Percy Venner Bradshaw (27 November 1877 – 13 October 1965), who often signed PVB, was a British illustrator who also created the Press Art School, a

correspondence course Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

for drawing.

Biography

Percy Bradshaw was born in Hackney, part of London, on 27 November 1877, the son of William Bradshaw, a warehouseman, and his wife Frances Ann. He was baptised in Dover on 27 January 1878. He attended Newport Road School in Leyton where he reached fourth class. He then attended Ivydale Road School from 12 March 1888 to 30 March 1889, moving to Haberdashers' Aske' Boys School at

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and there c ...

. He dropped out of Aske's when he was 14 years old and started working at an advertising agency. Meanwhile, he followed evening courses in art 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

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

. Bradshaw had his first drawing published in ''

The Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. Publishing history The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society, as a means to encourage you ...

'' when he was 15 years old, and moved to the art department of the advertising agency. Three years later he became a full time cartoonist, with his work also appearing in magazines like ''

Bystander (magazine) ''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 Beaumon ...

'', ''Home Chat'', ''Sunday Companion'', ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'', ''

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 roy ...

'' and ''

The Windsor Magazine ''The Windsor Magazine'' was a monthly illustrated publication produced by Ward Lock & Co from January 1895 to September 1939 (537 issues). The title page described it as "An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women". It was bound as six-monthly ...

''. He also worked for a while for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''. Bradshaw so closely resembled the Prime Minister,

Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

, that people would doff their hats to him when he went for walks in the park. Bradshaw married Mabel Alice Bennett (6 January 188117 February 1966) , the daughter of the late Edmund Hellyer Bennett (18411883) and Mary Anne Gardner (18411904), at St Peter's Church in

Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood ...

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

on 27 July 1910. The wedding was choral, and 160 guests attended the reception at St. Peter's Hall. Among the wedding gifts was a grand piano (from the bride's sister). The couple left for a honeymoon in Switzerland. By 1911 the census shows the newly-weds living at 37 Dacres Road,

Forest Hill, London Forest Hill is a district of the London Borough of Lewisham in south London, south east London, England, on the South Circular Road, London, South Circular Road, which is home to the Horniman Museum. History Like much of London, Forest Hil ...

, where they were to remain their entire lives. The couple had one child, Denise M.

The Press Art School

He also wrote articles on drawing, appearing in the ''

Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...

'' and in ''The

Boy's Own Paper ''The Boy's Own Paper'' was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967. Publishing history The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society, as a means to encourage you ...

'', where his series ''Black and White Drawing as a Profession'' was so successful that he decided to create his own art correspondence course, the Press Art School, in 1905. He remained principal of the school for more than 50 years, first from his home, later from Tudor Hall in

. The school was quite well regarded. Not the least of the advantages that Bradshaw's school offered was that Bradshaw not only offered training, but also introduced the work of his pupils to those editors he considered most likely to use of the sketches. Thus Bradshaw helped Leo Cheyney to sell drawings to ''The Boys' Own Paper'', '' Bystander'' and other publications. Bradshaw though that the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

doomed his school, but clever advertising turned the War to his advantage, swelling the ranks of his students. He enrolled over 1,100 new pupils by the end of 1914, over 1,500 in 1915, and averaged over 3,000 enrollments a year for the 1916–1918. By 1918 he had 22 full-time assistants and the GPO needed a special van to deliver his mail. Bradshaw once remarked that ''The only difficulty I had was keeping going between wars.''

Later life

During the

, Bradshaw was a special constable; during the second, he worked as a firewatcher. After the first war, he created hundreds of illustrated postcards for specialized companies like

Raphael Tuck & Sons Raphael Tuck & Sons was a business started by Raphael Tuck and his wife in Bishopsgate in the City of London in October 1866,Picture Postcards and Their Publishers, by Anthony Byatt, page 288 selling pictures and greeting cards, and eventually se ...

