Artur Ernesto Teixeira de Vasconcelos Barbosa (6 March 1908 – 5 October 1995) was an artist best known for his distinctive cover illustrations for

Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother ...

and

George MacDonald Fraser George MacDonald Fraser (2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Flashman. Biography Fraser was born to Scottish parents in Carlisle, England, ...

's ''

The Flashman Papers ''The Flashman Papers'' is a series of novels and shorter stories written by George MacDonald Fraser, the first of which was published in 1969. The books centre on the exploits of the fictional protagonist Harry Flashman. He is a cowardly Bri ...

'' novels, which he produced for 17 and 25 years respectively. Although always anglicising his first name, he disliked modern familiarity and preferred being known as Barbosa.

Biography

He was born in Liverpool, his father was a Portuguese

vice-consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

, and his mother half-French. He attended

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

and later studied at

Liverpool School of Art The John Lennon Art and Design Building (formerly the Art and Design Academy) in Liverpool, England, houses Liverpool John Moores University's School of Art and Design. The school was formerly located at the Grade II listed Liverpool College of ...

Heatherley School of Fine Art The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London. The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the schoo ...

and the

Central School of Art 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 ...

. His first successful exhibitions were in London where he was a founder member of the Pandemonium Group alongside

Nicolas Bentley Nicolas Clerihew Bentley (14 June 1907 – 14 August 1978) was a British writer and illustrator, best known for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. The son of Edmund Clerihew Bentley (inventor of the clerih ...

Eliot Hodgkin Eliot Hodgkin (19 June 1905 – 30 May 1987) was an English painter, born at Purley Lodge, Purley-on-Thames, near Pangbourne, Berkshire."Eliot Hodgkin ''Painter & Collector'', p. 7 Hodgkin began with oil painting in the late 1920s and in 1937 ...

and

Victor Reinganum Victor Reinganum (1907–1995) was a British artist and illustrator, probably best known for his illustrations on book dustjackets, including the first editions of Muriel Spark's '' The Ballad of Peckham Rye'' (1960) and '' The Prime of Miss Jean ...

. He illustrated for ''

Everybody's Weekly ''Everybody’s Weekly'' was weekly tabloid founded 1913 in London as ''The Competitors' Journal''. The publication was widely syndicated in the United States. ''Everybody's'', then owned and published by Everybody’s Publications Ltd., was acq ...

'' and the '' Radio Times'' and produced his first book covers for London publishers. In 1928 he worked on the interior of St Andrew's Church, West Kirby, designing the organ case, pew fronts and six-foot candlesticks. From 1930 he began working as a designer for theatre, working with

André Charlot André Eugène Maurice Charlot (26 July 1882 – 20 May 1956) was a French impresario known primarily for the successful musical revues he staged in London between 1912 and 1937. He also worked as a character actor in numerous films. Early li ...

, Kenneth Duffield and Cecil Landauin. At this time he also illustrated for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Harper's Bazaar'', ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on ro ...

'', ''

The Bystander ''The Bystander'' was a British weekly tabloid magazine that featured reviews, topical drawings, cartoons and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was established in 1903 by George Holt Thomas. Its first editor, William Comyns Beaum ...

'', '' Night and Day'' and the ''

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

''. Barbosa spent the Second World War in the Portuguese section of the Ministry of Information then returning to illustrating he worked for

Moss Bros Moss Bros Group is a limited company set up in 1851 by Moses Moss in Covent Garden, London, UK. One of the UK's top menswear shops, specialising in dress wear for formal occasions, Moss Bros has over 150 shops throughout the United Kingdo ...

. During the 1950s he worked almost exclusively for American publishers and began his association with

. His

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...

designs for her post-war books and for those of

were especially notable, though he also illustrated for other writers;

Dorothy Dunnett Dorothy, Lady Dunnett (née Halliday, 25 August 1923 – 9 November 2001) was a Scottish novelist best known for her historical fiction. Dunnett is most famous for her six novel series set during the 16th century, which concern the fictiti ...

, Doris Leslie, Maria Fagyas, Rona Randall, Dennis Wheatley and Hilary Ford to name but a few. In the 1966, his friendship with Rex Harrison led him back to interior design, for the actor's house in

Portofino Portofino (; ) is a ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore. Since the late 19th century ...

, Italy. And later he undertook the refurbishment of the interior of Elizabeth Taylor's yacht ''Kalizma''. He also counted

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the t ...

and Laurence Olivier amongst his friends. He continued working until a few months before his death and won a Golden Clio award for British sherry label designs featuring portraits of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

and Edward Elgar He was obsessed with Royalty and amassed the finest collection of original photographs of members of European and Russian royal families from 1850 to 1914.

Personal life

He was married three times but had no children, his last marriage to Isobel lasted 34 years until his death in 1995, aged 89 despite his long-held belief that the ideal marriage was a contract for nine years.

References

* Lawrence Blackmore, ''Barbosa - The Man who Drew Flashman'', Book Palace Books, 2018

External links

Barbosa
at www.classiccrimefiction.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbosa, Arthur 1908 births 1995 deaths English illustrators Artists from Liverpool Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design English people of French descent English people of Portuguese descent People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University