Vera Willoughby (1870–1939) was a British illustrator, painter, and poster artist. Under the name Vera Petrovna, she also created designs and illustrations of ballet dancers.

Biography

Willoughby was born in

South Norwood South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, Greater London and formerly in the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Wood ...

and educated in London at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. At the Slade she developed a style with both

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and

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 ...

elements, which led to a number of poster commissions. Marathonikes - Willoughby Vera - 1925

Willoughby designed posters for the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

from 1928 to 1935. She made illustrations for a gift edition of '' The Odes of Horace'', added "curiously stylised illustrations" for a 1929 edition of ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...

'' by

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

, "decorated" a collection of 17th-century love poems, and contributed illustrations for ten books published by

Peter Llewelyn Davies Peter Llewelyn Davies MC (25 February 1897 – 5 April 1960) was the middle of five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, one of the Llewelyn Davies boys befriended and later informally adopted by J. M. Barrie. Barrie publicly identif ...

, among her many published works. Beginning in 1915, she created cover designs for the catalogues and other publications of specialty bookseller and dance scholar

Cyril W. Beaumont Cyril W. Beaumont OBE (1 November 1891 – 24 May 1976) was a British dance historian, critic, technical theorist, translator, bookseller, and publisher. Author of more than forty books on ballet, he is considered one of the most important danc ...

, sometimes under the name "Vera Petrovna". She also created wooden souvenir figures depicting dancers Léonide Massine and Lubov Tchernicheva of the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

. Willoughby published ''Vision of Greece'', an illustrated record of her travels in Greece in 1925. "It is a fully sufficient book, even if we only consider its text," commented one reviewer, "but Mrs. Willoughby is one of the most masterly of modern painters, and her book is enormously more attractive by reason of her illustrations."

Personal life

Vera Willoughby's husband was English film actor

Louis Willoughby Louis Willoughby (10 July 1876 – 12 September 1968) was an English actor of the silent era. Born in England, he was married to artist Vera Willoughby and the father of artist Althea Willoughby. He lived his final years in the United Stat ...

(1876–1968). Their daughter

Althea Willoughby Althea Willoughby (1904–1982) was a British artist. She worked as a book and magazine illustrator, painted decorative tiles and made wood engravings. Biography Willoughby was born in London. Her mother, Vera Willoughby was also a professiona ...

(1904–1982) was also an illustrator and designer. During World War I, she lived with young signal officer

. Vera Willoughby died in 1939, aged 69 years. Original works by Willoughby are in the collections of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and the London Transport Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willoughby, Vera 1870 births 1939 deaths 19th-century English painters 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from London British women in World War I English illustrators People from South Norwood