Victor Ambrus

Victor Ambrus at work on a Time Team shoot

Victor Ambrus, FRSA (born László Győző Ambrus, 19 August 1935)[1] is a British illustrator of history, folk tale, and animal story books. He also became known from his appearances on the Channel 4 television archaeology series Time Team, on which he visualised how sites under excavation may have once looked. Ambrus is an Associate of the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers. He was also a patron of the Association of Archaeological Illustrators and Surveyors up until its merger with the Institute for Archaeologists in 2011.

Early life and studies

Recreating the Past (2001) by Victor Ambrus and Mick Aston

László Győző Ambrus was born on 19 August 1935 in Budapest, Hungary. He continued to live in the capital, but spent many childhood holidays in the country, where he learned to draw horses. As he grew older he became an admirer of the illustrators Mihály Zichy, E. H. Shepard, Joyce Lankester Brisley, and the large historical paintings which he saw in public galleries.[2] He received his secondary education at the St Imre Cistercian College, Budapest (1945-1953), before going on to study at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts for three years (1953-56),[1] where he was given a thorough grounding in drawing, anatomy and print-making. His four-year course was interrupted by the unsuccessful 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the Soviet-backed government, during which a building that he and his fellow students held came under fire from the Soviets.

In December 1956 he and many other students fled, first to Austria, then to Britain, where he hoped to study in the tradition of illustrators such as E. H. Shepard, John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham. From Blackbushe Airport and Crookham army camp, speaking no English, Victor presented himself at Farnham Art School, and was taken on, not to follow any particular course but to work at his drawing. Ambrus had already concentrated largely on engraving and lithography which, as he says, was an excellent training for line illustration. After two terms his tutor and the Principal of Farnham School, recognising that Victor was ready for a higher level of study, commended him to the Royal College of Art in London. Ambrus won a Gulbenkian scholarship to study printmaking and illustration there for three years (1957-60).

Personal life

At the Royal College Ambrus met his fellow student, Glenys Chapman, whom he married in his final year. His wife also had a career as an illustrator of children's books.

Career in art

Ambrus had had one book published in 1955 before he left Hungary; but in Britain his career as a book illustrator began during his final year at the Royal College, when he was commissioned by the publishers, Blackie, to illustrate A. C. Jenkins's White Horses And Black Bulls. While at college he took some samples of his work to Mabel George of the Oxford University Press. In his last year of the course, he was commissioned to illustrate a book that was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement.

His first real job on leaving college was to work for an advertising agency. As his freelance work increased after two years he went back to Farnham and started teaching at the Art School while doing illustration part-time. He lectured from 1963 to 1985 at Farnham, Guildford and Epsom Colleges of Art.[3] He has had a long career working for the Oxford University Press. Like many illustrators, Victor started by doing line illustrations for novels. The children's editor at OUP, Mabel George, gave him first Hester Burton's and then K M Peyton's novels to illustrate. Both used his talent for drawing horses and with both he built up a happy working relationship. He has contributed to almost 300 books. Among his credits are illustrating several fairy tale compilations by Ruth Manning-Sanders, including The Glass Man and the Golden Bird: Hungarian Folk and Fairy Tales and Jonnikin and the Flying Basket: French Folk and Fairy Tales.

He currently works as the artist on the television series about archaeology, Time Team. The director and producer of the series, finding 'The Story of Britain' in Reader’s Digest, had decided that Ambrus could illustrate all the subjects they were likely to present, and invited him to take part in a pilot episode of what became Time Team on Channel 4. He has designed six sets of historical stamps for the Jersey Post Office and one for the Royal Mail. He was one of seven leading British illustrators whose work was shown in the exhibition, 'The World of English Picture Books', which toured Japan in 1998.

