ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 3

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Introduction

Each of these post will focus on a particular artist or subject theme that we feel warrants being in the spotlight. We have a lot of great art on the website and so to act as a guide we've developed this feature. If you click on the artist name the links given will take you to the artist's main page where you can view all the original art that we have for sale. Clicking the name under the sample pieces will take you to that particular page on the site. We hope that you'll enjoy exploring our website this way and that you'll find exciting new discoveries as well as old favourites. Without further ado we present:

THIS WEEK...

SPORT
We have a wide variety of sporting art available from comic strips to sinle illustrations by way of montages. Here are two examples of versatile artists depicting classic sporting moments.

Sir Stanley Matthews

by

Harry Green

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 - 23 February 2000) was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards.
Matthews' nicknames included 'The Wizard of the Dribble' and 'The Magician'.
A near-vegetarian teetotaller, he kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old. He was also the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division and the oldest player ever to represent the country. He played his final competitive game in 1985, at the age of 70.

A nice piece depicting one of the world's greatest footballers, from a feature on Cup Football. This original painting was published in Look & Learn 10 January 1981. The deep inking used by Green brings an extra depth of realism to the piece.

 

 

Jimmy Wilde Vs Pancho Villa

by

Pat Nicolle

 Jimmy Wilde boxing Pancho Villa in New York. This is the original artwork from the regular feature Bobby Moore's World of Sport published in Ranger 13 November 1965. In 1923, ‘Pancho Villa' became the first Filipino world champion in history when he defeated Welshman Jimmy Wilde, at flyweight, in 1923, at the Polo Grounds, in New York.

Nicolle's soft pecilling style really suites the sepia tones here.

 

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 2

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Introduction

Each of these post will focus on a particular artist or subject theme that we feel warrants being in the spotlight. We have a lot of great art on the website and so to act as a guide we've developed this feature. If you click on the artist name the links given will take you to the artist's main page where you can view all the original art that we have for sale. Clicking the name under the sample pieces will take you to that particular page on the site. We hope that you'll enjoy exploring our website this way and that you'll find exciting new discoveries as well as old favourites. Without further ado we present:

THIS WEEK...
 

Severino Baraldi - The Eternal City

Baraldi excelled at all manner of historical subject matter, but Ancient Rome was one period that his expertise was called on repeatedly to depict.

 

 

Theodoric enters Rome

 

Theodoric enters Rome. In the year AD500, Theodoric made a triumphant entry into Rome. Under his leadership the city regained much of its former glory.

The insets show Romans interesting themselves in learning, and two coins produced during the period when Odoscer was in power.

Original artwork for illustration on p16-17 of Look and Learn issue no 1012 (1 August 1981).

 

Scipio Scales the Walls of CarthagoNova

 Clash of Giants: Hannibal Meets His Match. General Scipio finds a way into the seemingly impregnable stronghold of Carthage Nova in Spain. This is the original artwork from Look and Learn no. 927 (27 October 1979).

Biography

Severino Baraldi was born on 10 December 1930 in Sermide, a small village 50 kilometres from Mantova in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. As a boy, he entertained customers of the local barber by with his chalk drawings on the pavement. He worked as a carpenter, drawing cartoons for a local paper whose editor encouraged him to seek his fortune in the capital of the Lombardy region.

1962-63 was a major era for Baraldi with the publication of Ulisse ['Ulysses'], adapted from 'The Odyssey' by Gino Fischer, Lo Schianccianoci, based on the work by E. T. A. Hoffman, and Ciuffo Biondo, an adaptation of Peer Gynt by Anna Maria De Benedetti. Ulisse and Ciuffo Biono were praised by the reviewer for Radiotelevisione Italiana for their elegant illustrations, which helped to establish the name of the artist who often signed his work with the abbreviation Bar. At the same time, Baraldi was illustrating the story of Marco Polo and, for Milan publisher Casa Editirice, a variety of other books for children.

