| 1885 - 1962
Australian Fairy Artists
Harold Gaze
Mr.
Harold Gaze was one of the most original Australasian illustrators of fantasy,
yet his achievement has still to be fully recognised, and his life to be accurately
charted. Born in New Zealand, he studied at various London art schools in the
early years of the First World War.Between 1917 and 1921 Mr. Howard Gaze wrote
and illustrated 9 fantasy works for children and produced his first recorded
book illustrations, for If I Could Fly by Rose Strong Hubbell, for an American
imprint (1917). At the end of the war, he went to Australia, and settled in Melbourne,
possibly taking with him a portfolio ‘with which to impress and tempt local publishers’
(Holden, 1992: 82). His first Australian title, The Wicked Winkapong, was published,
with his own text, in time for Christmas 1918 and properly launched his career.
In the following three years, he wrote and illustrated eight further fantasies
for children, and exhibited some of the art work with the Victorian Artists’
Society. Combining robust, grotesque draughtsmanship and confident use
of watercolour, he proved himself the leading male illustrator in a genre
dominated by women. Early in the nineteen-twenties, he returned to London and,
while there, produced at least six further illustrated books. Then, in 1927, he
moved to the United States, settling in Pasadena, and living there until his death.
During the nineteen-thirties, he became known as ‘The Bubble Man’, on the strength
of several successful solo shows of fantastic watercolours which he held
in Los Angeles. His later work, containing nude female figures, appears to have
been aimed at an adult audience. |
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Title: Fancing Meeting you here
Mermaid Fairies
PEN INK AND WATERCOLOUR WITH BODYCOLOUR 13 1/4 X 10 1/4 INCHES |
TIBBS AND KIDDIWEE ESCAPE FROM THE CROCODILE
PEN
INK, WATERCOLOUR AND BODYCOLOUR 9 3/4 X 7 3/4 INCHES |
| Books
Illustrated
Hubbell, Rose Strong. IF
I COULD FLY: STORIES IN FREE VERSE FOR CHILDREN. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons:
1917
GAZE, HAROLD The three volumes of THE MITE MERRY SERIES comprising
THE SIMPLE JAGGAJAY, THE BILLABONGA BIRD, and THE CHEWG-UM-BLEWG-UM. Melbourne,
Whitcombe & Tombs, 1919
see:
Robert Holden, A Golden Age, Volume
1: Visions of Fantasy: Australia’s Fantasy Illustrators: Their Lives and Works,
Pymble: Angus & Robertson, 1992: 80-84 |