, worked again for an advertising agency, and for Sun Enravings from

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. During the Second World War, he wrote articles about cartoonists for the ''

London Opinion ''London Opinion and Today'', often known as ''London Opinion'', was a British magazine published from 1903 until 1954, when it was merged with Pearson's ''Men Only''. It ran weekly from 26 December 1903 to 27 June 1931, and was then published mon ...

'', and published humorous poetry. Bradshaw was a member of the

London Sketch Club __NOTOC__ The London Sketch Club is a private members' club for artists working in the field of commercial graphic art, mainly for newspapers, periodicals, and books. History The club was founded in 1898 by a breakaway group of members from t ...

and in 1958 wrote the history of the

Savage Club The Savage Club, founded in 1857, is a gentlemen's club in London, named after the poet, Richard Savage. Members are drawn from the fields of art, drama, law, literature, music or science. History The founding meeting of the Savage Club took ...

where he was a committee member. He died in on 13 October 1965 at Hither Green Hospital,

in London. His estate was valued at £25,000. Mabel Alice survived him by less than six months, dying at Levisham Hospital, London on 17 February 1966. Her estate was valued at £26,543.

The Art of the Illustrator

''The Art of the Illustrator'' was probably Bradshaw's most important work. It consisted of a series of portfolios based on twenty leading illustrators. Bradshaw commissioned each of them for a special illustration. Each artist was free to choose the subject, so long as the illustration was representative of the artist's normal technique and that five preliminary stages in its composition should be shown. It is not absolutely clear when the portfolios were published. The

Jisc Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...

catalogue shows them being issued from 1900 to 1920. However, notices from the press show them as ''just issued'' in June 1917.. ''The Graphic'' noted that twelve of the portfolios had already been published by mid-June 1917. Therefore, the dates should probably be 1917–1918. Some of the illustrations are dated 1915 and one may even be dated 1914. This makes sense as some illustrators were bound to take longer to complete their commissions and it took Bradshaw, who was dealing with a huge surge in enrolments, time to write the descriptions. The portfolios were not cheap, for what they were: a set of six plates and less than thirty pages of text. A review in '' The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors'' in August 1918 gives the cost of the set of twenty portfolios as £7. 7s. (seven guineas) or £8. 8s. (eight guineas) if purchased in monthly instalments. A single portfolio on its own cost 10s 6d. (half a guinea). Each of the twenty portfolios dealt with the personality and working methods of a leading illustrator with: # a biography of the illustrator # an illustration or photograph of the illustrator at work in their studio # an explanation by the illustrator describing what they have done in each stage of the preparation of the illustration # a plate showing an illustration typical of their work # five other plates showing the work at five earlier stages of its production, from the first pencil rough to the just before the finished drawing or colour sketch. Six of the illustrators worked in watercolour, five in pen and ink, two in wash-painting, and one in body-colour. The subjects of the portfolios, and they were: *

Henry Mayo Bateman Henry Mayo Bateman (15 February 1887 – 11 February 1970, Mgarr, Malta) was a British humorous artist and cartoonist. H. M. Bateman was noted for his "The Man Who..." series of cartoons, featuring comically exaggerated reactions to minor and ...

(18871970) *

Charles Edmund Brock Charles Edmund Brock (5 February 1870 – 28 February 1938) was a widely published English painter, line artist and book illustrator, who signed most of his work C. E. Brock. He was the eldest of four artist brothers, including Henry Matthew ...

(18701938) *

Cyrus Cuneo Cyrus Cincinato Cuneo (18 June 187923 July 1916), known as Ciro, was an American-born English visual artist, best known for painting. Early life He was born into an Italian American family of artists and musicians. His parents were Giovann ...

(18791916) *

William Russell Flint Sir William Russell Flint (4 April 1880 – 30 December 1969) was a Scottish artist and illustrator who was known especially for his watercolours of women. He also worked in oils, tempera, and printmaking. Biography Flint was born in Edi ...