For seven years, Baraldi was also a prolific illustrator for the British magazine Look and Learn. More recently, Baraldi illustrated biographies of musicians Dvorak and Verdi for a publisher in Taiwan. In all, Baraldi has contributed to over 220 books and produced 7,500 illustrations. The village of Sermide dedicated an exhibition to his work in June 1997. He continued to work for Famiglia Cristiana and Il Giornalino until retiring a few years ago.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 1

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

 Introduction

Each of these post will focus on a particular artist or subject theme that we feel warrants being in the spotlight. We have a lot of great art on the website and so to act as a guide we've developed this feature. If you click on the artist name the links given will take you to the artist's main page where you can view all the original art that we have for sale.  Clicking the name under the sample pieces will take you to that particular page on the site. We hope that you'll enjoy exploring our website this way and that you'll find exciting new discoveries as well as old favourites. Without further ado we present:

THIS WEEK...

Ron Embleton - A Window Through History

Oliver Cromwell Dismissing RumpParliament 

 

Oliver Cromwell dismisses the Rump Parliament in 1653. Original artwork first published in Look and Learn # 395, 9th August 1969. This piece shows Ron Embleton's strong use of colour and group composition.

 

 

The Iron Duke of Salamanca

 

Forty Minute Victory That Changed a War. "See those fellows on the hill?" Wellington said, indicating Napoleon's army at Salamanca. "Attack them directly and drive them to the devil!".
Original artwork from Look and Learn no. 72 (1 June 1963). This piece shows Embleton's use of subtle tones and conveys the drama of the moment.

Biography

Ron(ald Sydney) Embleton was born in London on 6 October 1930, Embleton began drawing as a young boy, submitting a cartoon to the News of the World at the age of 9 and, at 12, winning a national poster competition. At 17 he earned himself a place in a commercial studio but soon left to work freelance, drawing comic strips for many of the small publishers who sprang up shortly after the war.

He was soon drawing for the major publishers. His most fondly remembered strips include Strongbow the Mighty inMickey Mouse Weekly, Wulf the Briton in Express Weekly, Wrath of the Gods in Boys’ World, Tales of the Trigan Empire and Johnny Frog in Eagle and Stingray in TV Century 21.

Embleton also provided the illustrations that appeared in the title credits for the Captain Scarlet TV series, and dozens of paintings for prints and newspaper strips. A meticulous artist, his illustrations appeared in Look and Learn for many years, amongst them the historical series Roger’s Rangers. Embleton died on 13 February 1988 at the age of 57.

Books Featuring Ron Emblton Artwork

Wulf the Briton

Art of the Trigan Empire
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick Wright

The son of artist David Wright and his wife Esme M. (née Little), born in Abersoch, North Wales, educated at Barrow Hills Prep School and St George’s College, Weybridge. Patrick Wright began his career as a comic strip artist in the early 1970s drawing the adventures of Emma Faren for Princess Tina, working through Bardon Art. He continued working in comics throughout the 1970s, including a year’s work on “Modesty Blaise” for the Evening Standard.

Besides Modesty, he is probably best known for his war strips, which include issues of Commando, the Mike Nelson series in Battle Picture Weekly, beginning with 'Day of the Eagle' in 1975 and 'Hitler Lives' in The Crunch in 1979.

In 1981 he switched to humorous cartooning, publishing his first book, Walkies (Heinemann) in 1982. His other books are A Tale of Two Mothers-in-Law (Heinemann, 1983), Health and Efficiency (Heinemann, 1984), Affairs of the Heart (Heinemann, 1985), Off the Rails (Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1985), Off the Road (Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1988), Worthless Pursuits (Penguin, 1992), 101 Uses for a John Major (with Peter Richardson, Deutsch, 1993), 101 Further Uses for a John Major (Deutsch, 1994), Not Inconsiderable: Being the Life and Times of John Major (Deutsch, 1996). He has also worked extensively in all aspects of advertising, has illustrated books and has contributed cartoons to Private Eye.

Examples of Patrick Wright's artwork can be found at the Illustration Art Gallery.

John Worsley

John Worsley was a versatile artist who turned his talent to an extraordinary range of work. Even in his late seventies, he could be found busy in his studio working on a marine painting, a sculpture or glass engraving. He was a gracious guest of honour at dinners organised by fans of his famous comic strip, "The Adventures of PC 49", and impressed a new generation with his collection of wartime sketches, John Worsley’s War. Although his paintings and portraits (including those of Montgomery and Admiral Sir John Cunningham) can be seen in the Imperial War Museum and National Maritime Museum, not all of his work was so public, as he worked tirelessly as a police sketch artist, his facility for capturing a likeness responsible for many arrests.

