Brian O'Hanlon

Little is known about Brian O'Hanlon. He was a painter and illustrator whose career seems to have extended over at least 55 years. A search of auction records reveals a number of oil paintings and watercolours have been sold over the past 15 or so years the earliest being a watercolour of Crookston Castle, built in the Pollok district of Glasgow in around 1400AD. This was dated 1931.

The most recent dated work is from 1988. This later work, in oil, is primarily of rural scenes — fields of poppys, river estuaries, the Fenlands. One painting is described as looking through the window of a fisherman's cottage out onto a beach, possibly Aldeburgh. Aldeburgh is a Suffolk coastal town about half-way between Lowestoft in the north and Felixstowe in the south.

Armed with this connection to Suffolk, it is possible that O'Hanlon is (or was) Brian Francis O'Hanlon, whose death, at the age of 77, was registered in Bury St Edmunds in 1991. Brian Francis O'Hanlon was born 23 June 1914. The only other official trace would appear to be a marriage (in Croydon, Surrey) in 1944 to Margaret Watson. I believe he was born in Scotland, which would make sense if the teenage O'Hanlon was painting Scottish scenary in the 1930s. This should be considered speculation only.

In the late 1960s, O'Hanlon would appear to have been producing romantic illustrations in colour for women's magazines and at least one cover for June and School Friend (1968). How extensive O'Hanlon's contributions in these areas were is unknown.

Examples of Brian O'Hanlons artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Richard Caton Woodville junior

Richard Caton Woodville Jr. was a widely recognised and prolific artist illustrations and paintings, notably for the Illustrated London News. He is particularly remembered for his battle scenes and many of his paintings are in military art collections, such as the National Army Museum, the Royal Naval College, the Royal Canadian Military Institute, the London Scottish Regiments Museum Trust and West Point, as well as national collections such as the Tate Gallery.

He was the son of Richard Caton Woodville (1825-1855) an American artist, the son of a stockbroker, who originally studied medicine but who turned to painting as a career. In 1845, at the age of 20, Woodville left Baltimore to train at the Kunstacademie in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he lived for the next six years with his wife, Mary Theresa (nee Buckler), whom he had married on 3 January 1844.

Woodville senior had two children with Mary Theresa, Henry and Bessie, both born in Germany. By 1850, his wife and children had returned to Baltimore and were living with Mary's parents. Richard, meanwhile, left Düsseldorf in 1851 and lived in Paris before moving to London. There, he had a daughter, Alice Elizabeth Mary Woodville, who was baptized on 16 April 1853 at St Pancras. The mother was listed as Antoinette Woodville, although Richard and Antoinette Marie Schnitzler, the daughter of Anton Schnitzter (an architect), were only subsequently married, at the parish church in St. George, Bloomsbury, on 28 February 1854.

Woodville died of an overdose of morphine on 13 August 1855, aged only 30, and was buried at St James's, St Pancras, on 16 August 1855. At the time, Antoinette was pregnant with their second child and Richard Caton Woodville Jr was born in Stanhope Gardens, Gloucester Road, London, on 7 January 1856 and baptized on 24 March 1856 at St Pancras.

Antoinette, who also had some standing as a portrait painter, took her family first to St. Petersburg and later settled in Düsseldorf where her son studied painting under the Prussian military artist Wilhelm Camphausen, then under religious painter Eduard von Gebhardt before briefly studying in Russia and then Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme. He submitted his first black & white illustrations to the Illustrated London News at the age of 20 and was encouraged by Sir William Ingram to send more.

At 21, on 15 October 1877, Woodville married 22-year-old Annie Elizabeth Hill at Christ Church, Brondesbury. Shortly after, he was sent to report on the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) and later, in December 1882, to the Anglo-Egyptian War where he produced sketches and took photographs of the trenches at Tel-e-Kebir. Woodville was himself a member of the Royal Berks Yeomanry Cavalry, having joined in 1879. He resigned after a few years and joined the Volunteer Royal Engineers and then the Royal North Devon Hussars with the rank of captain.

In 1879, his painting Before Leuthen, Dec. 3rd, 1757 was exhibited at the Royal Academy and, over the next few years he produced many popular paintings, amongst them Kandahar and Saving the Guns at Maiwand (both inspired by the Second Anglo-Afghan War), and many scenes from the Zulu War and First Boer War. His painting The Moonlight Charge at Kassassin,was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1883 and The Guards at Tel-e-Kebir was exhibited by Royal Command in 1884. The latter was painted for the Royal Family in 1882 and led to a number of further commissions, including the wedding of Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885. He later also painted a portraits King Edward VII and King George V.

