Warwick Goble (1862-1943)
Warwick Goble was a significant contributor to the art of Gift Book, the beautiful illustrated volumes of classic stories that were published during the early twentieth century. As a result of his interest in Asia, and of travels in that continent, he was often called to illustrate its traditional stories, and did so elegantly, even exquisitely, as a late exponent of Aestheticism.
Warwick Goble was born in Dalston, London, on 22 October 1862, the son of a commercial traveler. He was educated at the City of London School, where he revealed an early talent for watercolour painting. He was then employed for several years by a printing firm that specialised in chromolithography and commercial design work, while taking evening classes at Westminster School of Art. He contributed illustrations to various newspapers and periodicals before joining the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette and the Westminster Gazette and was considered an accomplished black and white artist.
Nevertheless, his reputation rests mainly upon the charm of his colour book illustrations, which were influenced by Oriental art. In 1909, he became resident illustrator for Macmillan, beginning with Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies, and then notably with Dinah Craik’s The Fairy Book (1913). His work for A & C Black, illustrating Constantinople (1906) and Turkey (1911), show at once that he based his Orientalism on first hand experience and that he could work in pastel as equally well as in watercolour. He exhibited at London societies and dealers, especially at the Fine Art Society (1909, 1910, 1911) and Walker’s Galleries. During the First World War, he was employed in a drawing office at Woolwich Arsenal, and later worked for the British Red Cross. From the mid 1920s, he gradually gave up illustration in order to pursue favourite recreations: cycling, sculling and travelling. He died at his home at Shepherd’s Hill, Merstham, Surrey, on 22 January 1943.
