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Carol Barker

Carol Mintum Barker (born 16 February 1938)[1] is an English artist-designer, author and illustrator who is notable for her poster designs, postage stamps and book illustrations, many of them for children.

Life and career

Barker is the daughter of British artist John Rowland Barker.[2] As a child she was evacuated to New York during World War II, but returned to Britain and attended Bournemouth College of Art whilst also studying privately at her father's studio. She went on to study painting at Chelsea Polytechnic and illustration at the Central School of Arts and Crafts under the tutelage of Laurence Scarfe, Merlyn Evans and Raymond Roberts.[3]

Barker became a freelance illustrator in 1958. She was married and had two sons.[1]

Her entry in the Dictionary of British Book Illustrators states "Her work, in pen and ink, watercolour, collage and wax, is decorative rather than spatial in character."[4]

As a book illustrator, Barker collaborated with many authors including John Cunliffe, Spike Milligan and H. E. Bates who wrote the prose for his children's book Achilles the Donkey around her pictures.[5] So integral were her illustrations that in some instances she was given equal billing as a co-author on the book jackets. This can be seen on the covers of Spike Milligan's A Bald Twit Lion[6][7] and H. E. Bates Achilles the Donkey series[8][9][10] amongst others. She would go on to be nominated twice for the Kate Greenaway medal.

As a graphic artist, Barker is known to have designed posters and artwork for London Transport[2] and posters and stamps for the Post Office. Her poster "Children's London" was praised by Modern Publicity magazine in 1974 as one of the best British posters of the previous year.[2] Examples of her work can be found in the collections of the British Council,[11] London Transport Museum,[12] The Postal Museum[13] and The Science Museum.[14]

Selected awards

Selected exhibitions

Bibliography

Novels

Non-fiction

Illustration / graphic design

References

  1. ^ a b Commire, Anne (1983). Something about the author. Gale. pp. 26–7. ISBN 9780810300576.
  2. ^ a b c d "London Transport Museum". London Transport Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  3. ^ Ryder, John (1960). Artists of a certain line : a selection of illustrators for children's books. Internet Archive. London : Bodley Head.
  4. ^ Peppin, Brigid; Micklethwait, Lucy (1983). Dictionary of British Book Illustrators. John Murray (publishing house). ISBN 0719539854.
  5. ^ "Achilles the Donkey :: HE Bates". hebates.com. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  6. ^ "The Bald Twit Lion - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  7. ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Achilles the Donkey - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Achilles and Diana by Bates, H. E.: Very Good Hardcover (1963) First Edition. | Turn-The-Page Books". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Achilles and the Twins by H. E. Bates: Near Fine Hardback (1964) First edition. | Rooke Books PBFA". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Carol Barker | Artists | Collection | British Council − Visual Arts". visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Collections - Search". London Transport Museum. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Carol Barker, b.1938". The Postal Museum. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Carol Mintum Barker | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Kate Greenaway Medal". ibrowsebooks. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  16. ^ Hal May (1983). Contemporary authors. Internet Archive. ISBN 978-0-8103-1907-3.
  17. ^ Carol Barker (1977). A Prince of Islam. Addison - Wesley. ISBN 9780201004243.
  18. ^ "On Show". The British Journal of Photography. 135 (6691). London: 1854 Media: 24. 3 November 1988. ISSN 0007-1196. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Proquest.
  19. ^ "Bookings: Last Chance". The Times. No. 63234. 9 November 1988. p. 22. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  20. ^ Budds, Diana (30 October 2017). "The Women Designers Behind London Tube's Kickass Graphic Design". Fast Company. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  21. ^ "More posters from London Underground's forgotten designers". BBC News. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  22. ^ Townson, Duncan (1977). "Review of A Prince of Islam, by C. Barker". Teaching History. 17: 31. JSTOR 43256180 – via JSTOR.

External links