(18801969) *

Dudley Hardy Dudley Hardy Royal Institute of Oil Painters, ROI, Royal Society of British Artists, RBA (15 January 1867 – 11 August 1922), was an English painter and illustrator. Life and work Hardy was the eldest son of the marine painter Thomas Bush Har ...

(18671922) * William Hatherell (18551928) *

Fortunino Matania Chevalier Fortunino Matania (16 April 1881 – 8 February 1963) was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects. Life Born in Naples, the son of artist Eduardo Mat ...

(18811963) *J.

Bernard Partridge Sir John Bernard Partridge (11 October 1861– 9 August 1945) was an English illustrator. Born in London, he was the son of Professor Richard Partridge, F.R.S., president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and nephew of John Partridge, portrait ...

(18611945) *

Gerald Spencer Pryse Gerald Spencer Pryse (1882–1956) was a British artist and lithographer. Biography Born at Ashton, Pryse studied in London and Paris, and first won a prize at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. In the same year, he joined the Fabian ...

(18821956) * Warwick Reynolds {18801926) *

Frank Reynolds (artist) Frank Reynolds (1876 in London - April 1953) was a British artist. Son of an artist, he studied at Heatherley's School of Art. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Biography Reynolds had ...

(18761953) * W. Heath Robinson (18721944) *

Harry Rountree Harry Rountree (26 January 1878''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 26 September 1950) was a prolific illustrator working in England around the turn of the 20th century. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, he moved to London in 1901, when he was 23 ...

(18781950)Harry Rountree: Harry Rountree and His Work: The Art of the Illustrator (Limited Edition Prints) * Claude Allin Shepperson (18671921) * E. J. Sullivan (18691933) * Balliol Salmon (18681953) *

Bert Thomas Herbert Samuel Thomas (13 October 1883 – 6 September 1966) was a British political cartoonist contributing to ''Punch'' magazine and the creator of well-known British propaganda posters during the First and Second World Wars. Career T ...

(18831966) * Frederick Henry Townsend (18681920) * Louise Wright (illustrator) (active: London 1910) *

Lawson Wood Lawson Wood, sometimes Clarence Lawson Wood , (23 August 1878 – 26 October 1957), was an English painter, illustrator and designer. Biography Lawson Wood was born on 23 August 1878 in Highgate, London, the son of landscape artist Pinh ...

(18781957)

Other books by Bradshaw

As with ''The Art of the Illustrator'' most of Bradshaw's other writing was either didactic, helping art students to learn new techniques and so on, or biographic, such as his ''Nice People to Know'' or the history of the Savage Club. {, class="wikitable sortable" , +Books and similar publications by Bradshaw ! No.!! Year !! Title !! Other authors/Illustrators !! Publisher !! Pages !! Notes , - , 1 , , 1913 , , Art training by nature's methods: preparatory course of instruction , , , , Press Art School, London , , 24 p., ill., 29 cm , , , - , 2 , , 1919 , , Advanced Course of Instruction , , , , Press Art School, London , , , , , - , 3 , , 1925 , , Art in advertising: a study of British and American pictorial publicity , , , , Press Art School, London , , xvi, 496 p., ill. (part col.), 32 x 25 cm. , , , - , 4 , , 1929 , , Water Colour Painting , , , , Press Art School, London , , 6 parts, (4º) , , , - , 5 , , 1936 , , Fashion Drawing & Designing. y various authors., , Julia Cairns, Grace Cox Ife, Florence E. Ricketts , , Press Art School, London , , 6 parts, (4º) , , , - , 6 , , 1941 , , I wish I could draw: a system of art teaching by natural methods , , , , The Studio, London , , 96 p : ill. (part mounted) diagrs, 26 cm. , , , - , 7 , , 1942 , , They make us smile , , , , Chapman & Hall ltd, London , , 112 p : ill, 19 cm. , , , - , 8 , , 1943 , , Marching On , ,

