Ben Heywood :: Illustration art

Orlando The Marmalade Cat: Becomes A Doctor, p16 (1944)

Artist: Kathleen Hale (All)

1 Comment - 598 Views - 0 Like

Orlando The Marmalade Cat: Becomes A Doctor, p16 (1944) Comic Art

Click Image to View Full Size

Additional Images:

verso

Framed

As printed

Cover

Previous Item:
Orlando The Marmalade Cat: Becomes A Doctor, p18 (1944)

Next Item:
Valiant Minatures - The Battle of Hastings 1066 c.1972

Artwork Details

Title:	Orlando The Marmalade Cat: Becomes A Doctor, p16 (1944)
Artist:	Kathleen Hale (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	598
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	1
Added to Site:	11/29/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

From Wikipedia:

'Kathleen Hale OBE was born in Lanarkshire, but brought up in Manchester. Her father died when she was five and her mother decided to take over his job as travelling salesman. From 1903 to 1905 she lived at the vicarage in Shelf, West Yorkshire and developed her interest in plants, flowers and drawing there. Her childhood was far from idyllic and she was forced to endure long periods of separation from her mother. This, along with the frustrations of an unexpressed artistic talent, produced a rebellious reaction in the young girl's naturally ebullient nature. However, her talent as an artist was recognised at school by a sympathetic headmistress at Manchester High School for Girls and she went on to attend art courses in Manchester and, from 1915 to 1917, at University College, Reading, where she was taught by Allen W. Seaby.

Hale moved to London in 1917, intending to make a life for herself as an artist. She worked for some time as Augustus John's secretary while she developed a wide circle of friends, including Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. During the 1920s she earned a living as an illustrator, accepting commissions for book jackets, posters and illustrations for children's books, as well as selling her own drawings. She also attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Hale spent time in Paris in 1923, where she met the couple Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines. She married Douglas McClean, a young doctor working in medical research, and they settled in Hertfordshire.

She created the marmalade cat Orlando and his world to entertain her children at bedtime, and in the late 1930s she began producing her series of books about him, among the earliest picture books produced using photolithography. Between 1938 and 1970, she wrote, drew and published ninteen Orlando books, �Becomes A Doctor� being the seventh.

Kathleen Hale died in Bristol on 26 January 2000, aged 101.'

Orlando the Marmalade Cat was a fixture of my childhood, and of my mother's too. Brave. compassionate and wise, he was a gallant consort to his wife, Grace, and the perfect father to kittens Blanche, Pansy, and Tinkle. For children of wartime, and the privations of the late 1940's these books represented a happy, stable and prosperous home life (note the groaning table of food), and were a rare burst of colour in post-war greyness.

Page 16 is entitled: 'Orlando Becomes a Doctor, and Pansy and Blanche Entertained the
Patients with Soft Music, While those who were Hungry Ate Whatever They Fancied at the Bar.'

These water colour sketches were prepared as guides for her as she draw the photo-lithographical plates, and it's interesting to see how compositions and characters are added or changed in the process.

Published by Country Life 1944.

Watercolour on watercolour paper
Paper: 10 1/4" x 14 1/8"
Image: 12" x 10 1/4"

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	Ben Heywood Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	November 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Ebay Id:	eggwood
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Ben's Classifieds Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

Contact the Owner

Use can use a contact form to send an email to this gallery owner,
but, you must be logged in to use this feature.

Comments on this Artwork

You must be logged in to make comments.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 11/29/2021

Very nice children's book illustration from this era. This would have been read aloud and shared for story time.

All
	Mike Sig Slayer 9/6/2025 9:57:00 PM
	Jason Baccus 9/6/2025 9:54:00 PM
	David H 9/6/2025 9:51:00 PM
	Kom S 9/6/2025 9:23:00 PM
	James Posey 9/6/2025 8:51:00 PM
View All


	Troy Rubizovsky 9/6/2025 8:38:00 PM
	Michael Hosey 9/6/2025 7:55:00 PM
	Timothy L. 9/6/2025 7:42:00 PM
	Benedict Judas Hel 9/6/2025 7:22:00 PM
	Mike Humphrey 9/6/2025 7:22:00 PM