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e. h. shepard

These four books, two of poetry and two of stories, collectively known by the title of the second, Winnie-the-Pooh, were published between 1924 and 1928 and were created as a result of a unique collaboration between the author A A Milne and the illustrator E H Shepard, who worked closely and harmoniously together to raise children’s literature to a new level. The books were instant best sellers, have been translated into over 50 languages, and have never been out of print, and are still loved by children of all ages across the globe almost a century after their original publication.

Originally published in 1908, the author Kenneth Grahame had disliked all the illustrations drawn for this ground-breaking children’s book. A A Milne felt sure E H Shepard could capture the essence of the stories and bring the characters to life. Shepard went down into the water meadows by the river Thames so that he could understand the magic of the tales of the riverbank, and then produced the illustrations which are now considered the definitive interpretation of The Wind in the Willows. These were first published in 1932 and have never been out of print.

For most of the century between 1875-1975 Punch magazine was the largest circulation English language publication in the world and was the most prestigious weekly periodical of its day. Although E H Shepard had personal connections with the magazine, it was entirely on merit that he became a freelance cartoon contributor in 1907, and became in due course a member of the famous Punch table, essentially the editorial committee, and later the chief political cartoonist across the critical mid-century years from 1935 – 1953, and recorded in his inimitable style the key events of the era.

E H Shepard was a loyal patriot, and volunteered for the Army, serving on the front line from 1915 to 1918, first on the Western Front in France, and from 1917 in northern Italy. He managed to simultaneously undertake challenging duties as an artillery officer, being wounded in battle and being awarded the Military Cross for bravery, but additionally working informally for the Intelligence Corps whilst also maintaining a skeleton civilian practice. His personal record through drawings, illustrations and cartoons of his own experiences provides a unique insight into an ‘ordinary’ officer’s wartime experience.

Illustrating books was the core of E H Shepard’s freelance practice and, almost as soon as he left Art School, he received his first commission. He established a reputation for interpreting classic books of literature with inspired illustrations, which included Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Diaries of Samuel Pepys, and the works of Dr Johnson, Boswell and Lamb. He illustrated many contemporary best-sellers between the wars, including Winifred Fortescue’s Perfume from Provence. He also illustrated his own memoirs, Drawn from Memory and Drawn from Life.

The explosion in commercial advertising in the twentieth century meant E H Shepard was in great demand. He illustrated countless advertisements over the years, for products ranging from Horlicks malted milk drink to Basildon Bond writing paper, and much more in between. He enjoyed the professional challenge of trying to convey a key message in a confined space.

Born in London, E H Shepard considered himself a Londoner, and whilst his main family home was in the countryside of southern England, he maintained a London studio all his working life. Some of his earliest drawings are of London street scenes, such as the great fire at Whiteleys department store, and the carriage procession of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. He recorded many aspects of London, in wartime and in peacetime, including Buckingham Palace, London Zoo and the distinctive London street scenes, as well as Piccadilly Circus and the grand shops of Regent Street.

E H Shepard was a master of landscape drawing, and this formed the backdrop to his most famous works, the illustrations for Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows. Using the Ashdown Forest as the template for Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood, he spent weeks on end in the forest, drawing from life the landscapes into which he later set Christopher Robin, Pooh and the animals of A A Milne’s imagination. Later, he spent much time by the water meadows of the Thames Valley, and in the woods of the Downs above, conjuring up the pastoral images of Ratty, Mole and the creatures of the riverbank, contrasted with the darkness of the Wild Wood, from The Wind in the Willows.

The Christmas season was one of joy and delight for E H Shepard, who revelled in happy memories of his own Victorian childhood Christmases, and those he later created for his own family. He loved the excitement, the anticipation and the thrill of preparation for the great day, the excursions to see the Christmas lights in London, to attend the pantomime and carol concerts, the dressing up and, at its heart, the celebration of the nativity, and the glory of the arrival of the baby Jesus. He drew these themes again and again, for publication and for personal pleasure.

As a traditional Englishman, E H Shepard was a confirmed royalist, who served his monarch and his country in two world wars. His life spanned six monarchs, and he personally met three of them (King George V, King Edward VIII and Queen Elizabeth II), and drew all of them. Often marking significant events, these were sometimes joyous, such as for weddings and coronations, and sometimes melancholy, recording the anguish of the Abdication in 1936, and the sudden death of King George VI. He contributed a tiny drawing for Queen Mary’s Dolls House, and regularly recorded royalty and royal events in his cartoons for Punch.

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