, , W. H. Allen & Co, London , , 127 p., (8º) , , , - , 9 , , 1943 , , Drawn from memory: adventures in the arts , , , , Chapman & Hall, London , , vii, 255, 1 p., 24 pl., ill., 22 cm. , , , - , 10 , , 1944 , , Nice People to know. , , , , Chapman & Hall, London , , xi, 201 p., (8º) , , , - , 11 , , 1945 , , I Wish I Could Paint , , Ernest W. Haslehust , , The Studio, London , , 96 p., (4º) , , , - , 12 , , 1946 , , Line of Laughter , , , , W. H. Allen & Co, London , , 140 p., (8º) , , , - , 13 , , 1946 , , Seen in perspective, 1895-1945: a panorama of fifty years , , , , Chapman & Hall ltd, London , , 219 p., ill., 23 cm. , , , - , 14 , , 1949 , , The magic of line: a study of drawing through the ages , , , , Studio Publications, London , , 112 p., ill., 26 cm. , , , - , 15 , , 1949 , , Come Sketching , , Sir Frank Brangwyn, Sir W. Russell Flint, Sydney R. Jones, Francis Marshall, Bertram Nichols, Fred Taylor,

Charles Tunnicliffe Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, OBE, RA (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979) was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey. He is popularly ...

, and Norman Wilkinson , , Studio Publications, London , , 96 p., (4º) , , , - , 16 , , 1952 , , Water-colour: a truly English art , , , , Studio Publications, London , , 127 p., ill., 30 cm. , , , - , 17 , , 1956 , , Sketching & Painting indoors. ith illustrations., ,

Rowland Hilder Rowland Frederick Hilder OBE (28 June 1905 – 21 April 1993) was an English landscape artist, and book illustrator. Early life He was born in New York to Roland and Kitty Hilder (née Fissenden). Following the outbreak of World War 1, ...

, , Studio Publications, London , , 96 p., (8º) , , , - , 18 , , 1958 , , Brother savages and guests': a history of the Savage Club 1857-1957 , , , , W.H. Allen, London , , xiii, 162 p., 10 pl., 26 cm. , ,

Faculty

Faculty (consulting staff) of the Press Art School included * Fred Pegram * W. Heath Robinson *

Alumni

Students of the Press Art School included *Barry Ernest Appleby (1909–96) * Honor C. Appleton *

Mary Baker Mary Baker (fl. 1842 – 1856) was an English painter of portraits and portrait miniatures. She was born in London and produced works for the Society of Arts, as well as exhibiting miniatures and portraits at the Royal Academy over a fourt ...

* Albert Edgar Beard * Molly Brett *Luis Chan (1904-1995) * Leo Cheney * Alan D'Egville *

Phiny Dick Afine Kornélie Dik, better known as Phiny Dick (14 September 1912 - 7 August 1990) was a Dutch illustrator and writer of children's books and comics. She was the wife of Marten Toonder from 1935 until her death. Biography Afine Dik was born in ...

* Fougasse Pseudonym for Cyril Kenneth Bird (18871965) * D. L. Ghilchik * Charles Grave *Joseph Booth Lee (19011974) *

Kin Maung Khin Maung (Bank) ( ; 1910 – 20 December 1983) was a Burmese painter and sponsor of the arts who was influential in the art world of Mandalay, Myanmar. More importantly, however, he was the major force for the development of a modernistic mo ...

Norman Pett Norman Pett (12 April 1891, Kings Norton, Worcestershire – 16 February 1960, Sussex) was an English artist who, in 1932, created the famous cartoon character ''Jane'' for the ''Daily Mirror''. Early life Pett was born on 12 April 1891 in Kin ...

Bertram Prance Bertram Stanley Prance (5 December 1889 – 9 August 1958) was a British artist, poster artist and illustrator who worked as a cartoonist for ''Punch'' magazine among others. Early life Prance was born in Bideford in Devon in 1889, one of f ...

* William Ridgewell *

Ralph Steadman Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture b ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradshaw, Percy 1877 births 1965 deaths British illustrators