ABOUT Mabel Lucie Attwell – BRITISH Illustrator.
[b.Mill End, London, 04 Jun 1879 – d. Cornwall, England, 5 November 1964]
“Mabel Lucie Attwell was born 4 June 1879 at Mile End in London, the 9th child out of 10 children born to a butcher. She studied at both the Regent School of Art & Heatherley’s School of Art, but because she disliked formal training and grew bored with copying, she never completed either course. She was a shy child and liked nothing more than to sit with one of her sisters and make up little stories to which she would draw the illustrations – she simply preferred to illustrate her own fantasies.
She was influenced by Hilda Cowham, John Hassall and William Heath Robinson and became a household name by the 1920s with her simple images of children, fairies and animals. She worked mostly in watercolor and pen and ink. Her early work was delicate and appealing although she was later criticized for providing stereotyped illustrations with little variety. Her response was that “I see the child in the adult, then I draw the adult as a child.
By the time Attwell was sixteen years old, she had enough drawings of fairies and children to bring them to a leading London’s artist agency. The lukewarm reception that she received was upsetting to the young artist but short-lived. She was notified several days later that not only had all the drawings sold, but that they wanted more!
In 1908, Attwell married the illustrator Harold Cecil Earnshaw, and had two children, Peter & Peggy. Their daughter Peggy was the inspiration for the typical Mabel Lucie Attwell toddler and achieved immortality through the illustrations in Attwell’s books. Her daugther, Peggy (Wickham) later became a talented artist and illustrator in her own right.
Between 1905 and 1913, Attwell illustrated ten books for W. & R. Chambers, providing 4 to 8 color plates for each. By 1911, she was designing postcards and greeting cards for Valentine & Sons of Dundee.
She illustrated two gift books for Hodder & Stoughton. The first was Peeping Pansy in 1918 by Marie, Queen of Roumania. The Queen even invited Attwell to stay at the Royal Palace in Bucharest. The second book was Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie who admired her work and personally requested her to illustrate this edition.
During Attwell’s career, she designed advertisements, posters, calendars, figurines and wall plaques. During the First World War, thousands of her colored postcards were sent to cheer up the troops in the trenches.
One of her most famous drawings, Diddums, was made into a doll, a typically Attwell styled boy doll which was to be found in nurseries around the world. In 1937 and 1938, Princess Margaret commissioned her to do her personal Christmas card. Attwell also contributed to several periodicals and annuals. In 1943, she started a comic strip in the London Opinion called Wot a Life.
Sets of Mabel Lucie Attwell bone china dishes were used in the Royal Nursery of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and later Prince Charles. Her humor could be seen in everyday situations and related to social changes that were part of English life in the 20th century. Mabel adapted her illustrations to follow trends and fashion.
Her illustrations of chubby, winsome children were extremely popular during the 1930s thru the 1940s. As a commercial illustrator, her work was used to promote the WW1 and WW2 military efforts as well as to advertise numerous products of the day.
In 1945 Attwell moved to Fowey, Cornwall to live with her son Peter. She died at home on 5 November 1964.” –HAC [ed]
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