6 February 1971(1971-02-06) (aged 84) Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Occupation
Painter and illustrator
Nationality
English
Period
1910–1940
Sybil Tawse (26 September 1886 – 6 February 1971), English artist and illustrator.[1]
Life
Sybil Tawse was born on 26 September, 1886, the fifth child of George Tawse and Elizabeth Ann [Harrison] Tawse. The family lived in Bishopwearmouth (now part of Sunderland) in County Durham (now Tyne and Wear). She went to London to study at Lambeth School of Art and The Royal School of Art, where she was a King's Prize Scholar and a Silver and Bronze Medallist, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. In London she lived on Gloucester Road, South Kensington, with her sisters Catherine and Gladys, a jeweler, then with Gladys in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, building a steady career illustrating books, designing posters, and portrait painting. Tawse never married, dying in Portsmouth on 6 February, 1971 at the age of 84.[2][3][4]
Work
Sybil Tawse contributed illustrations to a number of books, as follows:[5]
Our Own Story Book, Nister 1908, 2 colour plates
Nister's Holiday Annual [1909] edited by Alfred C. Playne, Nister 1909, illustration
The Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb, Chapman & Hall 1910, 24 colour plates
Aunt Judith: The Story of a Loving Life by Grace Beaumont, Nelson 1910, 4 colour plates
Dulcie's Love Story by Evelyn Everett Green, Nelson 1910, 4 colour plates
Funny Folks, Nelson 1910, 4 colour plates
Tales After Tea, Nelson 1912, colour frontis
Stories for All Times, Nister 1913, endpaper illustrations
The Fairchild Family by Mrs [Mary Martha] Sherwood, A & C Black 1913, 8 colour plates
Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell, A & C Black 1914, 8 colour plates
Tales from the Poets arranged by W.J. Glover, A & C Black 1915, 12 colour plates
The Heroes or Greek Fairy Tales for my Children by Charles Kingsley, A & C Black 1915, 8 colour plates
The Ideal Home by Matilda Lees-Dods, The Waverley Book Company 1916, 36 colour plates
Stories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch, Thomas Crowell ca 1919, 8 colour plates
The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, A & C Black 1920, 8 colour plates
Mr. Midshipman Easy by Captain Fredrich Marryat, A & C Black 1921, 8 colour plates
That Boarding School Girl by Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Oxford UP 1925, wrap-around colour cover
Miss Esperance and Mr Wycherly by L. Allen Harker, John Murray 1926, colour frontis and 44 illustrations
Catriona by R.L. Stevenson, Nelson 1926, colour frontis
Xmas shopping, Sybil Tawse poster for the London Underground 1927
In The Swiss Mountains by Johanna Spyri, Thomas Crowell 1929, 8 colour plates
Silas Marner by George Eliot, Nelson 1929, 8 illustrations
John Halifax Gentleman by Mrs [Dinah] Craik, Oxford UP 1930, colour frontis and 4 illustrations
Our Child's Red Letter Days by Marion Allbutt, Harrap 1931, 4 colour plates
Mother Goose, Harrap 1932, dustwrapper illustration, 12 colour plates, and about 200 illustrations
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, L.C. Page 1933, 8 colour plates
The Goodieman's Whistle by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, Oxford UP 1935, 7 illustrations
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, Harrap 1938, 8 colour plates
Glen Robin by F.J.E. Bennett, Nelson 1941, colour frontis and 16 illustrations
Read Me a Story compiled by Frank Waters, Harrap 1974, 7 illustrations from Mother Goose (1932)
Playtime Reading with Mother compiled by Frank Waters, Harrap 1979, 10 illustrations from Mother Goose (1932)
Books undated by the publisher use the year of publication shown in the British Library catalogue.
References
^Alan Horne (1994). The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN1 85149 1082.
^"Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
^"Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
^Sybil Tawse biographical documents, including England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index 1837-1915, United Kingdom Census for 1886, 1901, and 1911, Cities of London and Westminster Register of Electors 1960, England and Wales Civil Registration Death Index for 1971, and others, along with location photos and artwork of biographical interest, can be seen at http://www.sybiltawse.info.
^http://www.sybiltawse.info. Complete galleries of the painted colour and ink illustrations in these books are available at this website.