Education:

Elected:

Awards

Ambrus twice received the Kate Greenaway Medal from the British Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject: the 1965 Medal for The Three Poor Tailors and the 1975 for Mishka and Horses in Battle. All three books were both written and illustrated by Ambrus and published by Oxford. He was also a commended runner up for three Medals: 1963 for both The Royal Navy by Peter Dawlish and A Time of Trial by Hester Burton; 1964 for work in general; and 1971 for The Sultan's Bath, written by himself.[7]

Works

Writing

BOOKS BY VICTOR AMBRUS

Illustration

Books Illustrated by Glenys and Victor Ambrus

Books Illustrated by Victor Ambrus A. Written by Hester Burton, Jane Duncan, Helen Griffiths, Elyne Mitchell, K. M. Peyton, Rosemary Sutcliff

B. Written by other authors

written by Hester Burton
  • "Castors Away !" (1962)
  • A Time Of Trial (Oxford, 1963) — a commended runner up for the Kate Greenaway Medal[7]
  • "A Seaman At The Time Of Trafalgar" (1963)
  • "No Beat Of Drum" (1966)
  • "In Spite Of All Terror" (1968)
  • "Thomas" (1969)
  • "The Henchmens At Home (1970)
  • "The Rebel" (1971)
  • "Riders Of The Storm" (1972)
  • "Kate Rider" (1974)
  • "To Ravensrigg" (1976)
  • "Tim At The Fur Fort" (1977)
  • "A Grenville Goes To Sea" (1977)
  • "When The Beacons Blazed" (1978)
  • "Five August Days" (1981)
written by Helen Griffiths
  • "The Wild Heart" (1963)
  • "The Greyhound" (1964)
  • "The Wild Horse Of Santander" (1966)
  • "Leon" (1967)
  • "Stallion Of The Sands" (1968)
  • "Russian Blue" (1973)
  • "Just A Dog" (1974)
  • "Witch Fear" (aka "Mysterious Appearance Of Agnes") (1975)
  • "Pablo" (aka "Running Wild") (1977)
  • "The Last Summer: Spain 1936 (1979)
written by Jane Duncan
  • Camerons on the Hills (1963)
  • Camerons on the Train (1963)
  • Camerons at the Castle (1964)
  • Camerons Calling (1966)
written by Elyne Mitchell
  • "Silver Brumby Whirlwind" (1973)
  • "The Colt At Taparoo" (1976)
  • "Son Of The Whirlwind" (1977)
  • "The Colt From Snowy River" (1980)
  • "Brumby Racer" (1981)
  • "Light Horse to Damascus" (1987)
written by K. M. Peyton
  • "Windfall" (1962)
  • "Brownsea Silver" (1964)
  • "The Maplin Bird" (1964)
  • "The Plan For Birdsmarsh" (1965)
  • "Thunder In The Sky" (1966)
  • "Flambards" (1967)
  • "The Edge Of The Cloud" (1969)
  • "Flambards In Summer" (1969)
  • "The Right-Hand Man" (1977)
written by Rosemary Sutcliff
  • "The Hound Of Ulster" (1963)
  • "The Chief's Daughter" (1967)
  • "The Circlet Of Oak Leaves" (1968)
  • "The Truce Of The Games" (1971)
  • "Tristan And Iseult" (1971)
  • "The Changeling" (1974)

See also

References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Victor Ambrus". IMDb. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
    2. ↑ Martin (1989), pp. 83-86.
    3. ↑ "Victor Ambrus PS" (Pastel Society). Gallery LeFort Fine Art; retrieved 10 August 2010.
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 (Greenaway Winner 1965). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners (Living Archive). CILIP; retrieved 16 July 2012.
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 (Greenaway Winner 1975a). Living Archive. CILIP; retrieved 16 July 2012.
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 (Greenaway Winner 1975b). Living Archive. CILIP; retrieved 16 July 2012.
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "Kate Greenaway Medal". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University; retrieved 27 June 2012.
    8. ↑ "Ambrus, Victor G.". WorldCat. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
    Citations

    Further reading

    External links