By 1881 Woodville was living at 22 Park Village, St Pancras, in a household with three servants. The Woodvilles had two children, Anthony Caton Woodville (b. 1878) and William Caton Woodville (1884-1962). Despite having two children, he was incredibly prolific, preferring to work at night and in the small hours of the morning while his wife read aloud to him.

Woodville made extensive trips abroad, including a trip in 1886 to Morocco and, in 1889, accompanied HRH Prince Albert to India, travelling via Marseilles and Paris. By then he had split up with his wife (who subsequently married Henry MacGregor Lowry, a retired army colonel, on 3 January 1895) and had a studio and flat in Tite Street, Chelsea, below that of James McNeill Whistler.

The split had occurred before 1891, as Richard Caton Woodville was then in Paris where he was married at the British consul to Helen Eleanor Waddington.

Woodville was commissioned by the Illustrated London News to paint a series depicting famous battle throughout history, including the charnge of the Light Brigade, the Charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, the Battle of Blenheim, the Battle of Badajos and several of the Battle of Waterloo. In 1895 he produced some 200 drawings, 2 large paintings and 2 smaller paintings. He maintained a large collection of arms and uniforms at his studio.

By the time of the 1901 census — at which time Woodville was living at 107 Queens Gate, Kensington — there was no sign of his second wife, although he was listed as married; it would appear that the couple divorced later that year in Nebraska. His earnings appeared to be still substantial and he employed a secretary, Madeleine Austin, and a married couple, James and Helen Harbour, who were his butler and cook. He was, however, untidy in his financial affairs: in 1891, Woodville owed rent on his studio in Tite Street and had his possessions seized and sold cheaply at auction; later, in October 1904, he filed for bankruptcy and was declaired bankrupt on 7 January 1905, with liabilities of £14,000 and almost no assets, claiming that his effects at his studio had been sold under a bill of sale executed about two years earlier. He was released from bankruptcy on 28 May 1906.

By 1911, and now living at Flat C, 2 Carlisle Place, Victoria Street, Westminster, Woodville the census return was claiming that Woodville and Madelaine (sic) Woodville had been married for twelve years (i.e. married around 1899), although this seems unlikely. Madeleine Adelaide Austin was the daughter of Irish-born John (by 1881 a Chelsea Pensioner) and Mary Austin (nee Coleman, born in Bangalore, India).

In 1913 he was involved in a controversial pageant, to be staged on Boxing Day at Earl's Court, entitled The Romance of India which was the subject of much complaint from Indian residents who claimed that a scene depicting ritual murder would create ill-feeling among his Majesty's loyal subjects in India. The scene had been pictured by Woodville in an issue if the Illustrated London News before the show was submitted to the Lord Chamberlain's department for licensing. The Lord Chamberlain subsequently approached the India Office and the Secretary of State also became involved. Woodville had a second scenario rejected, but the third was accepted; however, the delays led to the finances for the show being withdrawn and the show abandoned.

Woodville depicted numerous battles during the Great War, including three that were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1927: The 2nd Batt. Manchester Regiment taking six guns at dawn near St. Quentin, Entry of the 5th Lancers into Mons and Halloween, 1914: Stand of the London Scottish on Messines Ridge.

Madeleine (Madge) Woodville died on 26 December 1926, aged 50.

Woodville lived at Flat B, Dudley Mansions, 29 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, Middlesex, where he committed suicide on 17 August 1927: at shortly after 1 pm, Woodville's housekeeper and a friend, Mr. P. Gair, heard a report from a revolver and found Woodville sitting in his favourite chair in the studio attached to his house with a bullet wound to his head. He was still breathing, but died on the way to the hospital. Although he had been laughing and joking only that morning, Woodville had recently been suffering from heart trouble and pain from his leg, which he had broken years earlier and which had been aggravated by a second accident in Egypt.

An obituary in The Times described him as:

a cheerful, kindly man, who had more right to be considered a true Bohemian of the old school than many to whom that tern has been applied. When he produced his "Random Recollections" the public were given a series of merry or thrilling stories of dancing, duelling, sport, fighting, murders, sudden death, and hair-breadth escapes, his pictures being kept in the background.