His ability to accurately report through his work was recognised early by the Admiralty who ordered Midshipman Worsley into the thick of things as the youngest official War Artist in the Mediterranean. Worsley had already survived the sinking of H.M.S. Laurentic by a German U-Boat in November 1940, and now found himself taking part in the landings at Sicily, Reggio and Salermo. In 1943 he was amongst the rescue party sent to establish a base on Lussin Piccola in the North Adriatic, only to find it overrun by Germans.

Worsley was taken to Germany where he was interrogated, spending much of the next two months in solitary confinement before being sent to the POW camp Marlag ‘O’, near Bremen. Amongst the other prisoners was journalist Guy Morgan who had been badly wounded and was to be repatriated, smuggling out a number of Worsley’s drawings in the plaster cast on his arm.

A more daring escapade was the escape plans of Lieutenant Mewes which required the assistance of a stand-in. Out of wire and papier mache, Worsley created a dummy, dubbed ‘Albert, R.N.’, who was held between two soldiers during roll call, fooling the guards into thinking they had a full compliment of prisoners whilst Mewes made his way to the coast. For four days, Albert, with his ping-pong ball eyes and no hands (his sleeves were stuffed into his jacket pockets), fooled the guards. Unfortunately, Mewes was refused passage on the northern coast of Germany, and was recaptured. ‘Albert’ was finally rumbled when a second escape attempt two months later was foiled quickly and the escapee caught just after roll call, the guards realising they now had one too many prisoners.

Back in England, Guy Morgan immortalised 'Albert R.N.' in a play which was filmed in 1953. The movie starred Jack Warner and Anthony Steel, the latter portraying Geoffrey Ainsworth, a fictional version of Worsley. Worsley recreated Albert for the film, the dummy now at the Naval Museum in Portsmouth.

Born in Liverpool on 16 February 1919, Worsley was the son of a Naval officer who, demobbed six months later, moved his family back to the family coffee farm in Kabuka, 40 miles north of Nairobi in Kenya. It was here amidst the spectacular scenery and at an altitude of 6000 feet that John Worsley grew up, shooting and messing around in the family Model T Ford when he wasn’t attending school.

This idyllic life came to a crashing end in 1928 when the recession caused the price of coffee beans to collapse, and John was sent to St. Winifred’s boarding school, his fees subsidised by a grant from the Royal Navy Trust. He won a scholarship to Brighton College, and entered Goldsmiths’ College School of Art where he studied for three years, subsisting on a £300 legacy which he eked out at £2 a week, still finding the money—£4—to purchase a second hand Fiat in his third year. This he used, after leaving College, to travel along the South Coast, making sketches which he would sell to magazines.

Worsley’s experiences in the Royal Navy, which began with a three week crash course in seamanship in 1939 did not end with his repatriation. As allied troops advanced in early 1945, Worsley and other POWs were forced to march the 80 miles to Lubeck, arriving a few days before the war ended. When Worsley returned to the UK it was to a small studio in Baron’s Court where he was asked by the Admiralty to paint portraits of many high ranking officers.

Worsley found work in illustration through an agency and found himself working on the Eagle comic soon after its launch painting a full-page advertising strip for Walls Ice Cream starring Tommy Walls, a young lad whose heroics were always accomplished by making the Lucky Walls Sign, and whose reward was, inevitably, lashings of ice cream.

It was as the artist for "The Adventures of PC 49" that Worsley really reached an audience; from his first episode in August 1951, he would eventually draw the tales of Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby until his final appearance in March 1957. 290 episodes appeared in Eagle comic alone, with further tales appearing in Eagle Annual and various spin-off books. Worsley’s was, to most fans, the definitive portrait, and Worsley himself commented "You cannot portray a character three thousand times without getting to know him pretty well." Three quarters of a million schoolboys relished every brushstroke each week. Worsley also worked for the Eagle’s companion paper, Girl, drawing "The Story of Miriam" (1951-52) and "Belle of the Ballet" (1952-54), and for many years was an illustrator for the educational nursery paper, Treasure, notably drawing the adventures of "Wee Willie Winkie" (1963-67).

In later years, Worsley was commissioned by Esso to produce a series of paintings of life on oilfields in Iraq and America. Never standing still, Worsley also embraced the new medium of independent television, and produced hundreds of colour illustrations for readings of famous children’s stories; many of them were later used as illustrations for large format hardcover books published by Purnell and Deans. An article about his work by one of his enthusiasts was entitled “The Complete Artist” and nobody earned that title more than John Worsley.

