43)
Started greeting card illustrations for Marcus Ward c. 1870 >> come back to this page, missed taking notes (44)
John Greenaway guided her illustration career having himself experienced the difficulties of navigation world of book publishing & having since established a good reputation among London wood engravers; engraved her illustrations, Fairy Gifts, 1874 (44)
1875 income rose when Marcus Ward reissued card designs in book format (48)
1875-9 rented small studio; worked on cards/book illustrations/ paintings, income = 200 pounds (48-9)
1877 - severed ties w/ Ward; KG asked to have designs being reissued returned to her; he refused; she quit (50)
Created Under the Window, her own art/design/verse/concept > worked on her own time, John Greenaway sought Evans' interest as printer (51-2)
One year to prep for printers; met Caldecott who offered advice (53)
Publication delayed on year from 1878 to 1879; Evans wanted verses rewritten, KG refused, Evans solicited help from popular verse writer Frederick Locker for "corrections" (54)
Beginning of lifelong friendship KG & Frederick Locker (55)
1879 brought in enough income to move to a new home (55)
KG & father pooled savings & bought 99 yr lease at 11 Pemberton Garden early in 1879, 4 story semi-detached; Elizabeth gave up her shop (56)
Window released xmas 1879 > Engen says it judged the public sentiment & released to good reviews, "Kate's sparse designs, her stark green cover delicately outlined children and the pastel-colored illustrations inside, proved a refreshing surprise" > success b/c of Evans' "first-rate printing" & KG's "first-rate designs" (60)
Walter Crane worried re competition from KG, said of Window it was "child-like in spirit" with an "old world atmosphere tinted with modern aestheticism" (61)
KG admired Crane's work, thought Evans' engravings of Crane's illustrations were "literally dreams of beauty" (61)
1879 KG's income = 800 before Windows royalties & work that was being reissued; KG felt financially independent (61)
After Windows published received many letters from admirers: Henry Stacy Marks would help "mold her career" & teach her how to present work to the public; she learned the challenges facing illustrators from him: deadlines, uncertainties, to stay with her artistic vision, telling her "You have a lay of your own, and do your best to cultivate it". He thought she was in a vulnerable position: unmarried, sensitive, dependent on male businessmen; urged caution and told her to protect her hallmark, the Greenaway style. He promoted her to his friends, most notably to John Ruskin. (62)
KG received first Ruskin letter 1/6/79, filled with polite inquiries, the tone of an art master, referred to the children in her illustrations as her "girlies" (63)
KG impressed w/ the letter & replied; Ruskin seduced her via correspondence > pretended to offer advice; stressed tenets of Pre-Raphaelites; confessed mental/physical weakness, wrote to her "that her drawings of children were the tonic he needed" (67)
Ruskin thought Windows deeply evocative, w/ young women, & wanted to "regulate & direct her talent", but knew he had to avoid previous mistakes, re alienating Dante Gabriel Rossetti & Edward Burne-Jones, both rejected Ruskin's influences when he alienated them as young & impressionable artists (70)
Ruskin treated KG as though he was her mentor though he wanted another female admirer; 2 yrs of correspondence before 1st meeting; 20 yr correspondence; KG sent 1000 letters, he replied infrequently or not at all, often in anger or to chastise her (72)
After Windows KG received many invitations, refused most of them (73)
1880 published Kate Greenaway Birthday Book, 370 b/w illustrations, 12 full page color; tiny format; 1st ed = 50,000, plus French, German, US; 128,000 in KG's lifetime. Boosted Evans reputation; KG seen as influential illustrator (73)
The same year increasing number of plagiarized "Greenaway" books and imitators publishing in the "Greenway style"; Afternoon Tea by J.G Sowerby published xmas 1880/81; KG unhappy w/ the objectionable content (74)
Caldecott impressed w/ Greenaway & emulated her by drawing "Greenaway children" (78)
1881 more imitators in Greenaway style books, clothing, and greeting cards > KG upset by the imitators & affected her profits (78)
Evans suggested Mother Goose for next project; 50 illustrations. Most difficult of her books/printing was difficult/behind schedule/no proofs/result w/ poor register (79-80)
Ruskin liked Mother Goose (81)
KG started work on 1st Greenaway Almanack & refused social invitations, worked hard to prepare illustrations (82-3)
Almanack successful; Ruskin liked it & invited himself to visit KG; the two met Dec. 27, 1882 after two yrs of correspondence; she did not meet his ideal of a tall willowy woman, instead dark coloring, short, unflattering clothing, middle-aged woman (85)
!883 Ruskin invited KG to visit Lake District at his estate Brantwood in April. Engen writes "from that point on she [KG] was dominated by his influence" (86)
KG traveled rarely; the trip was long, tired on arrival; found Brantwood charming, stayed a month, Ruskin went to lengths to ensure her comfort (87)
Though KG noticed Ruskin's moodiness, enjoyed the visit, wrote in a letter on her return, "There was such a lots to admire ... my mind was entirely content & I miss it all so much" (88)
Ruskin to began to advise re art technique; told her to work on figure work (92)
KG eager to please. In July Ruskin asked for sketches of children with fewer layers of clothing, "draw her for me without a cap ... and without her frock and frills?"