After such an active life, Woodville was worried that, at 71, he would become an invalid. A letter read out at an inquest on 20 August 1927 revealed his final thoughts: "I am mentally and bodily ill. My health is a thing of the past." The Coroner recorded a verdict that Woodville was of unsound mind when he shot himself.

His effects — which amounted to only £10 — were left to his son, actor Anthony Canton Woodville. His son W. P. Caton Woodville was also a painter.

Examples of Richard Caton Woodville's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Arthur Oxenham

Arthur Oxenham was a prolific artist and illustrator who was particularly associated with the Read About It series of children's educational books published by Wheaton in the 1960s. Although relatively short (usually 24 pages), Oxenham 72 volumes in association with series authors Olive Gregory and Eileen Everett in five years; the series eventually lasted some 120 books (the later ones with other artists) and many of the early titles were subsequently reissued in the 1970s with different artwork. There was also a Welsh language series (published in 1967) which reprinted nine of the early titles.

Although the series included a wide range of geographical and historical subjects, Oxenham was primarily a wildlife illustrator, contributing many animal-related covers and dozens of colour illustrations to the 'Peeps at Nature' series which featured animals from around the world.

Examples of Arthur Oxenham's original artwork can be found at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Illustrations
Monkey Escapade by John Meiron Thomas. London, Longmans (Heritage Story Books 25), 1960.
Fables from the Middle East by Jirzis Saleh Qusus & N. M. A. Bukhari. London, Longmans, 1961.
Stories for Boys. London, Golden Pleasure Books, 1961.
Read About It series:
__1: Bread by O. B. Gregory. Essex, Wheaton, 1963.
__2: Milk by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963
__3: Tea by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__4: Sugar by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__5: Cotton by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__6: Rubber by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__7: Sheep Farmers by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__8: Fishermen by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__9: Coal Miners by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__10: Cowboys by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__11: Lumberjacks by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__12: Postmen by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1963.
__13: Glass by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__14: Oil by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__15: Butter by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__16: Cocoa and Chocolate by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__17: Salt by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__18: Soap by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__19: Airline Pilots by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__20: Bus Drivers by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__21: Firemen by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__22: Policemen by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__23: Ship Builders by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__24: Train Drivers by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1964.
__25: Food by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__26: Tools and Weapons by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__27: Clothes by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__28: Homes by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__29: Ships by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__30: Roads by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__31: William the Conqueror by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__32: Robert Bruce by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__33: Joan of ark by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__34: Christopher Columbus by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__35: Francis Drake by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__36: Guy Fawkes by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__37: Castles by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__38: Books and Writing by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__39: Canals by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__40: Railways by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__41 Motor Cars by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__42 Aeroplanes by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__43: Robert Clive by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__44: James Wolfe by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__45: James Cook by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__46: Horation Nelson by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__47: Florence Nightingale by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__48: David Livingstone by O. B. Gregory. Exeter, Wheaton, 1965.
__49: Badgers by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__50: Foxes by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__51: Hares by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__52: Deer by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__53: Dormice by Eileen Everett. Exeter Wheaton, 1967.
__54: Wasps by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__55: Hedgehogs by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__56: Squirrels by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__57: Toads by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__58: Bats by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__59: Bats by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__60: Butterflies by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__61: Otters by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__62: Rabbits by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__63: Harvest Mice by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__64: Moles by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__65: Spiders by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__66: Frogs by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__67: Newts by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__68: Bees by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__69: Lizards by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__70: Stoats by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__71: Ants by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__72: Ladybirds by Eileen Everett. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
The Haunted Airfield by Charles King. London, Golden Pleasure Books, 1965.
Horsey & Co. and the Bank Robbers by Richard Bowood. London, Golden Pleasure Books, 1965.
British Battles series:
__Bannockburn by Michael Raine. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__Bosworth by Michael Raine. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__Cullodden by Michael Raine. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__Flodden by Michael Raine. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
__Hastings by Michael Raine. Exeter, Wheaton, 1967.
Fossil Man by Michael Day. Feltham, Hamlyn, 1969.
Pets by Valerie Brayden. London, Lutterworth Press (Magpie Pocket Book), 1969.
Birds of the Countryside by Arthur Oxenham, text by John Taunton. London, Lutterworth Press (Magpie Pocket Book), 1970; revised, Guildford, Lutterworth Press, 1976.
Animals of Australia and New Zealand by Richard Sadleir. London, Hamlyn, 1970.
Prehistoric Man by Anthony Harvey. Feltham, Hamlyn, 1972.