Worsley died on 3 October 2000, aged 81.

Examples of Worsley's work can be found at the Illustration Art Gallery.

John Welland

John Welland was the artist of the above illustration of a 1920s boxer being attended by his seconds. Other than this, I have found no further trace of Welland or his work as an illustrator.

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

Mike Zeck

Michael John Zeck was born in Greenville, Pennsylvania, on 6 September 1949, the son of Michael and Kathryn Jean Zeck. His first encounter with comics was during a bout of illness when he read Western comics in hospital following a tonsillectomy. He subsequently became obsessed with superhero comics – especially following the introduction of Spider-Man in 1962 – and spent more time in school drawing than with his education. This was noticed by a teacher who encouraged his artistic talents. He attended the Ringling School of Art in 1967. After graduating he worked at the Migrant Education Center in Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, Florida.

He began his comics career in 1974, producing spot illustrations for text stories in Charlton Comics' line of animated titles, which then led to work on their horror titles.

In 1977 he started working for Marvel Comics, filling-in on issues of Master of Kung Fu before taking over the title in 1978. He went on to work on such titles as Aquaman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Green Lantern, G.I. Joe, Lobo and Deathstroke, The Terminator and spent three years working on Captain America.

Zeck was the artist of Marvel's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars in 1984-85, written by Jim Shooter and inked by Bob Layton, based on the Mattel line of toys. The 12-issue mini-series crossed over into numerous Marvel titles, including Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, The Damned, Fantastic Four, Thor and Uncanny X-Men, making it comics' first major crossover event.

He is probably best known for his 1987 story 'Kraven's Last Hunt' written by J. M. DeMatteis in Spider-Man titles, and the 1986 Punisher mini-series written by Steven Grant, collected as Circle of Blood. He has also produced many covers for comics.

Zeck was married in 1988 to Shelli Jo Rissinger; in 1992 to Angelita Zeck; they divorced in 2003 and Zeck married again, to Sheryll Cortez, in 2004. Zeck has lived in New Haven, Connecticut, and currently lives in the Orlando area of Florida.

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

George Wunder

George Wunder is most fondly remembered today as the artist of 'Terry and the Pirates', which he took over from Milton Caniff and made his own for 26 years. At its peak, 'Terry' was syndicated in more than 300 papers.

Born in Manhattan on 24 April 1912, the son of Gus Wunder (a florist) and his wife May,  George S. Wunder grew up in Kingston, New York. His interest in comics was sparked early and he took correspondence courses – including the International Correspondence School art class – in order to become a professional artist. At the age of 24 he found work at the Associated Press, where he worked alongside famed illustrator Noel Sickles and sports cartoonist Tom Paprocki.

His earliest cartoons appeared in editorial features and strips such as 'Can Hitler Beat the Russian Jinx?' whilst at Associated. He enlisted in the US Army in March 1943 and was released in February 1946 with the rank of Sergeant. Returning to A.P., he drew the factual strip 'See For Yourself' in 1946.

In 1946, Caniff left 'Terry and the Pirates' and – according to Caniff – a hundred artists applied for the job of replacing him. Wunder's submissions were approved by the Tribune-News Syndicate and his first strip appeared on 30 December 1946. Wunder, although recognised as a skilled artist in his own rights, could never replace a unique talent like Caniff and his artwork. His artwork was highly detailed, but some critics consider his characters to all look essentially the same and complain that the stories lacked Caniff's humour.

Wunder drew both the daily and Sunday editions of the strip and was assisted at various times by George Evans, Lee Elias, Russ Heath, Fred Kida, Don Sherwood, Frank Springer and Wally Wood. When Wunder took over the strip, Terry had joined the US Air Force and there he remained throughout the next two and a half decades despite military-themed strips falling in popularity during the Vietnam War. 'Terry and the Pirates' was still carried by around 100 newspapers when, in 1973, Wunder announced his retirement. At the time, Wunder commented: "It's a strip I've enjoyed doing, but on the other hand, it has been, oh, a chore. The sheer mechanics of producing that much work week in and week out ties you down."

