E. H. Shepard

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Ernest Howard Shepard (December 10, 1879 – March 24, 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He was known especially for his human-like animals in illustrations for The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne.

Shepard was born in St. John's Wood, London. Having shown some promise in drawing at St. Paul's School, Shepard enrolled in Heatherleys School of Fine Art in Chelsea[1]. Having spent a productive year there, Shepard won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools [2] where he would meet Florence Eleanor Chaplin who would become his first wife[3]. By 1906 Shepard had become a successful illustrator, having produced work for illustrated editions of Aesop's Fables, David Copperfield, and Tom Brown's Schooldays. This same year his first illustration for Punch was published.[4]

In 1915, Shepard received a commission in the Royal Artillery.[5] By 1916 Shepard started working for the Intelligence Department sketching the combat area within the view of his battery position.[6] In 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross for his service in World War I.[7]

Throughout the war he had been contributing to Punch. He was hired as a regular staff cartoonist in 1921. and became lead cartoonist in 1945 but was removed from this post by Malcolm Muggeridge, who became editor in 1953.

Shepard was recommended to Milne by another Punch staffer, E. V. Lucas in 1923. Initially, Milne thought Shepard's style was not what he wanted, but used him to illustrate his book of poems When We Were Very Young. Happy with the results, Milne insisted Shepard illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh. Eventually, Shepard grew to resent "that silly old bear" and felt that these illustrations overshadowed his other work.

E H Shepard's grave at Lodsworth church
E H Shepard's grave at Lodsworth church

Shepard modelled Pooh not on the toy owned by Christopher Robin, Milne's son, but on "Growler", a stuffed bear owned by his own son. (Growler no longer exists, having been given to his granddaughter Minnie Hunt and subsequently destroyed by a neighbor's dog.[8]) His Pooh work is so famous that 300 of his preliminary sketches were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969, when he was 90 years old.

An E.H. Shepard painting of Winnie the Pooh is the only known oil painting of the famous teddy bear. It was purchased at an auction for $285,000 in London late in 2000. The painting is displayed at the Pavilion Gallery in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Shepard wrote two autobiographies: Drawn from Memory (1957) and Drawn From Life (1962).

Shepard lived at Lodsworth in West Sussex. He had two children, Graham (born 1907) and Mary (born 1909).[9] Graham Shepard was at Marlborough College and Oxford with Louis MacNeice and served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War II on the North Atlantic convoys. His ship, HMS Polyanthus, was sunk by the German U-Boat U-952 on September 21, 1943 with the loss of all but one crew member. Graham was survived by his wife, Ann Faith Shepard, and a young daughter, Minette Shepard.

Mary Shepard also became an illustrator. She is best known for her illustrations of Pamela Travers' Mary Poppins.

[edit] Works Illustrated

  • 1924 - When We Were Very Young[10]
  • 1925 - Playtime and Company, Holly Tree[10]
  • 1926 - Winnie The Pooh, Everybody's Pepys[10]
  • 1927 - Jeremy, Little One's Log, Let's Pretend, Now We Are Six, Fun and Fantasy[10]
  • 1928 - The House at Pooh Corner, The Golden Age[10]
  • 1930 - Everbody's Boswell, Dream Days[10]
  • 1931 - The Wind in the Willows, Christmas Poems, Bevis, Mother Goose[10]
  • 1932 - Sycamore Square[10]
  • 1933 - Everbody's Lamb, The Cricket in the Cage[10]
  • 1934 - Victoria Regina[10]
  • 1935 - Perfume from Provence
  • 1936 - The Modern Struwwelpeter[10]
  • 1937 - Golden Sovereign, Chaeddar Gorge, As the Bee Sucks, Extra Perfume from Provence
  • 1939 - The Reluctant Dragon[10]
  • 1941 - Gracious Majesty[10]
  • 1948 - Golden Age, Dream Days, Bertie's Escapade[10]
  • 1949 - York[10]
  • 1950 - Drover's Tale[10]
  • 1951 - Enter David Garrick[10]
  • 1953 - Silver Curlew[10]
  • 1954 - Cuckoo Clock, Susan, Bill and the Wolf-dog[10]
  • 1955 - Glass Slipper, Operation Wild Goose, Crystal Mountain, Frogmorton, The Brownies[10]
  • 1956 - The Islanders, The Pancake[10]
  • 1957 - Drawn from Memory, Briar Rose[10]
  • 1958 - Old Greek Fairy Tales[10]
  • 1959 - Tom Brown's School Days[10]
  • 1960 - Noble Company[10]
  • 1961 - Drawn from Life, Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales[10]
  • 1965 - Ben and Buck[10]
  • 1969 - The Wind in the Willows' (color re-illustration), The Pooh Cookbook(cover)[10]
  • 1970 - Winnie the Pooh(color re-illustration), ""House at Pooh Corner(color re-illustration)[10]
  • 1971 - The Pooh Party Book(cover)[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 27-31. ISBN 1903368022. 
  2. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 33. ISBN 1903368022. 
  3. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 37. ISBN 1903368022. 
  4. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 51. ISBN 1903368022. 
  5. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 59. ISBN 1903368022. 
  6. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 69. ISBN 1903368022. 
  7. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 71. ISBN 1903368022. 
  8. ^ Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 92. ISBN 1903368022. 
  9. ^ Resource Guide - Ernest Howard Shepard (html). The Elizabeth Nesbitt Room Illustrators Project. University of Pittsburgh ULS. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Chandler, Arthur R. (2000). E.H. Shepard, The Man Who Drew Pooh. Winkinswood Farm, West Sussex, UK: Jaydem Books, 172-174. ISBN 1903368022. 

[edit] External links