Celia Mary Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes known as Celia Fiennes and later Celia Rooke, (10 March 1902 – 17 September 1998) was a British artist, notable as a printmaker and book illustrator.

Biography

Fiennes was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

in London and was the daughter of Alberic Fiennes, (1865–1919), who worked at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and his wife Gertrude, the daughter of a Royal Navy officer. Celia Fiennes was a direct descendant of the 17th-century travel writer Celia Fiennes. Fiennes studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and when she graduated began working for the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in London. There she was largely responsible for organizing the Society's 1928 and 1931 exhibitions. During this time she continued to work as an artist. She produced a series of woodcut silhouette designs for the 1926

Golden Cockerel Press The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961. History The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...

edition of ''The Fables of Aesop''. Also in 1926, she produced twelve wood engravings for the

Cresset Press The Cresset Press was a publishing company in London, England, active as an independent press from 1927 for 40 years, and initially specializing in "expensively illustrated limited editions of classical works, like Milton's '' Paradise Lost''" go ...

edition of

Matthew Stevenson Matthew Stevenson, also referred to as Mathew Stevenson (died 1684) was an English poet and a member of the circle of cavalier wits who frequented the lawcourts following the Restoration. He was buried at St Mary-in-the-Marsh, Norwich.Thomas Sec ...

's 1661 work ''The Twelve Moneths''. In December 1932 Fiennes married

Noel Rooke Noel Rooke (1881–1953) was a British wood-engraver and artist. His ideas and teaching made a major contribution to the revival of British wood-engraving in the twentieth century. Biography Rooke was born in Acton, London and he would remain in ...

who had been one of her teachers at the Central School and was considered a leading light in the revival of wood engraving as a technique in Britain. In later life Fiennes turned from printmaking to concentrate on painting and in due course retired to a village near Banbury called Culworth where she died in 1998.

Works illustrated

* ''The Fables of Aesop'', Golden Cockerel Press, 1926 * ''The Twelve Moneths'' by Matthew Stevenson, Cresset Press, 1926 * ''Together with a Diary for 1929'', Cresset Press, 1929 * ''The Grave of Arthur'' by

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

, Ariel poem No. 25,

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 1930.

Notes

References

External links

Works by Fiennes in the Central Saint Martins Museum and Study Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiennes, Celia 1902 births 1998 deaths 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Artists from London British illustrators English wood engravers Celia People from Ealing 20th-century engravers