With Wunder's departure, the strip came to an end, the last panels appearing on 25 February 1973, Wunder admitting that "the fighter pilot is no longer the glamorous, reckless defender of the free world against all comers. He's now the cold-blooded professional dropping napalm on women and children." His work promoting the Air Force was recognised by the Air Force itself, who awarded the cartoonist their Exceptional Service Award in 1963. Wunder, a member of the Illustrators Club and the National Cartoonists Society, was awarded the latter's Silver T-Square Award in 1970.

In the 1950s, Wunder drew a number of promotional comics featuring Terry for Canada Dry. In the 1970s he wrote and illustrated a number of books on American military history.

Wunder was married to Mildred (nee Smith) and lived in Sherman, Connecticut. He died on 13 December 1987 at New Milford Hospital following a heart attack. aged 75, survived by Mildred and his younger sister, Beatrice Bogert.

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

Colin Wyatt

Colin Wyatt was born in Rainham, Essex, on 14 January 1939, and began making extra pocket money as a young boy by drawing popular comic characters in chalk on pavements and selling drawings to his schoolfriends. On leaving school in 1954 he began working in a shipping office in London. He applied for a job with the Amalgamated Press, joining them in 1957 as an art assistant on Tiny Tots.

Wyatt worked for almost twenty years on the nursery comics Jack & Jill and Playhour, a period slightly interrupted by National Service for which he spent 27 hours with the R.A.F. His first solo strip 'Harry on His Own', featured Harry Hamster from one of the popular strips in Playhour, 'The Wonderful tales of Willow Wood'. He also drew episodes of 'Teddy and Cuddly' and 'Chalky the Blackboard Boy' in the 1960s as well as colouring 'Num Num and His Funny Family'. In 1965, he created a humour page, 'Peter Panda's Page', for Purnell's Parents magazine which ran until 1967.

In 1971, Wyatt began working on IPC's Disney titles, producing covers and posters for annuals, monthlies and weeklies, also illustrating most of the free gift inserts for Disney comics. Wyatt was even invited to Disney's Burbank, California, studios to see what happened behind the scenes.

In 1975 he took a radical change in direction when he began working on Action and then 2000AD, where he became art editor in 1978. During this period he was also drawing 'The Gingerbread Boy' for Playhour.

Wyatt turned freelance in 1980 and has worked on a variety of projects since, illustrating numerous annuals and books, including Victoria Has a Surprise Party by Angela Rippon (1983). He was the visual creator of The Poddington Peas, created by Paul Needs for a series of books in 1986. It was turned into an animated feature for the BBC, who broadcast 13 episodes in 1989. An attempt to revive the series in 3D in 2009 fell by the wayside.

As well as working on well know characters such as Sooty and Sweep, The Flintstones, The Muppet Babies, Danger Mouse, Bananas in Pyjamas, Digimon, The Care Bears, Noddy and Thomas the Tank Engine, he has also produced artwork for plates, cards, puzzles and other merchandise.

Wyatt has recently written, illustrated and published his own series of books featuring a team of superheroic animals known as the Jet Set, who will come to the aid of any wild animals in trouble. The books, all published in 2011, include A Cry for Help, Footprints in the Snow!, A Home of Their Own! and Making a Splash!. Profits from the books raised money for the Born Free Foundation animal charity.

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

Andrew Wilson

One of the centrepieces of the girls' comic Princess was the strip 'The Happy Days'. This hugely popular strip was the combined work of Mike & Jenny Butterworth on scrips and Andrew Wilson on art. The light-hearted family adventures of the strip's heroine, Sue Day, carried the strip through the amalgamation of Princess with Tina in 1967 and eventually it ran for 13 years before finally coming to an end in 1973.

For nearly the whole run, the artist was Andrew J. Wilson  whose loose, flowing style is not to be mistaken for the other Sue Day artist, whose work – stylistically similar to the artwork of W. Bryce-Hamilton – appeared in the Princess Picture Library and who occasionally filled-in for Wilson on the main weekly strip.

Wilson's only other known strip for Princess Tina was 'Lassie Come Home'. After the adventures of the Day family came to an end, he disappears from view – probably to D. C. Thomson's girls' papers – before reappearing briefly at Fleetway drawing adventure strips for Buster, where he took over 'The Runaways' from Joe Colquhoun. 'The Byrds of Paradise Island' (1978-80) and 'Johnny's Journey' (1980) are his last known work.

