Brian Hargreaves

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

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(1935-2011) was an English artist and scientific illustrator, known for his depictions of Lepidoptera.

Early life

Hargreaves was born on 27 May 1935 at Sutton-in-Craven, Yorkshire. He was educated at Keighley Grammar School, Keighley School of Arts and Crafts and

Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgra ...

. At Camberwell he met Joyce, who later became his wife. They were each awarded the National Diploma of Design there. As well as working as an artist and illustrator in her own right, she subsequently worked with him on some of his publications.

Career

St Paul's Cathedral - lantern ball and cross

Hargreaves early career was in church restoration; he gilded the lantern ball and cross that sits on top of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. He became the first artist to illustrate every one of the butterflies of Britain and Europe, doing so in the book ''Butterflies of Britain and Europe'', which was eventually published in nine languages, and in the United States. As a result, his work was exhibited at the

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in Washington, D.C. He illustrated ''Butterflies on My Mind'' (1978) for the actress

Dulcie Gray Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison, (''née'' Bailey; 20 November 1915 – 15 November 2011), known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist. While at drama school in the late 1930s she met ...

, who was also vice president of the British Butterfly Conservation Society. The book, which was designed by Joyce Hargreaves, won the ''

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'' Senior Information Book Award. For his work on ''Pests, Diseases and Disorders of Garden Plants'', he was awarded the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's gold medal. Another was given for ''Field Guide of Caterpillars and Their Food Plants'', which he illustrated. In 1997 he undertook a commission to draw the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

's wildlife garden. He designed several series of

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

ornaments, modelled on butterflies, for

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. He enjoyed fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts, the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of Londo ...

, and the

Free Painters and Sculptors Free Painters and Sculptors (FPS) is an artist-led organisation based in London, England, which regularly exhibits every year. It played a pivotal role in the establishment of abstract art in the 1950s and 1960s. History Background FPS ...

, as well as membership of the Guild of Lettering Craftsmen. Hargreaves died on 30 September 2011, following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. At that time, he and Joyce were living in

Playden Playden is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located one mile (1.6 km) north-west of Rye. History Playden is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Pleidena; it is a largely rural parish ...

, East Sussex. His funeral was held at Hastings Crematorium.

Legacy

Eighty-eight of his drawings, mostly

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 ...

, are in the collection of the Natural History Museum. His works have been used on the

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s of

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, Norfolk Island, and

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

. He supplied work to Royal Mail for a set of United Kingdom postage stamps, depicting two-spot ladybirds, but these were not used. His painting ''Butterfly: Large Blue'' is in the Royal Collection. It was a gift to Queen Elizabeth II from the Royal Entomological Society in 2002, to mark her Golden Jubilee.

Bibliography

Books illustrated by Hargreaves include: * * ** * * Various (1976) '' The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland'' (several volumes) * * * He wrote and illustrated: * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargreaves, Brian 1935 births 2011 deaths 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists English illustrators English lepidopterists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society People from Craven District Artists from Yorkshire People from Rother District