Cancelled next visit, upset KG (95)
told her to go to seaside to learn to draw feet; when she did he chastised for not staying long enough (97)
KG started visiting Hampstead Heath, considered moving there, Ruskin objected vigorously (98)
Nov London visit, afterwards asked her to play "game" of writing "love letters", after distancing himself in earlier months (101)
Evans concerned re KG's emotional well-being, & that she wasn't working, pled with her Dec 1883 to produce more > demand for her work & she was producing less; cards continued to be reissued & knockoffs created (102)
daily letters w/ Ruskin 1884 (104)
KG wanted to declare love openly (106)
Ruskin's mental health steadily worse but KG didn't know; he often verbally abused her in their letters (107)
According to Engen: "The question of their romance is puzzling but unresolvable. Rumors of their possible marriage certainly circulated throughout London drawing rooms,"; yet she was plain woman wearing plain clothing, in contrast to the clothing in her art. According to Engen: "His relationship w/ Kate remained to him a frivolous game which was to be indulged in whenever he felt like it without concern for her feelings" (108-9)
Spring 1884 Evans & KG planned The Language of Flowers; summer busy w/ construction of Hampstead Heath house & completing illustrations for pub of Flowers (110-11)
Accepted additional commission The English Spelling Book, meant to be a collab w/ Crane but KG insisted on being sole contributor, possibly influenced by Rusking; 108 pages, she had difficulty finishing it (112)
Planned Marigold Garden as next book (113)
Xmas 1884 publisher's exploited KG [cp] popularity; released Painting Book 40,000 copies; Marcus Ward re-released Baby's Birthday Book using early card designs; new almanack; The Language of Flowers; The English Spelling Book >> all to good reviews; needed money to support parents (116)
Ruskin dismissive of her work, KG lost confidence; suffering from exhaustion and had difficulty w/ Marigold Garden work; (112)
moved into new house 15 Feb. 1885; largest expense in her life, 2000 pounds for lot + 150 for Shaw + builders; drained her savings which she would regret later (119)
KG delighted w/ house & Shaw's design - simple w/ no embellishments, set in large meadow; 3 floors; 5 bedrooms on 2nd story; studio top floor, 40 ft long w/ adjacent tea room (120-1)
Xmas 1885 published Marigold Garden, struggled to finish, most expensive book yet, competed w/ Caldecott; disappointing sales, Marigold = 6500 England, 7500 US, 3500 France; further dented confidence; poor sales for almanack too (131)
1886 worked on A is for Apple Pie (135)
'A is for Apple Pie poor sales; Ruskin excoriated it; KG sank further into depression; almanack successful = 45,0000 (142)
Started work on Pied Piper early 1887 (145)
Suffering from poor eyesight; consultation w/ Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (neighbor); beginning of symptoms suffered until death, undiagnosed cancer, colds, muscle pain; (147)
Ruskin supervised re Pied Piper but moody (148)
Winter 1888 during a visit to Ruskin KG witnessed severed breakdown; asked to leave, she refused thinking she would help him; tension (154-5)
KG's reputation waning, was illustrating only for the money (155)
Reestablished friendship w/ Helen Allingham (school friend) who moved to Hampstead; frequent visits (156)
Xmas 1888 Pied Piper published to tepid reviews in England but strong reviews in US (more lucrative market), almanack continued to sell well = 30,000 (158)
Aug 1889 received last letter from Ruskin after 10 yr long correspondence (161)
Xmas 1889 sales continued to decrease; KG falls depression again; accepts commissions for mag periodicals; sold illustration Bubbles to Mr Pear soap manufacturer, engraved, printed as advertisement, she had to earn money (162)
