There is not very much we know about the English artist John Harris Valda. The more famous representative of the family was definitely his father, John Harris Valda senior, a Victorian painter. He had studied under John Millais and achieved such great artistry that he was later even allowed to create a portrait of Edward VII. In any case, his father's craft earned the London family enough money for them to spend extended periods of time in Italy and Austria, enjoying and studying art and culture. These stays abroad strongly influenced the boy John: visiting the museums and exhibitions between Rome and Vienna strengthened him in his desire to follow in the artistic footsteps of the senior.
However, the young Harris Valda did not simply want to be an artist himself, but also to leave his mark on the art world as a teacher. So it came to pass that in 1895, at just 21 years of age, he opened his own first art school. Not alone, but in collaboration with Ernest George Entwistle. And it wasn't just an art school either, but by his own admission the first in Britain to teach magazine illustration. At a time when photography was still very expensive and complex, newspapers, magazines and journals always needed good illustrations for their articles. So the school enjoyed a brisk attendance. Unfortunately, the partnership between Harris Valda and Entwistle was less successful and dissolved after a few years.
Harris Valda, who had also found his own identity as an artist with the school, worked as an illustrator for print publications himself. Then, while working, he met Edwin Drew, a journalist and poet. For quite a while, he lived with him and his wife Annie in St. Pancras - an artistically fruitful threesome. They inspired each other. But when John married Olive Perry after a few years, it was time to set up his own household. Finally he had the necessary small change for it. Magazines like "Pearson's", "English Illustrated" or "Lady's Realm" engaged him regularly in the meantime. Along the way, he also found the time to design book covers, mainly for the publisher "Chatto & Windus".
But his most productive period was certainly the 1920s. Harold Twyman, editor at "Union Jack", had asked him to enrich the cover and also the inside with illustrations for the "Sexton Blake" stories. And that's what Harris Valda did for the next ten years. One of his greatest successes, however, was as an illustrator for the "Film Fun" comic series, which revolved around the western hero Buck Jones, among other things.
There is not very much we know about the English artist John Harris Valda. The more famous representative of the family was definitely his father, John Harris Valda senior, a Victorian painter. He had studied under John Millais and achieved such great artistry that he was later even allowed to create a portrait of Edward VII. In any case, his father's craft earned the London family enough money for them to spend extended periods of time in Italy and Austria, enjoying and studying art and culture. These stays abroad strongly influenced the boy John: visiting the museums and exhibitions between Rome and Vienna strengthened him in his desire to follow in the artistic footsteps of the senior.
However, the young Harris Valda did not simply want to be an artist himself, but also to leave his mark on the art world as a teacher. So it came to pass that in 1895, at just 21 years of age, he opened his own first art school. Not alone, but in collaboration with Ernest George Entwistle. And it wasn't just an art school either, but by his own admission the first in Britain to teach magazine illustration. At a time when photography was still very expensive and complex, newspapers, magazines and journals always needed good illustrations for their articles. So the school enjoyed a brisk attendance. Unfortunately, the partnership between Harris Valda and Entwistle was less successful and dissolved after a few years.
Harris Valda, who had also found his own identity as an artist with the school, worked as an illustrator for print publications himself. Then, while working, he met Edwin Drew, a journalist and poet. For quite a while, he lived with him and his wife Annie in St. Pancras - an artistically fruitful threesome. They inspired each other. But when John married Olive Perry after a few years, it was time to set up his own household. Finally he had the necessary small change for it. Magazines like "Pearson's", "English Illustrated" or "Lady's Realm" engaged him regularly in the meantime. Along the way, he also found the time to design book covers, mainly for the publisher "Chatto & Windus".
But his most productive period was certainly the 1920s. Harold Twyman, editor at "Union Jack", had asked him to enrich the cover and also the inside with illustrations for the "Sexton Blake" stories. And that's what Harris Valda did for the next ten years. One of his greatest successes, however, was as an illustrator for the "Film Fun" comic series, which revolved around the western hero Buck Jones, among other things.
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