Faith Jaques
, 1923 - 1997
Faith Heather Jaques (b. Leicester 1923) was a British children’s author, illustrator, stamp designer and artist. She began her career in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, then attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1946-1948. Edward Ardizzone was one of her teachers, and Jaques would later talk of him as an influence. Her favourite illustrators in early life were Rex Whistler and Eric Fraser. After this, Jaques taught at Guildford School of Art and Hornsey College of Art. In 1987 she moved from London to Bath. By this point, she was known as a campaigner for the rights of freelance artists.
Jaques is particularly known for illustrating the first edition of Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1967) and some of Alison Uttley’s Grey Rabbit Tales series; Uttley has also worked with Kathleen Lines. Jaques provided over 500 illustrations for the Radio Times. She illustrated additional mythical works; Henry Treece’s The Windswept City: A Novel of the Trojan War (1967), the 1974 edition of Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book and Arthur Ransome’s 1971 Old Peter's Russian Tales. She has provided illustrations to the work of many big-name authors, including E. Nesbit, Nina Bowden and Philippa Pearce.
Her 1997 obituary in the Independent states, "Faith Jaques was one of the outstanding illustrators responsible for the renaissance of British picture books during the last three decades. Her special gift was an ability to translate the emotional tone of a text into the strong visual atmosphere created by her pen-and-ink drawings."* Chris Beetles Gallery adds "The quiet power of Faith Jaques’ illustrations lies in a combination of meticulous research, sensitive interpretation and clear observation."**
* independent.co.uk (accessed: February 9, 2021).
** chrisbeetles.com (accessed: February 9, 2021).
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org (accessed: February 9, 2021).
independent.co.uk (accessed: February 9, 2021).
chrisbeetles.com (accessed: February 9, 2021).
Bio prepared by Robin Diver, University of Birmingham, RSD253@student.bham.ac.uk
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