mammybearsbooks Blog Edward_Ardizzone 20200726

Mammy Bears Books 26 July · On reviewing some pages on my website, I was reminded how truly wonderful are the illustrations of Edward Ardizzone. His work is so subtle, almost delicate, but with a whimsical quality to it, I do think that his work is exemplary and sadly not as well known today as it should be. Ardizzone was born in 1900, in Haiphong, which was then part of French Indo-China - now in Vietnam - to a French father and English mother. He became a naturalized British citizen in 1922, having lived there since 1905. While working as an office clerk, Ardizzone had spent his weekends and free time painting and in 1926, with financial support from his father, gave up his office job to concentrate on establishing himself as a professional, freelance artist. In 1929 his first major commission was to illustrate an edition of 'In a Glass Darkly' by Sheridan Le Fanu and he went on to illustrate a number of works. Perhaps we remember him most for his 'Tim' books, which he wrote as well as illustrated. Ardizzone won the inaugural Kate Greenaway Medal for the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject and for this book - 'Tim All Alone' -1956 and a well deserved 50th anniversary of the Medal in 2005, the book was named one of the top ten winning titles, selected for public election of an ALL-TIME favourite book. In the early 1970s, Ardizzone illustrated a new edition of the 20-year-old 'Little' books, written by Graham Greene. These along with some of the 'Tim' books, as well as a couple of delicious Fairy Tale books can be viewed on my website at www.mammybearsbooks.com...ENJOY