A scarce, original ink and watercolor drawing by Ernest H. Shepard of Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet, the characters he brought to life in A.A. Milne's classic children's books, 1924-1928, has found its way to market. The drawing, signed and dated February 29, 1932, is a extraordinary example of Shepard illustrating Pooh characters outside the context of the Milne books.
From a piece about the work on Booktryst...
Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) had been a successful illustrator since 1906 when he was introduced to Alan A. Milne in 1923 by Punch staffer, E.V. Lucas; Shepard had contributed to Punch during WWI and joined its staff in 1921.
Milne's initial reaction to Shepard's work was that it was not in a style he felt right to illustrate his work but nonetheless used him to illustrate his collection of poems, When We Were Very Young (1924). Pleased with Shepard's efforts, Milne insisted that Shepard illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh. Shepard based his conception of Pooh upon Growler, his son's stuffed bear.
Recognizing Shepard's enormous contribution to Winnie-the-Pooh's success, Milne assigned Shepard a percentage of his royalties.
1 comment:
Hi there,
I'm from Chile. I came acrooss tenis entry as i was looking for winnie the pooh's old illustrations. I loved the image you uploaded...love the simplicity of the characters and the ink on the líneas. It's hard for me to explain in your language the sort of nostalgia i feel looking at these illustrations. Thanks a lot. :)
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