E. H. Shepard | |
|---|---|
 Shepard in 1932 | |
| Birth name | Ernest Howard Shepard |
| Born | (1879-12-10)10 December 1879 St John's Wood,London, England |
| Died | 24 March 1976(1976-03-24) (aged 96) London, England |
| Battles / wars | World War I |
| Children | Mary Shepard Graham Shepard |
| Other work | Artist and book illustrator ofThe Wind in the Willows andWinnie-the-Pooh |
Ernest Howard ShepardOBE MC (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of theanthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters inThe Wind in the Willows andWinnie-the-Pooh.
Shepard's original 1926 illustrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood, which features in the opening pages ofWinnie-the-Pooh (and also appears in the opening animation in the first Disney adaptation in 1966), sold for £430,000 ($600,000) atSotheby's in London, setting a world record for book illustrations.[1][2]
Shepard was born inSt John's Wood, London, son of Henry Donkin Shepard, an architect, and Jessie Harriet, daughter of watercolour painter William Lee.[3] Having shown some promise in drawing atSt Paul's School, in 1897 he enrolled in theHeatherley School of Fine Art inChelsea.[4] After a productive year there, he attended theRoyal Academy Schools, winning a Landseer scholarship in 1899 and a British Institute prize in 1900.[5] There he met Florence Eleanor Chaplin, whom he married in 1904.[6] By 1906 Shepard had become a successful illustrator, having produced work for illustrated editions ofAesop's Fables,David Copperfield, andTom Brown's Schooldays, while at the same time working as an illustrator on the staff ofPunch.[7] The couple bought a house in London, but in 1905 moved to Shamley Green, near Guildford.
Shepard was a prolific painter, showing in a number of exhibitions. He exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham—a traditional venue for generic painters—as well as in the more radical atmosphere of Glasgow's Institute of Fine Arts, where some of the most innovative artists were on show. He was twice an exhibitor at theWalker Art Gallery in Liverpool, one of the largest provincial galleries in the country, and another at theManchester Art Gallery, a Victorian institution later part of the public libraries. But at heart, Shepard was a Londoner, showing sixteen times at theRoyal Academy on Piccadilly. His wife, who was also a painter, found a home in London's West End venue for her own modest output during a 25-year career.[8]
In his mid-thirties whenWorld War I broke out in 1914, Shepard received a commission as asecond lieutenant in theRoyal Garrison Artillery, an arm of theRoyal Artillery. He was assigned to the105th Siege Battery, which crossed to France in May 1916 and went into action at theBattle of the Somme.[9][10][11][12]
By the autumn of 1916, Shepard started working for the Intelligence Department sketching the combat area within the view of his battery position.[13][14] On 16 February 1917, he was made an actingcaptain whilstsecond-in-command of his battery, and briefly served as anacting major in late April and early May of that year during theBattle of Arras before reverting to acting captain.[10][15][16][17] He was promoted to substantive lieutenant on 1 July 1917.[18] Whilst acting as captain, he was awarded theMilitary Cross. His citation read:[19]
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. As forward Observation Officer he continued to observe and send back valuable information, in spite of heavy shell and machine gun fire. His courage and coolness were conspicuous.
Later in 1917, the 105th Siege Battery participated in the final stages of theBattle of Passchendaele where it came under heavy fire and suffered a number of casualties.[10][20] At the end of the year, it was sent to help retrieve a disastrous situation on theItalian Front, travelling by rail viaVerona before coming into action on theMontello Hill.[10][15]
Shepard missed theSecond Battle of the Piave River in April 1918, being on leave in England (where he was invested with his MC by KingGeorge V atBuckingham Palace) and where he was attending a gunnery course.[21] He was back in Italy with his battery for the victory atVittorio Veneto.[10][22] After theArmistice of Villa Giusti in November 1918, Shepard was promoted to acting major in command of the battery, and given the duty of administering captured enemy guns.Demobilisation began at Christmas 1918 and the 105th Siege Battery was disbanded in March 1919.[10][23][24]
Throughout the war, he had been contributing toPunch. He was hired as a regular staff cartoonist in 1921 and became lead cartoonist in 1945. He was removed from this post in 1953 byPunch's new editor,Malcolm Muggeridge.[25] His work was also part of thepainting event in theart competition at the1928 Summer Olympics.[26]
Shepard was recommended toA. A. Milne in 1923 by anotherPunch staffer,E. V. Lucas. Milne initially thought Shepard's style was not what he wanted, but used him to illustrate the book of poemsWhen We Were Very Young. Happy with the results, Milne then insisted Shepard illustrateWinnie-the-Pooh. Realising his illustrator's contribution to the book's success, the writer arranged for Shepard to receive a share of his royalties. Milne also inscribed a copy ofWinnie-the-Pooh with the following personal verse:[27]
When I am gone,
Let Shepard decorate my tomb,
And put (if there is room)
Two pictures on the stone:
Piglet from page a hundred and eleven,
And Pooh and Piglet walking (157) ...
And Peter, thinking that they are my own,
Will welcome me to Heaven.
Eventually Shepard came to resent "that silly old bear" as he felt that the Pooh illustrations overshadowed his other work.[28]
Shepard modelled Pooh not on the toy owned by Milne's sonChristopher Robin but on "Growler", a stuffed bear owned by his own son.[29] (Growler no longer exists, having been given to his granddaughter Minnie Hunt and subsequently destroyed by a neighbour's dog.)[30] His Pooh work is so famous that 300 of his preliminary sketches were exhibited at theVictoria and Albert Museum in 1969, when he was 90 years old.[31]
A Shepard painting of Winnie the Pooh, believed to have been painted in the 1930s for a Bristol teashop,[32] is his only known oil painting of the famous teddy bear. It was purchased at an auction for $243,000 in London late in 2000.[33] The painting is displayed in the Pavilion Gallery atAssiniboine Park inWinnipeg,Manitoba, Canada, the city after which Winnie is named.[34]
Shepard wrote two autobiographies:Drawn from Memory (1957) andDrawn From Life (1961).[35][36]
In 1972, Shepard gave his personal collection of papers and illustrations to theUniversity of Surrey. These now form the E.H. Shepard Archive.[37]
Shepard was made anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire in the1972 Birthday Honours.[38]
Shepard lived at Melina Place in St John's Wood[39] and from 1955 inLodsworth, West Sussex. He and Florence had two children,Graham (born 1907) andMary (born 1909),[40] who both became illustrators. Lt. Graham Shepard died when his shipHMSPolyanthus was sunk byGerman submarine U-952 in September 1943. Mary marriedE.V. Knox, the editor ofPunch, and became known as the illustrator of theMary Poppins series of children's books. Florence Shepard died in 1927. In November 1943 Shepard married Norah Carroll, a nurse atSt Mary's Hospital, Paddington. They remained married until his death on 24 March 1976.[41] In 1966, he called theDisney Animation short filmWinnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree a travesty.[42]
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