Leopoldo Ortiz

Leopoldo Ortiz was the older brother of the more famous — at least in the UK — artist Jose Ortiz. Born Leopoldo Ortiz Moya in Cartagena, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, on 11 September 1930, like his brother, with whom he worked closely, Leopoldo was educated at the Escuela Valenciana.

His first big success was the historical swashbuckler El Principe Pablo [Prince Paul], set in the mythical country of Chon-Chon, ruled by a once powerful king whose life had been blighted by the loss of his wife and young son. Unknown to the king, or the powerful enemies he has, his son Paul is still alive, believing himself the son of a merchant and it is only as her wedding approaches that Paul's sister, Rosalia, learns that she has a brother. The series ran to 25 issues from 1953 and was followed in 1954 by Terciopelo Negro [Black Velvet], in which another prince, Marco Scipio, dons a black mask as he tries to restore his father's fortunes, battling the Doge of Venice who has seized power.

Leopoldo's early comics, published by Editorial Maga, had covers by Jose, and their working relationship also led Leopoldo to write 47 issues of Dan Barry, el Terremoto [Dan Barry, Earthquake], drawn by Jose (with one episode by Miguel Quesada); at the same time, he wrote and drew Carlos de Alcátena and El Caballero de la Rosa [The Cavalier of the Rose] for Maga. Leopoldo subsequently drew a number of other series for the same publisher, including Jungla, Audaces Legionarios-El Capitán Rey [Bold Legionnaires - Captain King], and two series of Bengala (a Tarzan-like character from the jungles of India), often working with scriptwriter Pedro Quesada.

Leopoldo Ortiz was one of the earliest contributors to the famous Commando pocket library published by D. C. Thomson in 1961, but his main output for the UK was for rivals Air Ace Picture Library and War Picture Library, drawing over two dozen issues between 1961 and 1969. This was still something of a sideline to his work in Spain, which included Espia, El Libertador, El Gran Cazador, "Flecha Roja" (in Pantera Negra) and "Policía en acción" (in Españolin) during the 1960s.

Leopoldo Ortiz continued to work into the 1980s, his later strips including "The Secret Files of the Luftwaffe" for Warlord, "Shi-Kai" in the Spanish magazine Kung-Fu and Metropol. He subsequently retired from drawing comics.

Examples of Leopoldo Ortiz's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Myron Waldman

Myron Waldman was an American animator and illustrator who worked on dozens of cartoons featuring some of the most celebrated characters in animation, including Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on  23 April 1908, he graduated from the Pratt Institute and was hired as an inker and fill-in artist by the Fleischer Studios in 1930. At that time, the Times Square studio was considered the pre-eminent animation workshop in the US, although its status was soon to be challenged by Walt Disney.

Waldman was promoted to animator for the 1931 Screen Songs cartoon "By the Light of the Silvery Moon". His second short, "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1932) featured the proto-Betty Boop, then a character with dog-like features and floppy ears. Betty was originally an anthropomorphised poodle (voiced by Mae Questel), based on singer Helen Kane, but was given human features in the cartoon "Any Rags" (1932), although her development owed as much to her animators, including Waldman, as it did to brothers Max and David Fleischer, who usually took credit for producing and directing the cartoons. Waldman's other early successes included episodes of the Color Classics series, which was launched as a rival to Disney's Silly Symphonies in 1934. He was head animator on two cartoons nominated for Academy Awards: "Educated Fish" (1937) and "Hunky and Spunky" (1939).

Waldman remained with the Fleischers when the studio was moved to Miami and worked on the modestly successful Gulliver's Travels feature film. He was one of the principal animators for the Fleischers' "Popeye the Sailor" colour series and, in 1941, was principal animator on "Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy".

After a disastrous second feature film, the Fleischers regrouped back in New York as Famous Studios, under the control of Paramount, which Waldman joined after serving three years in the US Army. Here he worked on numerous shorts featuring Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Little Lulu and Casper the Friendly Ghost. He also had a sideline drawing comics, including "Happy the Humbug" in 1940 and one of the first graphic novels, Eve: A Pictorial Love Story in 1943.

