Celia Levetus also known as C. A. Nicholson and Diana Forbes (1874-1936) was a Canadian-English author, poet and illustrator of the Birmingham School.

Biography

Celia Levetus was born in 1874 to English parents living in Montreal. Her father worked in the silverware business and was also a professional singer. Her aunt, Amelia S. Levetus, was an art critic who wrote for '' The Studio''. In 1878 the Levetus family moved back to England, first living in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and then in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

. Levetus attended the Birmingham School of Art, where she was taught by

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

. Influenced by Crane as well as

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, Levetus became associated with the Birmingham school of illustrators. She illustrated books, designed

bookplates An ''Ex Libris'' (from ''ex-librīs'', ), also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. ...

and greeting cards, and contributed to periodicals such as the ''

English Illustrated Magazine ''The English Illustrated Magazine'' was a monthly publication that ran for 359 issues between October 1883 and August 1913. Features included travel, topography, and a large amount of fiction and were contributed by writers such as Thomas Hardy ...

'' and ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

''. She exhibited her work at venues such as the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

, the

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...

, and the annual exhibition of the Ex Libris Society. Her most notable work is a series of illustrations for a collection of Turkish fairy tales collected by

Ignác Kúnos Ignác Kúnos (originally ''Ignác Lusztig;'' 22 September 1860, in Hajdúsámson, Hungary – 12 January 1945, in Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian linguist, turkologist, folklorist, a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. ...

and translated by

Robert Nisbet Bain Robert Nisbet Bain (1854–1909) was a British historian and linguist who worked for the British Museum. Life Bain was born in London in 1854 to David and Elizabeth (born Cowan) Bain. Bain was a fluent linguist who could use over twenty la ...

. In 1895, she contributed to ''A Book of Nursery Rhymes'' along with other Birmingham School illustrators. She also illustrated ''Verse Fancies'', a volume of poems published by her brother, Edward Lewis Levetus, in 1897; a miniature edition of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's ''Songs of Innocence'' ( Wells Gardner & Company, 1899); and a full-sized edition of his ''Songs of Experience'' (1902). After marrying Eric Pearson Nicholson in 1902, she stopped illustrating professionally. She wrote several novels and a volume of poetry (''The Comfort-Lady and Other Poems'', 1911) under the pen names C. A. Nicholson and Diana Forbes. She died in 1936.

Gallery

Image:Aleodor_and_the_Emperor_by_Celia_Levetus.jpg, "Aleodor and the Emperor," ''Turkish Fairy Tales'', 1896 Image:Boy-Beautiful_and_His_Faithful_Servant.jpg , "Boy-Beautiful and His Faithful Servant," ''Turkish Fairy Tales'', 1896 Image:Sybil_by_Celia_Levetus.jpg, "Sybil," ''Verse Fancies'', 1897

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

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Manuscript pictorial border by Celia Levetus
held at University of Birmingham {{DEFAULTSORT:Levetus, Celia 1874 births 1936 deaths Artists from Montreal People from Birmingham, West Midlands English illustrators Canadian illustrators British women illustrators Canadian women illustrators Arts and Crafts movement Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art Canadian people of English descent