Decided to start exhibiting in galleries for funds; spent winter 1890 preparing children's portraits for Royal Institute exhibition >> disappointing sales (163-4)
Began to suffer intense pain but didn't admit to anyone. Pain caused her to be irritable/depressed/tired from little sleep (168)
Summer 1890 accompanied Helen Allingham on painting trip but had difficulty working outdoors b/c poor eyesight; was aware her watercolors inferior to her friend's; preferred working indoors in her studio; worked best alone in isolation (169)
Father died 26 Aug 1890 from pneumonia age 73; engraving business diminished b/c of photo engraving & had been dependent on Kate's income; respected reputation among London engraving/publishing community (169)
KG's financial difficulties cont; arranged first solo exhibit at Fine Art Society, Feb 1891 (170)
Earned 964 pounds, helpful but she had parted with sold original works yet earned less than her first book; spent the next two yrs preparing for next exhibit (171)
Exhibited 120 watercolors Jan 1894; all of Window originals & some new work; tepid reviews; didn't earn much; work very painful at this point & difficult to prepare work to sell (177)
2 Feb. 1894 mother died, age 81 (178)
managed some painting & almanack that yr; unhappy w/ quality of almanack printing; Evans retired; sales cont to decline (181-2)
1895 recurring illness made it difficult producing new work & sapped her creativity, had to rely & sell all her earlier originals (184)
1896 last almanack, printer = J. M. Dent, KG called the printing "commonplace" (192)
1897 = Jubilee year, 60th anniversary of queen's accession; suffragists published their struggles for equal rights as "citizens, workers and artists"; KG singled out for her work but unhappy about it, Engen, "She believed that her fame had been on her own merits and the fact that she was a woman was immaterial" (194)
April 1897 yet another unsuccessful exhibit & out of options; all original paintings/sketches for books sold, still needed to earn money; accepted commissions from wealthy patrons for book plates & portraits of their children (195)
Feb 1898 yet another disappointing exhibit (201)
Starting writing autobiography to raise money (206)
Ruskin died Jan 20 1900 (207)
Spielmann, editor of Magazine of Art proposed series of articles to reappraise KG's work, "The Later Work of Kate Greenaway" (1900); Frederick Warne purchased rights to republish her work from Routledge; Macmillan commissioned April Baby's book of Tunes first illustration commission in three yrs (209)
Work difficult b/c of illness but received good reviews on publication despite poor printing, first of her books chromolithography vs chromozylography; style = sharp lines, good for wood engraving, not for photo processes (210)
Learned Nov 1899 she had breast cancer but kept it secret; refused surgery & then relented summer 1900; only revealed in her medical records after her death; told everyone she was suffering a cold (212)
Never confessed cancer to any family members or friends; by 1900 surviving on liquid diet & per doctor alcohol 9 x per day; suffered severe pain along incision site, told people she had "acute muscular rheumatism"; Spielmann's book published 1902 (214)
Became housebound; died Nov 6 1901, cremated, ashes scatter Hampstead Heath per he wishes (215)
Kate Greenaway medal established 1955 "to be awarded to the most distinguished annual contribution by a British illustrator of children's books"; the first editions of her books are collectible & pricy (221)
8 - born Cavendish Street, Hoxton, 17 March, 1846 to John Greenaway and his wife Elizabeth (nee Jones). John was wood engraver and draftsman, supplying illustrations to Illustrated London News, Punch and book publishers. Kate was the second of four children; older sister Elizabeth, younger sister Frances and brother Alfred John. Parents wished her to be named Kate but mistakenly baptised Catherine; known as Kate all her life.
