Ada Elizabeth Edith Swanwick RA (1915–1989), always known as Betty Swanwick, was an English artist, novelist and art teacher. She was head of illustration at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

and is known for her work for London Transport and an album cover for

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Life

Ada Elizabeth Edith Swanwick was born in Forest Hill in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1915. Her father, Henry Gerard Swanwick, who was in the naval reserve, painted marine

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

. She was inspired by her father, and her mother, Ethel Priscilla (née Bacon), gave her pencils which she had retrieved from shipwrecks on the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

. Swanwick enrolled at

at the age of fifteen and by 1934 she was simultaneously attending classes at Goldsmith's, the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

and the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

. She was a student of

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

. This academic activity continued until 1936. Swanwick started to create work for London Transport in 1936 and she continued to create posters for them until 1954.Betty Swanwick
London Transport Museum, Retrieved 5 October 2016 In 1945 she published the first of her novels ''The Cross Purposes'' in 1945.Ada Sanwick
ODNB, Retrieved 6 October 2016 She published, ''Hoodwinked'' which featured pencil illustrations. Art and artists
Royal Academy Collection, Retrieved 5 October 2016 She appears as 'Bertha Swan' in a short story, "The Party", written by her fellow Goldsmiths student

Denton Welch Maurice Denton Welch (29 March 1915 – 30 December 1948) was a British writer and painter, admired for his vivid prose and precise descriptions. Life Welch was born in Shanghai, China, to Arthur Joseph Welch, a wealthy British rubber merchant, ...

(in his posthumous collection ''

A Last Sheaf ''A Last Sheaf'' is the title given to the second posthumous publication of works by the writer and painter Denton Welch. Published in 1951 by John Lehmann, it followed '' A Voice Through a Cloud'', issued by Lehmann the previous year. The colle ...

'' (1951)). In 1951 the Regatta and the Rocket restaurants at the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

included murals by

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, Order of Merit, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract art, abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. Background and training Nicholson was ...

Pleasure Dome
The Guardian, Retrieved 6 October 2016 and Swanwick. She would later create another mural for

Evelina Children's Hospital Evelina London Children's Hospital is a specialist NHS hospital in London. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and provides teaching hospital facilities for London South Bank University and King's College Lon ...

in 1960. A painting by Swanwick titled ''The Dream'' was used on the cover of the 1973

album ''

Selling England by the Pound ''Selling England by the Pound'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis, released in September 1973 on Charisma Records. It reached in the United Kingdom and in the United States. A single from ...

''. The original painting did not include a

lawn mower A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...

; the band had Swanwick add it later as an allusion to the track "

I Know What I Like "I Know What I Like" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News and released as the fourth single from the album ''Fore!'' in 1987. The single peaked at number nine on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Like their earlier single, " Hip to Be S ...

", because Swanwick told them she did not have enough time to paint a new picture for the cover. Her drawings could take 200 hours to create and she had strong views. She was appalled to find that her students did not have to attend life drawing classes. Swanwick died in 1989. Her life and the intriguing paintings that she made after 1965 are included in the book by her friend Paddy Rossmore.

Works include

* The Cross Purposes (1945) * Hoodwinked (1957) * Beauty and the Burglar (1958)

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanwick, Ada 1915 births 1989 deaths 20th-century English women artists 20th-century English women writers Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from London Royal Academicians