JOHN S. GOODALL |
John Strickland Goodall, 1908-1996, always knew he would be an artist. He attended the Royal Academy schools, and worked in oils and pen-and-ink, before settling on watercolour in the early 1940's. His career encompassed magazine and book illustration, advertising and portraits, but it is for his own wordless picture books that he is best known. These small books began to be published in the 1960's; many of them were children's books. However the ones I love best illustrate Victorian and Edwardian themes such as "Victorians Abroad" and "Edwardian Christmas". My other favourites include "The Story of a Village" and "The Story of a High Street". The illustrations below are taken from "The Story of a Country House". The Regency Period is covered only briefly in this book, but these few illustrations capture perfectly the elegance and leisure of the age. The bottom picture -- the below stairs scene -- shows the immense amount of work that went into creation of the leisured atmosphere above stairs. |
