The Fairies of Margaret Tarrant
Margaret Tarrant 1888 – 1959 English)
Margaret Tarrant (1888 – 1959 British) … I decided to highlight this artist after seeing more images unique to her style and interpretation. I’ve already written about Margaret Tarrant in ‘Other Fairy Artists from the Early 1900’s’ but thought to add some more focus and content in this article.
Margaret Tarrant was a prolific illustrator of children and religious themed imagery. She was the English counterpoint to Ida Outhwaite in Australia, and both women illustrated similar types of fairies, children and imaginations. Both women also lived at the same time, (Outhwaite 1888 – 1960, Tarrant 1888 – 1959) and found similar successes in their professional careers, both spanning from about 1908 up until the early 1950’s. Tarrant published illustrations in over 15 books, and her work was extensively published as postcards, greeting and holiday cards, calendars and prints.
Particularly striking about Tarrant’s work, is her portrayal of the innocence of young life, later childhood and the magic alive time of that stage of life. With her delicate watercolor techniques, imaginative and natural settings, and simplicity of her characterizations, she captures a world of wonder, magic and mystery in her work. She also captures both emotion and aesthetics in much of her renderings, alongside the simple beauty of childhood and spirit of young womanhood.
Tarrant loved drawing from an early age and never lost interest. She illustrated all through her growing up, winning both awards and recognition. After schooling where she trained to become an art teacher, with the support of her father, she instead focused solely on book illustration which became her lifelong occupation. She never married, but found social engagement and recognition through her publishing success, lifelong friendships and immersion in her church activities.
Selected below are a collection of her fairy illustrations. Tarrant also illustrated many religious themed works, and also other works for various stories and books. Any general google search will bring up numerous publications and images from this wonderful artist.
References –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Tarrant
Margaret Tarrant, Selected Images
*Images for display and reference only