9 - early years chronicled in an incomplete autobiography begun some years before she died.
10 - 11- removed from London to Rolleston, near Nottingham in her first year, to stay with her mother’s relatives. In need of a nursemaid, Jane was sent to live with a family on a farm, which formed her earliest impressions of hayfields and flowering meadows.
11 + much about flowers
13 she returned to London after a year or so. Publisher who employed John failed & he wasn’t paid for completed Dickens illustrations; family moved to Islington; mother opened a successful shop selling lace, chlldren’s dresses, etc.
14 Family shared a large house with two other families, back garden. Kate sent to infant school
21 Mother’s shop v successful, moved to Highbury, to larger shop & house a few yrs later. She read toybook, penny dreadfuls - stories such as Toads and Diamonds, Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, which formed her early imagination - list of books conts on.
22 - Avid reader: read Shakespeare (Kenneth Meadows illustrations) and pored over illustrated magazines and collections belonging to her father.
28 - Made clothing for her dolls. Annual visits to Rolleston
30-31 Rolleston was where she indulged her fascination in nature, exploring gardens, hedgerows, orchards and meadows
36 - attended a series of dame schools
39 John Greenaway’s office at 4, Wine Court, Fleet Street. When on deadline to complete an engraving for the press he completed the carvings in the evenings at home with Kate watching.
40 - K. G’s autobiography covers first six or so years of her life
41 - K’s parents noted her early efforts at drawing, most often news events she overheard made on a slate. At about age ten she started to attend evening classes when she accompanied one on her father’s apprentices to an engraving class where it became evident she had strong ability in the art. She soon started to attend day classes and she won various awards.
43 at South Kensington she shared a studio with Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler) with whom she forged a friendship as with Helen Paterson (Helen Allingham)
43 - quote from Elizabeth Thompson describing K. G
44 at 22 she was exhibiting and began to design Christmas and valentine’s cards
45 - image of six award-winning tiles she executed at age 17
45 - 46- six drawings on exhibition at Dudley Gallery in 1868 were bought by Rev Loftie, publisher of People Magazine (W. J. Loftie. The artwork was subsequently published in People. He struck an acquaintance with her and recommended her as an illustrator for Christmas and valentines cards to Marcus Ward.
46 - her first designs for Ward were too gaudy at her own estimation; she began to study color harmony in old masters at the National Gallery. Two of her favorite paintings there were Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait and Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, and through Loftie gained access to medieval manuscripts at the British Library for study and copying.
46 - photographs of KG
48 - a valentine’s card she designed for Marcus Ward sold 25,000 copies c. 1868, an indicator of her commercial success.
49 - she designed cards for Marcus for about seven years; the firm severed their connection with her on her request to retain copyright of her designs.
49-50 - During this period she illustrated and designed toy books for various publishers and printers, Gall & Inglis (printer), Frederick Warne (publisher), including an edition of the Comptesse d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales. She documented her earnings, showing that in 1871, at age 25, she earned about 70 pounds.
51 - early 1870s cont to work for Ward, where the style she would follow later began to emerge, rustic figures in anachronistic costumes, which became a vogue
51 - designing yellow backs for Edmund Evans and through her father gained commissions from various magazines
52 - Kate bringing in business to her father’s establishment, a professional woman with a good income. In the meantime her older sister had finished her studies at the Royal academy of Music, her brother at the Royal College of Chemistry
52 - she rented space to use as her own studio; she and her father bought the lease to a house in Permberton Gardens where the family lived until 1885
52 - a friend’s description of her at this time: “She was then as ever gentle, patient, industrious, exquisitely sensitive, extraordinarily humorous, while under it all was an indomitable will … “
52 ++ first title page appearance in small book in 1874
53 in 1875 her illustrations appeared alongside Walter Crane’s in a volume of verse Loftie wrote >> W. J. Loftie
55 - 1877, still working on a freelance basis, moved her studio to College Place, Liverpool Road, Islington, earned about 300 pounds. Displayed at Dudley gallery where she found buyers, displayed in the Royal Academy Exhibition selling a painting, had regular work from Illustrated London News, contributed to Graphic
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