Edward Ardizzone

Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, CBE, RA (16 October, 1900 - 8 November, 1979) was a writer and illustrator, mainly of children's books.

Ardizzone was born at Haiphong, Tonkin, French Indo-China where his father was on overseas government service. His father, though born in Algeria, was of Italian parentage. Ardizzone arrived in England in 1905, and was educated at Ipswich School. He was brought up by his grandparents whilst his parents continued their work overseas.

His best known work is the "Tim" series, featuring the maritime adventures of the eponymous young hero. The first book, "Tim and the Brave Sea Captain", was published in 1936. The most famous of the books, "Tim All Alone", won the British Library Association's Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration in 1956. The series ended with "Tim's Last Voyage" in 1972.

As well as writing and illustrating his own books, Ardizzone also illustrated books written by others, including the novels of Anthony Trollope. His 1939 characterization of H.E. Bates's "Uncle Silas" was inimitable. He worked as an official war artist in World War II: his early experiences between Arras and Boulogne are illustrated and described in his book "Baggage to the Enemy" (London 1941).

He illustrated the "Nurse Matilda" series of children's books written by his cousin, author Christianna Brand. Both cousins heard the stories from the same grandfather. He also famously illustrated "A Ring of Bells", John Betjeman's abridged version for children of his "Summoned by Bells" autobiographical poem. He worked on C. Day Lewis's children's novel "The Otterbury Incident", as well as some novels by the American author Eleanor Estes, including "The Alley", "Miranda the Great", "Pinky Pye", "The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode" and "The Witch Family".He is also particularly noted for having not just illustrated the covers and contents of books but inking the title text and author's name in his own hand, giving the books a distinctive look on shelves. An example is Clive King's "Stig of the Dump".

Ardizzone illustrated a series of books for young children by Graham Greene including "The Little Fire Engine", "The Little Horse Bus" and "The Little Steamroller". He also illustrated a re-telling of the Don Quixote story for children by James Reeves.

Ardizzone also illustrated several telegrams for the Post Office in the 1950s and 1960s, many of which are considered collector's items.

His style is naturalistic but subdued, featuring gentle lines and delicate watercolours, but with great attention to particular details.

He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1970, and appointed CBE in 1971. The British Library published an illustrated bibliography of his works in 2003.

Ardizzone died of a heart attack in 1979.

External links

* [http://www.edwardardizzone.org.uk Edward Ardizzone home page]
* [http://uk.geocities.com/nick_ardizzone/Tedweb/index.htm Biography and Bibliographies Edward Ardizzone by Nicholas Ardizzone (son)]
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/online/ardizzone/ardizz.htm Ardizzone - Diary of a War Artist (illus.) at the Imperial War Museum] [http://web.archive.org/web/20030212084141/www.iwm.org.uk/online/ardizzone/ardizz.htm]