flower fairies of the spring cicely mary barker

She was paid only £25 for a total of twenty-four illustrations and verses in Flower Fairies of the Spring, the first of the Flower Fairy series. She sent her flower fairy paintings to several publishers before Blackie accepted them for publication in 1923. This was very helpful to the family finances for her father died when she was 17, leaving Cicely, her elder sister and her mother in difficult circumstances.Ĭicely was industrious and determined. From this time onwards, she was able to sell her work to magazines, to postcard and greeting card manufacturers, and later to book publishers. In 1911, when she was 15 her father submitted some of her work to Raphael Tuck, the stationery printer, who bought four of her pictures for greeting cards.

The art critic for the Croydon advertiser commented: 'Her drawings show a remarkable freedom of spirit. At 16, Cicely was elected a life member of Croydon Art Society, the youngest person ever to receive this honour. She also enrolled in a Correspondence Art course which she continued until 1918. In 1908, when Cicely was 13, her father enrolled her at the Croydon Art Society, where they both exhibited work. She was unable to go to school, so she was educated at home and spent much of her time on her own, reading and drawing. She suffered from epilepsy as a child and remained physically delicate for most of her life.

Her principal influence, however, which she duly credited, was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.Ĭicely Mary Barker was born in 1895 in Croydon, England. As a child, she was greatly influenced by the works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom she assiduously copied in her formative years.

Walter Barker and Mary Eleanor (Oswald) BarkerĬicely Mary Barker (28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973) was the illustrator who created the famous Flower Fairies, in the shape of ethereal smiling children with butterfly wings. Out of Great Tribulation and other Christian-themed works in various British churches and chapels The Flower Fairies of the Spring (1923) and other Flower Fairy books Triptychs and other works for the Anglican church

Various publishers but chiefly Blackie and Son LimitedĬommissions from various British dioceses Ashes spread in the churchyard at Storrington, Sussex, England

Flower fairies of the spring cicely mary barker