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

N. C. Wyeth

N. C. Wyeth was an American painter noted for his illustrations of classic novels, painted in a realistic style. Over the years he produced over 3,000 paintings for some 112 books. He illustrated 25 of the Scribner Classics line, including the debut novel Treasure Island, which were best-sellers

Newell Convers Wyeth was born in Needham, Massachusetts, on 22 October 1882, his talent for art encouraged by his mother, who was acquainted with literary giants of the day, Henry David Thoreau and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. By the age of 12, Wyeth was painting superb watercolours. He attended the Mechanics Arts School, the Massachusetts Normal Arts School, and the Eric Paper School of Art. At the latter he learned illustration under George Loftus Noves and Charles W. Reed.

Wyeth was accepted at Howard Pyle’s School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1902 where his exuberant personality and talent made him a standout student. Pyle is considered the father of American illustration and emphasised visiting historical sites and the use of props and costumes, designed to stimulate the imagination as well as make the action and costumes appear authentic.

Wyeth’s first professional commission – a bucking bronco – appeared on the cover of Saturday Evening Post on 21 February 1903. When the paper commissioned him to illustrated a Western story, Pyle urged Wyeth to head out to the Wild West. In Colorado, Wyeth worked alongside professional cowboys, doing chores around the ranch and rounding up cattle. He visited Native American sites and worked as a mail courier after his money was stolen. A second trip two years later resulted in the beginnings of a collection of authentic artefacts.

Wyeth's famous illustrations to the classics included Treasure Island (1911), Kidnapped (1913), Robin Hood (1917), The Last of the Mohicans (1919), Robinson Crusoe (1920), Rip Van Winkle (1921), The White Company (1922) and The Yearling (1939). His illustrations also included paintings of rural life, book illustrations that encompassed countless topics and magazine illustrations for periodicals, including Century, Harper’s, Ladies Home Journal, McClure’s, Outing, The Popular Magazine and Scribner’s. He also drew posters, calendars and advertising for clients including Lucky Strike and Coca-Cola, and painted murals and portraits.

His enormous success did not make him particularly happy and he complained bitterly about the commercialism on which he was dependent, yet it allowed him to buy an old captain’s house in Port Clyde, Maine, in the 1930s where he took his family for holidays and where he painted seascapes. In 1941 he was elected to the National Academy.

He was married to Carolyn Bockius and settled in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in 1908. The couple had five children, four of whom – Henrietta Wyeth Hurd (1907-1997), Carolyn Wyeth (1909-1994), Ann Wyeth McCoy (1915-2005) and Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) – went on to become artists; another son, Nathaniel C. Wyeth (1911-1990), was the inventor of the plastic bottles commonly used for drinks.

Wyeth's life ended in tragedy on 19 October 1945, aged 62. It was his habit to take his 3-year-old grandson, Newell (the son of his youngest child, Nathaniel), on his morning errands and the two were together in Wyeth's Ford Station Wagon when it stalled on a  railway crossing. They were both killed instantly when the car was struck by a freight train.

Examples of N. C. Wyeth's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

John J. Arnold

John J. Arnold was a commercial artist specialising in transport. He is known to have contributed illustrations to Look and Learn and Speed & Power magazines, and almost certainly contributed to other IPC Transport titles. His work for Look and Learn often involved beautifully rendered line & wash diagrams of cars, such as in his 'Classic Cars' series (1974) and 'Novelties of Mobility' (1974-75).

Also illustrated other forms of transport, including sailing ships and paddle steamers.

Examples of artwork by John J. Arnold can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Dick Ayers

When Dick Ayers was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2007, it was in recognition of his talents as both an inker and penciller. In the former category, he famously inked the work of Jack Kirby when Kirby was at his peak in the 1950s and 1960s, including early episodes of The Fantastic Four; as a penciller he is best known for his work on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, his work winning the Alley Award for Best War Title in 1967 and 1968.

