Bernard Sleigh

Bernard Sleigh (1872 Birmingham - 1954) was an English mural painter, stained-glass artist, illustrator and wood engraver, best known for his work "An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth" which is in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C..

He was apprenticed to a wood engraver at age 14 and attended the Birmingham School of Art. He was a student of Arthur J. Gaskin (1862-1928) who worked with Edward Burne-Jones. While studying he came under the influence of the Birmingham Group. Being especially skilled in wood engraving he soon caught the public eye through his engravings for books. He joined the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera. His advertising after 1918 suggests that he could do wall paintings, memorial windows and inscriptions in metal. At exhibitions of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists he offers to do furniture inlays. He becomes part of the Bromsgrove Guild in 1897, receiving commissions for decorating churches such as Wallasey in Cheshire, and designing stained-glass windows.

After sending Henry Payne to Chelsea to study stained-glass technique, The Birmingham School of Art added stained-glass work to their curriculum in 1900. Bernard Sleigh was among the first to enrol for the course.

In 1902 he married Stella Phillip, producing a son Brocas Linwood in 1902 and a daughter Barbara Grace de Reimer in 1906. The marriage dissolved in about 1914.

He retired to Campden in 1937, like his mentor Gaskin, and moved into Old Forge Cottage in Cider Mill Lane. His imagery by then had turned from romantic medievalism to a world peopled by fairies and elves. [ [http://www.methodist-central-hall.org.uk/history/Archives/BlackwellPaintings.pdf Methodist Church] ]

Bibliography

[ [http://www.hobbytime.co.uk/index.php?cPath=120 Sleigh, Bernard. Bibliography : Hobby Time ] ]
*"The Sea King's Daughter & other poems", Mark, Amy; G. Napier, Birmingham, 1895, illustrated and printed by Bernard Sleigh.
*"The Praise of Folie. Moriae Encomium" A booke made in Latin by that great clerke Erasmus Roterodame. Englished by Sir Thomas Chaloner, Erasmus, Essex House Press, 1901, limited edition, 250 copies, woodcuts by Bernard Sleigh after William Strang.
*"English Book Illustration of To-day". Intro. by Alfred W. Pollard, Sketchley, R. E. D.; , Trench, Trubner and Co, Ltd., London, 1903, with various contributors including Bernard Sleigh.
*"An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth", in the Library of Congress. Illustration by Bernard Sleigh, c.1920.
*"A Faery Pageant", Sleigh, Bernard, Birmingham, 1924, poem, limited edition, 475 copies, with illustrations by the author.
*"The Gates of Horn", Ed. Sleigh, Bernard, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London, 1926.
*"Franz Schubert: A Sequence of Sonnets and a Prose Anthology", GREW, Eva Mary. The British Musicians Office, Birmingham, 1928, with page decorations by Bernard Sleigh.
*"A Handbook of Elementary Design", Sleigh, Bernard, R.B.S.A., Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd, London, 1930.
*"Carols, Their Origin, Music and Connection with Mystery-Plays". William J Phillips, Routledge, not dated, with wood engravings by Bernard Sleigh.
*"Wood Engraving since Eighteen-Ninety", Sleigh, Bernard; Sir Isaac Pitman, London, 1932.
*"Witchcraft", Sleigh, Bernard. Oriole Press, New Jersey, 1934, illustrated by Bernard Sleigh.
*"The Song of Songs", Renan, Ernest.; City of Birmingham School of Printing, Birmingham, 1937, with decorations by Bernard Sleigh.
*"Kanga Creek, An Australian Idyll", Ellis, Havelock, Oriole Press, New Jersey, 1938, limited edition, 250 copies, illustrations by Bernard Sleigh and Ivy Anne Ellis.
*"The Immortal Hour", Fiona McLeod (Sharp William) City of Birmingham School of Printing, 1939, illustrated by Bernard Sleigh.

References