He left Famous in 1957 to become animation director of Hal Seeger productions where he helped revive the Out of the Inkwell series, starring Betty Boop and Koko the Clown, and worked on the Milton the Monster TV series until his retirement in 1968.

According to a New York Times obituary, "In later years he travelled and lectured, creating paintings for galleries and working on a musical feature that never came to fruition. In the 1990s he was honored with retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of the Moving Image and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art." He was rewarded with the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Award in 1986 and the Winsor McCay Award for his lifetime achievements in animation in 1997.

Waldman, who lived in Wantagh, New York, died of congestive heart failure at New Island Hospital in Bethpage, NY, on 4 February 2006, aged 97. He was survived by his wife, Rosalie, who was an animation checker at the Fleischer Studio in the early 1940s; two sons and three grandchildren also survived him.

Examples of artwork by Myron Waldman can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

William Vance

William Vance is the pen-name under which William van Cutsem worked for many years, his distinctive, realistic style finding favour across Europe, although, until recent years, his work was little known in the UK, a situation that has begun to change thanks to the reprinting of the series "XIII", eleven volumes of which have appeared in the UK since May 2010.

Born in Anderlecht, near Brussels, Belgium, on 8 September 1935, Van Cutsem performed his military service in 1955-56 before studying art for three years at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, graduating with a First in drawing. He worked in advertising before making an impression with his comics in the pages of Journal de Tintin, at first, from 1962, with complete short stories, many of them historicals written by Yves Duval, and then with the character Howard Flynn, a young British naval officer, also written by Duval. The stories were collected in three albums in 1966-69.

In 1965-68, he drew the western strip "Ringo", but it was with his next two strips that he found his biggest success to date. "Bruno Brazil", published in Tintin from 1967, featured the exploits of an elite group of American secret service agents known as the Cayman Commandos, whose hair-raising exploits appeared in a number of short stories before their first full-length serial, "Le requin qui mourut deux fois" ("The Shark who Died Twice"), collected in album form in 1969. Written by Michel (Greg) Regnier under the pen-name Louis Albert, a further eight albums appeared between 1970 and 1977, plus the collection Dossier Bruno Brazil; in 1995, La Lombard published a final volume, La Fin...!??.

Parallel to this, Vance met even greater success as the artist of "Bob Morane". The strip was based on a series of adventure novels by Belgian novelist Henri Vernes (Charles-Henri Dewisme) which ran to over 200 titles. Morane's adventures were adapted into comic strips in the pages of Femmes d'Aujourn'hui, beginning in 1959; they subsequently moved to Pilote, drawn by Gerald Forton who was succeeded by William Vance in 1967. The first series by Vance (Operation "Chevalier Noir") was reprinted as an album by Dargaud in 1969, the first of 18 series — serialised in Pilote and Tintin — that Vance would illustrated over the next decade. In 1979, he left the strip in the hands of his former assistant, his brother-in-law Felicisimo Coria, who continues to draw the strip to this day.

Vance launched a number of new series in the 1970s, "Ramiro", set in medieval Spain, which ran for ten albums, "Roderic", which lasted only two, and "Bruce J. Hawker", another series about a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, which ran to seven volumes.

In 1984, Jean Van Hamme approached him with the idea for "XIII", the violent, contemporary action story of a man who awakes with no memory of his past (it was inspired by Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel, The Bourne Identity). Serialised in Spirou, the series has inspired video games and two television series (one starring Val Kilmer). Set in America, the story follows XIII — named after a tattoo he finds on his collarbone — as he sets about discovering who he is and before long finds himself being hunted by assassins and the FBI and involved in a plot to kill the President.

In 1991, Vance took over the artwork for Jean (Moebius) Giroud's "Marshall Blueberry", but produced only two albums; another brief series was "XHIG-C3 — Le vasisseau rebell", which proved to be a one-off. However, "XIII" continued with increasing success through the 1990s and early 2000s until Vance and Jean Van Hamme brought the series to an end after 19 volumes (one drawn by Jean Giroud), the final volume bringing the story full circle and revealing the true identity of XIII.

In 2005, Vance was awarded the Bronzen Adhemar by the Flemish Ministry of Culture for his work on "Bob Morhane" and "XIII". In October 2009 he was made an Honorary Citizen of the City of Brussels by Mayor Freddy Thielemans. Vance, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, announced in 2010 that he was retiring from drawing comics.


