Kate Greenaway's charm

Press, 16 August 1980, Page 17

Kate Greenaway's charm

The Kate Greenaway Book. By Bryan Holme. Penguin Books, 1980. 143 pp. Index. $4.95.

(Reviewed by

Margaret Quigley)

In the 1870 s Kate Greenaway, who had previously illustrated the work of others and designed greeting cards, produced her first book of verses arid illustrations, “Under the Window.” It was an instant success and her fresh and original style lifted the shy, unassuming Miss Greenaway from obscurity to fame almost overnight. By the 1880 s the Kate Greenaway rage was at its height; imitators were numerous, fashionable children „ wore Greenaway clothes, with dolls dressed to. match; designs on plates, vases, tiles and wallpapers were copied . from her characters by '-manufacturers in England and on the Continent. Robert Louis Stevenson, so the story runs, picked up her “Birthday Book for Children” and commenting, “These are rather nice rhymes, and I don’t * think thev would be difficult to do,” proceeded to write his “Child’s Garden The rage has never completely died. Although Kate Greenaway wrote in 1898 to Violet Dickinson, “I feel my kind of drawing' is not the drawing that is liked, and also that I am getting to be a thing of the past,” she- remains a household word among children in many countries and her books are still a source of delight to young and old. The trouble-free, idyllic, secure, middleclass childhood they so charmingly idealise apparently has endless appeal. The author o'f this book, Bryan Holme, whose grandfather afforded Miss Greenaway her first recognition in an art book, with a special number of “The Studio,” has produced here a collection of illustrations, verse and text. He tells the largely uneventful life of the artist simply and clearly. As he writes of each new publication

he includes selections from 'them. The bountiful illustrations, many in colour, allow the reader to follow her l develop* ment and her response to the' encouragement and criticism of such friends as John Ruskin and , Stacy Marks. (“I am not going to be severe, but 1 must ask you not to repeat those funny little black shadows under the feet- of your figures—looking in some places like spurs, in others like tadpoles, in others like short stilts.”) Kate Greenaway’s was undoubtedly only a minor talent and the field of her endeavours very limited,' but ; the charm of her drawings lasts still and this brief, but well written biography and tribute may persuade more adults to buy her books for tire delight-of their small friends.