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GREENAWAY, KATE (1846-1901)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 537 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GREENAWAY, KATE (1846-1901) , See also:English artist and See also:book illustrator, was the daughter of See also:John Greenaway, a well-known draughtsman and engraver on See also:wood, and was See also:born in See also:London on the 17th of See also:March 1846. After a course of study at See also:South See also:Kensington, at " Heatherley's " See also:life classes, and at the See also:Slade School, Kate Greenaway began, in 1868, to exhibit See also:water-See also:colour drawings at the See also:Dudley See also:Gallery, London. Her more remarkable See also:early See also:work, however, consisted of See also:Christmas See also:cards, which, by See also:reason of their See also:quaint beauty of See also:design and See also:charm of draughtsmanship, enjoyed an extraordinary See also:vogue. Her subjects were, in the See also:main, See also:young girls, See also:children, See also:flowers, and landscape; and the See also:air of artless simplicity, freshness, See also:humour, and purity of these little See also:works so appealed to public and artists alike that the enthusiastic welcome habitually accorded to them is to be attributed to something more than love of novelty. In the See also:line she had struck out Kate Greenaway was encouraged by H. Stacy Marks, R.A., and she refused to listen to those See also:friends who urged her to return to a more conventional manner. Thenceforward her illustrations for children (such as for Little Folks, 1873, et seq.) attracted much See also:attention. In 1877 her drawings at the Dudley Gallery were sold for £54, and her Royal See also:Academy picture for eighteen guineas; and in the same See also:year she began to draw for the Illustrated London See also:News. In the year 1879 she produced Under the Window, of which 150,000 copies are said to have been sold, and of which See also:French and See also:German See also:editions were also issued. Then followed The Birthday Book, See also:Mother See also:Goose, Little See also:Ann, and other books for children which were appreciated not less by adults, and were to be found on See also:sale in the bookshops of every See also:capital in See also:Europe and in the cities of See also:America. The extraordinary success achieved by the young girl may be estimated by the amounts paid to her as her See also:share of the profits: for Under the Window she received £113o; for The Birthday Book, £1250; for Mother Goose, goy; and for Little Ann, £567. These four books alone produced a clear return of £8000.

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Toy-books " though they were, these little works created a revolution in See also:illustration, and so were of real importance; they were loudly applauded by John See also:Ruskin (See also:Art of See also:England and Fors Clavigera), by Ernest Chesneau and Arsene See also:Alexandre in See also:France, by Dr Muther in See also:Germany, and by leading art-critics throughout the See also:world. In 1890 Kate Greenaway was elected a member of the Royal See also:Institute of Painters in Water See also:Colours, and in 1891, 1894 and 1898 she exhibited water-colour drawings, including illustrations for her books, at the gallery-of the See also:Fine Art Society (by which a re-presentative selection was exhibited in 1go2),wherethey surprised the world by the See also:infinite delicacy,tenderness, and See also:grace which they displayed. A leading feature in See also:Miss Greenaway's work was her revival of the delightfully quaint See also:costume of the beginning of the 19th See also:century; this See also:lent humour to her See also:fancy, and so captivated the public See also:taste that it has been said, with poetic exaggeration, that " Kate Greenaway dressed the children of two continents." Her drawings of children have been compared with See also:Stothard's for grace and with See also:Reynolds's for naturalness, and those of flowers with the work of See also:van See also:Huysum and See also:Botticelli. From 1883 to 1897, with a break only in 1886, she issued a See also:series of Kate Greenaway's Almanacs. Although she illustrated The Pied See also:Piper of See also:Hamelin and other works, the artist preferred to See also:pro-vide her own See also:text; the numerous verses which were found among her papers after her See also:death prove that she might have added to her reputation with her See also:pen. She had See also:great charm of See also:character, but was extremely shy of public See also:notice, and not less modest in private life. She died at See also:Hampstead on the 6th of See also:November 1901. See the Life, by M. H. Spielmann and G. S. See also:Layard (19o5).

(M. H.

End of Article: GREENAWAY, KATE (1846-1901)

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