Examples of artwork by William Vance can be found at the Illustration Art Gallery.

George Wakefield

Better known as Bill or Billy Wakefield, George William Wakefield was one of the stalwarts of the Amalgamated Press story papers and comics of the early 20th century.

Born in Hoxton, London, on 13 November 1887, he was the son of George Thomas Wakefield, a house decorator, and his wife Maria (nee Thorpe), who worked as a charwoman. He was baptized at St Leonard's, Shoreditch on 11 December 1887. Bill grew up in Bethnal Green, his family including a younger sister, Nellie,  and was educated locally before winning a scholarship to the Camberwell School of arts and Crafts.

Wakefield began submitting cartoons of Edwardian papers and sold his first to Ally Sloper's Half Holiday in 1906; from 1907 he began appearing regularly in Scraps and other papers published by James Henderson. His earliest comic strip, "Baron de Cuff and the Hon. Samuel Shiney" appeared in The Comic Companion (a supplement of You and I magazine) in 1908, followed by "Tap Room Tales" in Scraps.

Until he was established, Wakefield was also a part-time boxer: big (5' 8 1/2", 158 pounds) and thickset he fought amateur heavyweight matches and exhibitions at funfairs. Despite his size and ham-like fists, his speciality soon began to develop: young, sweet but sexy girls for serials in the saucy magazine Photo Bits. Introduced to Frederick Caldwell of the Amalgamated Press, Wakefield found himself drawing flappers for Caldwell's story paper Fun & Fiction ("Gertie Goodsort and her Little Sister Sue"), Merry & Bright ("Gertie and Gladys"), Firefly ("Gertie Gladeyes") and The Favourite Comic ("Flossie and Phyllis, the Fascinating Flappers"). At the same time he was drawing cherub-faced young lads for The Penny Wonder in 1912.

Wakefield married Anne Beatrice Cordwell in 1908 and began raising a family in Stoke Newington with the birth of Poppy Marie (later Bott, 1909-1996) and Terence George (1911-1989).

During the Great War, Wakefield enlisted in February 1916 to serve with  the 6th Battalion City of London Rifles and was mobilized in June. However, he was discharged in November 1917 suffering from chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcers — a condition he had suffered from prior to his war service — which would require hospital treatment. He returned to drawing comics with "Carrie the Girl Chaplin" in Merry & Bright.

In 1918, he began a long association with The Boys' Friend illustrating the "Rookwood" stories of Owen Conquest (Charles Hamilton) until 1926. It was, however, in the pages of Film Fun that he made his greatest mark, his talents for capturing a likeness without turning it into a caricature setting the style for Fred Cordwell's new paper when it was launched in 1920. Wakefield's contributions featuring stars of the silent movies ranged from child star Baby Marie Osborne to comedian Ben Turpin. The paper proved so popular that Kinema Comic was launched four months later, with Wakefield contributing "Fatty Arbuckle", "Ford Sterling", "Larry Semon" and "Walter Forde" to the new title. 

Apart from a number of sportsmen given similar treatment in the pages of the short-run Sports Fun, and "The Jolly Rover" strip for the cover of My Favourite, Wakefield's main output continued to be for Film Fun, where he drew the comical adventures of Jackie Coogan, Wesley Barry and Grock (Charles Adrien Wettach), the "king of clowns", before achieving his most long-lasting success drawing the adventures of Laurel and Hardy, which he drew from 1930 until his death.

Other sets in Film Fun in the 1930s included Joe E. Brown, Wheeler and Woolsey, Shirley Temple, George Formby, Max Miller and Lupino Lane. Wakefield also drew story paper headings for Bullseye and Surprise, contributed complete dramatic adaptations of movies to the early issues of Film Picture Stories and humour strips "Chubby and Chirpy" and "The Flighty Pranks Freddie Flip and Uncle Bunkle" to Sparkler and "Teacher Trotter" to Comic Cuts.

Wakefield died in Norwich Hospital in Norfolk on 12 May 1942, aged 54. His influence on the style of British comics was profound, with artists on Film Fun — then the best-selling comic in the UK — told to work in his style. Some of his sets, including "Laurel and Hardy", were continued after his death by his son, Terry.

Examples of George Wakefield's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.