Wild in name, wild for nature – we’re looking back at Brian Wildsmith’s evocative work for #EYAWildlife.
Brian Wildsmith (1930-2016) is regarded as one of the world’s greatest children’s illustrators, with more than 80 books published by Oxford University Press over a five-decade collaboration. It was Mabel George, head of OUP’s Children’s Department from 1956-1976, who spotted his early talent after he walked into her office with a handful of abstract paintings. As recounted in The History of Oxford University Press, vol.3, Mabel says “I was struck at once by the glorious freedom and unconventionality of his use of colour. Here was colour that would excite any child … I saw a young man … enthusiastic, eager to have a chance to show his skill, with a fire and independence that made me think at once that I had found my first picture book artist.”
After a test project to illustrate a new version of Tales from the Arabian Nights, Mabel commissioned Brian to produce a new ABC alphabet book, which earned him the Kate Greenaway Medal for 1962 and revolutionised the production of picture books. The majority of the ABC letters were illustrated using animals, a theme that continued in many of Wildsmith’s later works – The Lion and the Rat and The Owl and the Woodpecker to name just two.
Wildlife was always a major influence for Brian with his art intended to inform his audiences, particularly children, about the world around them. As his son Simon said in a 2023 interview, “If he could paint an animal with all the colours of the rainbow and still have you convinced of its veracity, that is in part because he had studied it so closely, down to its skeletal composition. Thereafter, nature, the natural world and all that mankind has created of great beauty were central to his inspiration.” He was aware that animals were a great conduit for telling a story.
Here we showcase some of those first ‘wild’ illustrations from the ABC book, the start of a long and successful partnership between Brian Wildsmith and OUP, celebrated most recently with 2023’s Brian Wildsmith’s Animal Kingdom, Paws, Claws, Tails & Roars.
