In the Highlands of Scotland you still feel close to fairies, goblins and other mythical creatures. This can be clearly seen in the works of the artist and illustrator Harold Robert Millar. He was born on 6 February 1869 in Thornhill. After studying art in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, he began his very successful career as an illustrator at the age of 22, mainly of fantasy and children's stories for the monthly 'Strand Magazine'. He drew and painted for fables and fairy tales. His illustrations were so popular that they were later published in four anthologies. His collaboration with the children's book author Edith Nesbit was particularly close, whose ideas he realised almost perfectly. His work for various magazines, authors and publishers ensured that he was very busy throughout his life. Until the 20th century he remained an extremely popular illustrator. Besides being a graphic artist, he also worked as a painter, preferring railway motifs. Harold Robert Millar died in Surrey on 20 December 1942.
His lithographs - a forerunner of offset printing - are very naturalistic throughout, the figures are moving, with much expression and sometimes pathos, in keeping with the taste of the time. Sometimes with quick, simple 'brush' strokes, sometimes very finely worked out and filigree, sometimes monochrome, sometimes in colour, his graphics bring the imaginative stories to life.
He captured his second passion, the technology of the then emerging industrial age, in painted pictures: he depicted locomotives, steam engines and industrial plants in bold perspectives and naturalistic execution. Despite, or perhaps even because of the seemingly so sober depiction, the viewer still feels a touch of the fascination and magical attraction that the powerful, steaming, hissing machines exerted at that time. Even today, prints of his works are still very popular and are sold successfully.
In the Highlands of Scotland you still feel close to fairies, goblins and other mythical creatures. This can be clearly seen in the works of the artist and illustrator Harold Robert Millar. He was born on 6 February 1869 in Thornhill. After studying art in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, he began his very successful career as an illustrator at the age of 22, mainly of fantasy and children's stories for the monthly 'Strand Magazine'. He drew and painted for fables and fairy tales. His illustrations were so popular that they were later published in four anthologies. His collaboration with the children's book author Edith Nesbit was particularly close, whose ideas he realised almost perfectly. His work for various magazines, authors and publishers ensured that he was very busy throughout his life. Until the 20th century he remained an extremely popular illustrator. Besides being a graphic artist, he also worked as a painter, preferring railway motifs. Harold Robert Millar died in Surrey on 20 December 1942.
His lithographs - a forerunner of offset printing - are very naturalistic throughout, the figures are moving, with much expression and sometimes pathos, in keeping with the taste of the time. Sometimes with quick, simple 'brush' strokes, sometimes very finely worked out and filigree, sometimes monochrome, sometimes in colour, his graphics bring the imaginative stories to life.
He captured his second passion, the technology of the then emerging industrial age, in painted pictures: he depicted locomotives, steam engines and industrial plants in bold perspectives and naturalistic execution. Despite, or perhaps even because of the seemingly so sober depiction, the viewer still feels a touch of the fascination and magical attraction that the powerful, steaming, hissing machines exerted at that time. Even today, prints of his works are still very popular and are sold successfully.
Page 1 / 1