Richard Bache Ayers was born on 28 April 1924 in Ossining, New York, the son of John Bache Ayers, an insurance agent, and his wife Gladys Adelia (nee Minnerly), and could trace his ancestors back to pioneers who settled at Newbury Plantation, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was raised in Poultney, near Lake Cayuga, and later said that growing up on his uncle's farm contributed to his ability to draw horses. Ayers served with the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

Ayers published his first comic strip in the military newspaper Radio Post in 1942. After leaving the army, he took an adventure story he had written and drawn to Dell Comics; they planned to publish it but the project was scrapped before publication. In 1947, he was taking evening classes at Burne Hogarth's Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City where he met Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, who would drop in to visit classes, and Marvin Stein, who was teaching classes as well as being Shuster's chief assistant. Visiting Shuster's nearby studio, Ayers began producing occasional pencils for Funnyman.

Shuster also introduced Ayers to Vin Sullivan of Magazine Enterprises where he began drawing Jimmy Durante and Western strips for A-1 Comics and Trail Colt. Ayers co-created The Calico Kid as a back-up for Tim Holt comic. Whenever trouble loomed, the spineless Calico proved to be a master gunfighter. After five episodes, he revealed an even deeper secret: he was in truth Federal Marshal Rex Fury. Attacked and left for dead, Fury is visited by the ghosts of those who tried to tame the wild west – Wild Bill Hickok, Kit Carson, Calamity Jane and others – and Fury survives with their skills somehow imprinted on him. Dressed in a phosphorescent costume and riding a white stallion named Spectre, he becomes The Ghost Rider.

After his debut in Tim Holt #11, The Ghost Rider soon earned his own title in 1950, which Ayers continued until 1954. He also added stories featuring Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders, based on the boy cowboy of the popular radio series, to his schedule in 1952. At the same time, he began working for Atlas Comics (the forerunner to today's Marvel Comics), drawing horror stories and a revival of The Human Torch.

Ayers was so busy, he employed Ernie Bache as an assistant and set up a small studio in the kitchen of an apartment owned by his wife's employer. In a 2001 interview, Ayers recalled:

Side-by-side we worked for—oh, that was '52. It wasn't until '55 when that damn Wertham thing came and killed all our books, The Ghost Rider and Human Torch. So we were down and we had, mostly, just Charlton. We didn't quite make it.
     I lettered first and then I would pencil, and then I'd ink the outlines and then I'd give it to Ernie. Ernie would erase the page [laughs] and then he would finish it. He would put on all the blacks and the Kraft-Tone and bring in all that stuff. So we made a good team. I didn't bother throwing in heavy blacks. I would start them, maybe, but then he would accentuate the lines I'd put in, make them a little stronger. And he was very meticulous in his approach. I mean, everything had to be a certain formula so that we could knock out four pages a day, so he was a good asset for me.

The comic book industry was devastated by the introduction of the Comic Code Authority, who banned anything considered dangerous to juvenile morals. Horror and crime stories disappeared almost overnight and, after 167 stories, The Ghost Rider also fell victim to the sweeping industry changes. Work for Charlton Comics' Crime and Justice and Racket Squad in Action also disappeared.

Ayers' attempt at a superhero, The Avenger, lasted only one issue (it was continued by Bob Powell) and a Ghost Rider replacement, The Presto Kid (a cowboy magician who debuted in Red Mask #51), lasted only a few episodes.

Ayers subsequently concentrated on his work for Atlas, drawing back-up features win Kid Colt Outlaw, Outlaw Kid, Wyatt Earp and Rawhide Kid and, from 1959, inking Jack Kirby's monster stories in Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, Amazing Adventures, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense and over two years of the syndicated newspaper strip 'Sky Masters of the Space Force' (1959-61).

As Atlas introduced new characters, and because Kirby was their go-to artist for new strips, Ayers found himself inking the first appearance of The Rawhide Kid (revamped in 1960), Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #27, 1962), The Human Torch (first solo story, Strange Tales #101, 1962), Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (1963), and early issues of The Fantastic Four, Thor and The Incredible Hulk (all in 1962).

Inking was a means to an end. Ayers "only inked to survive in comic books and support my family, which included my wife, 4 children and mother-in-law." When asked in 2003 who he enjoyed inking, Ayers replied, "No one."

In 1964, Ayers took over completely from Kirby as penciller of Sgt. Fury with issue 8, beginning an almost unbroken decade-long run on the comic that was to last until issue 120. The series was penned by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and, from 1967, by Gary Friedrich. The team of Friedrich, Ayers and inker John Severin turned the book into a recognisable classic; the Howling Commandos and their cigar-chomping leader, Nick Fury, battled around the world in a series of gritty, strongly moralistic stories which were often as negative about war as they were celebrations.

