Radio Times - front cover - 1934-03-30 (cropped)

John Archibald Austen (

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

, (

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

), 5 January 1886 –

Hythe, Kent Hythe () is a coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the district of Folkestone and Hythe on the south coast of Kent. The word ''Hythe'' or ''Hithe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The town has m ...

, 27 October 1948) was a British book illustrator. He moved to London in 1906 where he studied art. His early works, including a fine

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

, were Beardsleyesque in style, but after 1925 he was influenced by the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

movement. Books which he illustrated in this manner include

Daphnis and Chloe ''Daphnis and Chloe'' ( el, Δάφνις καὶ Χλόη, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is an ancient Greek novel written in the Roman Empire, the only known work of the second-century AD Greek novelist and romance writer Longus. Setting and style ...

and

As You Like it ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

. His work for ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' includes the cover of the Easter 1934 edition. Austen used several techniques in his illustrations, including wood-engraving and

scraperboard Scratchboard (North America and Australia) or scraperboard (Great Britain), is a form of direct engraving where the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a white or colored layer beneath. Scratchboard refers to both a fine-art medium, and ...

, and changed styles to suit the text he was illustrating. He was also involved in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, producing adverts, several posters & numerous dustwrapper designs. He was a friend of Alan Odle and

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau and ...

and exhibited with them at the St George's Gallery in 1925. The novelist

Dorothy Richardson Dorothy Miller Richardson (17 May 1873 – 17 June 1957) was a British author and journalist. Author of ''Pilgrimage'', a sequence of 13 semi-autobiographical novels published between 1915 and 1967—though Richardson saw them as chapters of o ...

wife of Alan Odle wrote about him in ''John Austen and the Inseparables'' (London: William Jackson, 1930). Issue 27 of The Imaginative Book Illustration Society's ''Studies in Illustration'' contains a biography & full bibliography by Martin Steenson.* John Austen The infernal marriage by Benjamin Disraeli 1929

John Austen The infernal marriage by Benjamin Disraeli 1929

John Austen The wine of circe from the golden hind vol 1 no 2 jan 1923

Works illustrated

Includes: *Ralph Holbrook Keen: The Little Ape and Other Stories (Henderson, 1921) *Hugh L’Anson Fausset: The Condemned and The Mercy of God: Two Poems of Crisis (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) *Edward Cracroft Lefroy: Echoes from Theocritus (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) *Charles Perrault: Tales of Passed Times (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) *William Shakespeare: Hamlet (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) *Francis Lawrence Bickley: The Adventures of Harlequin (Selwyn & Blount, 1923) *Jose Maria De Eca De Queiroz: Perfection (Selwyn & Blount, 1923) *Thomas Moult: The Best Poems of 1922 (Cape, 1923) *James Murray Allison: The Five Black Cousins and Other Bird Rhymes (Cape, 1924) *John Austen: Rogues in Porcelain: A Miscellany of 18th Poems (Chapman & Hall, 1924) *Benjamin Disraeli: Ixion in Heaven (Cape, 1925) *Anon: Everyman and Other Plays (Chapman & Hall, 1925) *Longus: Daphnis and Chloe (Bles, 1925) *Thomas Moult: The Best Poems of 1925 (Cape, 1925) *Lord George Gordon Byron: Don Juan (Bodley Head, 1926) *Anatole France: The Gods Are Athirst (Bodley Head, 1926 & 1933) *Laurence Sterne: Tristram Shandy (Bodley Head, 1927) *Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary (Bodley Head, 1928) *L’Abbe Prevost: Manon Lescaut (Bles, 1928) *Thomas Moult: The Best Poems of 1928 (Cape, 1928) *Daniel Defoe: Moll Flanders (Bodley Head, 1929) *Benjamin Disraeli: The Infernal Marriage (William Jackson, 1929) *Norman Douglas: South Wind, 2 Vols (Angus Book Shop, 1929) *Thomas Moult: The Best Poems of 1929 (Cape. 1929) *H. E. Bates: The Hessian Prisoner (William Jackson, 1930) *Villiers David: The Guardsman and Cupid's Daughter (Cayme Press, 1930) *William Shakespeare: As You Like It (William Jackson, 1930) *Pierre Louys: The Collected Tales of Pierre Louys (Chicago: Argus Books, 1930) *Alfred Benjamin Cooper: Poets in Pinafores: Being Nursery Rhymes Rewritten (Alston Rivers, 1931) *William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair (Limited Editions Club NY, 1931) *Dorothy Una Ratcliffe: The Gypsy Dorelia: A Pay in 3 Acts (Bodley Head, 1932) *Charles Dickens: The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club, 2 Vols (Limited Editions Club NY, 1933)* *C. C. & D. G.: The English in Love (Secker, 1933) *C. C. & D. G.: A National Gallery, Being a Collection of English Characters (Secker, 1934) *Charles Dickens: David Copperfield (NY: Heritage, 1935) *Tobias Smollett: The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (Limited Editions Club NY, 1936) *Aristophanes: The Frogs (Limited Editions Club NY, 1937) (NY: Heritage, 1959) *Alaine-Rene LeSage: The Adventures of Gil Blas (Limited Editions Club NY, 1937) *John Austen: The ABC of Pen and Ink Rendering (Pitman, 1937) *Oliver Goldsmith: Oliver Wakefield (NY: Heritage, 1939) *William Shakespeare; Comedy of Errors (Limited Editions Club NY, 1939) *Arnold Bennett: The Old Wives' Tale (Limited Editions Club NY, 1941) *Frederick George Thomas: The Village (OUP, 1943) *Jane Austen: Persuasion (Avalon Press. 1946) *Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queen, 2 Vols (Limited Editions Club NY, 1953)

References

External links

BiographyTristram Shandy, drawing by John AustenBook Illustration Catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austen English illustrators 1886 births 1948 deaths Art Deco artists