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Kate Greenaway(1846 Hoxton, North London - 1901) A very
early illustrator, Greenaway is most remembered for her pictures and
rhymes in her books Mother
Goose and Old
Nursery Rhymes.
Her father, John Greenaway, was an engraver, and her mother, Elizabeth
Catherine Jones, a seamstress. Growing up in her mother's
dress
shop, Kate was influenced by the designs and textures of fashion.
She enrolled at the Finsbury School of Art at the age of 12,
and
went on to the Central School in south Kensington. She
transferred to the newly founded Slade School in 1871, because they
advertised equal education for both sexes, and studied at
Heatherley's School of Art in the evenings. After an early
success
in 1867 with a book frontispiece, she began designing for greeting
cards, calendars and book illustrations in London. Her books
became very popular in England and soon in America. She was
plagued by imitators, and her artwork was pirated for wallpaper,
plates, clothing and dolls. After her death in 1901, many of
her
holiday illustrations, mostly Christmas and Valentine greeting
cards, were adapted and published as postcards. Read a more complete biography at Women Children's Book Illustrators by Denise Ortakales.   Return from Kate Greenaway to the Artists page
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