"Dressed Animal" Illustrator Margaret Tempest (1892 - 1982)

Margaret Tempest began her illustrating career in the 1920s and is best known as the creator of Little Grey Rabbit and Fuzzypeg the hedgehog, characters found in a series of children's books written by British writer Alison Uttley. First published in 1929, the books are still being re-issued today. Margaret Tempest illustrated the first 30 books in the series, continuing to do so until 1970. It was Tempest's distinctive and memorable depiction of these characters which made them instantly identifiable and a household name, but which  ultimately caused a bitter divide between the author and the artist. They violently disagreed not only as to who deserved the most credit for creating the characters, but also over the issue of copyright ownership. Tempest  worked also with numerous other authors and also wrote and illustrated 20 books of her own in the 1940s and 1950s, including the Pinky Mouse and Curley Cobbler series. She was also one of the Medici Society's more popular and enduring artists, publishing her art as collectible postcards for many years.

To visit my online store offering a large variety of great products, gifts, and collectibles featuring all my whimsical animal illustrations, please go to Adele's Cute Animal Art Shop.

Molly Brett (1902 - 1990)

I give credit to Molly Brett in particular for inspiring me to become an anthropomorphic animal illustrator. Many years ago, I came across a display of Medici Society postcards in a little shop in Boston. I was absolutely fascinated by the whole concept of animals dressed as humans, participating  in human activities! I bought a few cards, eventually lost them, and went on to other types of artwork. But I never forgot the postcards and now, when I look back knowing the styles of many of the Medici artists, I realize it was Molly's work I was admiring. I eventually took the plunge (after deciding it was perfectly okay for "serious" artists to paint cute animals, especially since that's what I wanted to do), and the result is my own collection of cute animal illustrations, called Whimbletails™. Here's a little biographical info on Molly:

Molly (Mary Elizabeth) Brett was born in 1902 and grew up Surrey, Great Britain, surrounded by animals and nature. Her mother, Mary Gould Brett, was a respected animal painter who encouraged her daughter to paint from life, and this is reflected in Molly's gift for making her animals look thoroughly naturalistic while giving them human characteristics and activities. And like Beatrix Potter, her artwork also reflects her great observational powers in depicting nature, especially notable in the two illustrations above.

Molly began her art training with a correspondence course in illustration, followed by formal instruction at Press Art School and the Guilford Art School. It was at Guildford that she met Margaret Tarrant (also destined to attain substantial fame as an illustrator), who soon became a close friend and lived with her in Cornwall. She began her career by illustrating "weekly papers" for children. One of her earliest commissions was to illustrate stories by Enid Blyton. Inspired by this, she went on to write and illustrate 21 books of her own for the Medici Society of London, with whom she was associated for sixty years. Medici has published over 500 of her paintings as postcards, greeting cards and prints.

Molly Brett's work has enchanted generations of children with its beautifully drawn details, subtle colors and magical atmosphere. Her work follows in the tradition of other twentieth-century "dressed animal" illustrators such as Beatrix Potter, Margaret Tempest, Racey Helps, and others.

Would you like to see my own whimsical animal art? Please visit my online store, Adele's Cute Animal Art Shop, featuring a large variety of great products, gifts, and collectibles featuring my own cute animal illustrations.

Picture of the Day - (Angus Clifford) Racey Helps

A prolific artist and author of more than two dozen children's books, Racey Helps was also one of the Medici Society's most popular postcard artists. Like Beatrix Potter, Helps began his career by illustrating his own stories and mailing them off to a child - in this case, his own daughter, living away from home in the safer countryside during WWII. Help's work was discovered by a publisher while he worked as a hairdresser with his wife. Although he died in 1971, his descendants in Great Britain maintain a fabulous website devoted to Helps and his work, with an extensive biography, bibliography, and a ton of gorgeous reproductions of his illustrations. The URL is: http://www.raceyhelps.co.uk  Enjoy!

I've chosen this work called "The Astonished Angler" not only because it's a prime example of cute or dressed animal art, but from an artistic point of view, it's a smashing success - beautifully composed, with flowing lines all circling about the central point of action; employs a very effective color scheme, using primarily the three analogous colors of blue, green, and yellow; has accurate yet simplified botanical detail; and provides a smile just viewing it. What more could a picture offer?

Would you like to see my own whimsical animal art? Please visit my online store, Adele's Cute Animal Art Shop, featuring a large variety of great products, gifts, and collectibles featuring my own cute animal illustrations.