Initially, Ayers had wanted to come off the title:

I didn't like Kirby's pencilling of Sgt Fury and asked off after the 3rd issue. I was in the Army 1942 – 1945 and it didn't connect with how I pictured "army." When Stan put me on to pencilling it, it wasn't until I recalled how it was when, getting into the combat zone, we would exaggerate out combat stories to each other and do anything we could to look different from the others around us. I got a shoulder holster and .45 and wore ski sox and a silk scarf. Then Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos became real to me.

In the 1970s, Ayers switched from Marvel to DC Comics, where he pencilled war stories for Star Spangled War Stories, Army at War, All-Out War and other titles. At the same time he pencilled various other series, including Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth (1976-78), Unknown Soldier (1977-82), Scalphunter (1977-81), Sergeant Rock (1978-81) and Jonah Hex (1979-84). "I was able to accomplish 4 books a month. There'd always be a script for me every time I delivered my pencils," Ayers recalled. "As a result I think I did some of my best storytelling at DC. I was asked to pencil tight leaving the blacks and tones for the inker. It enabled me to do some of my best story telling in Kamandi, Jonah Hex and Unknown Soldier and all the other DC books they had me do."

In the 1980s, Ayers worked for a number of different companies, including Archie, Modern Publishing and Comico, and in the 1990s for Revolutionary and Topps. In 1984-85 he also drew promotional comics for Comic Shack featuring the Tandy Computer Whiz Kids. In 1985 he also accepted the National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.

Ayers taught at the Joe Kubert School, his students including Tom Mandrake, Jan Dursemma and Karl Kessel. 

Ayers' early work was rediscovered in 1990 and reprinted by AC Comics, although due to Marvel's copyright on a different character named Ghost Rider, the original had to became Haunted Horseman. Discovering the reprints, Ayers agreed to draw some new episodes.

In the new millennium, Ayers has continued to draw occasionally, contributing pin-ups and a number of short stories to benefit and tribute comics (Actor Comics Presents, 2006, The 3-Minute Sketchbook, 2007; The Uncanny Dave Cockrum, 2007). His latest work was an illustration of NY Police Deteective John Wilson for the Marvel Mystery Handbook: 70th Anniversary Special (2009).

Ayers' son, Rich, has also drawn comics.

Examples of Dick Ayers' artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Alvaro

Artist, possibly Spanish, about whom nothing can be traced. A number of other artists share this name – one, Alvaro Mendoza, a Mexican artist who has a similar signature (written in capital letters). Mendoza was born in Izlahuaaca, Mexico, in 1952 and clearly would not have been contributing to Look and Learn in January 1963, when two images of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, appeared in the magazine.

The signature on the above picture was removed when it was printed in Look and Learn, as was the colour: it appeared only in black & white.

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

John Berry

John Berry was a prolific and popular contributor to Ladybird Books, his work appearing in 40 titles between 1961 and 1978, notably their "People at Work", "Public Services" and the "Hannibal the Hamster" books by Raymond Howe.

John Leslie Berry was born in Hammersmith, London, on 9 June 1920, his father the foreman on the railway at Hammersmith. His father "skipped" when his son was only 5, and Berry and his sister were raised by his mother on £1 a week. He was educated locally before attending Hammersmith College of Art in 1934. He earned a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy in 1939 but was bitterly disappointed to have his studies interrupted by the Second World War.

He volunteered for the R.A.F. in 1940 and served in the Western Desert and the Middle East. In a holding unit waiting to enter Tobruk, he offered to produce a poster advertising a national day of prayer. When the artwork came to the attention of Air Marshal Arthur Tedder, Berry was seconded to the 8th Army as a War Artist. Some of Berry's paintings were exhibited at the National Gallery and are now in the permanent collection of the Imperial War Museum.

Returning to the UK, Berry found work with a wartime acquaintance, Major James Riddell, who wrote children's and travel books. Berry drew a number of short books published by Riddell as Riddle Books, but his income was primarily from advertising.

Asked if he could draw a tiger for an ESSO oil company campaign by the secretary at McCann Erickson, Berry retorted, "Yes, put a tiger in your tank." He was paid £25 for the famous slogan, but spent ten years from 1951 drawing tigers for the campaign.

He was a prolific portrait painter, his subjects including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and Lady Astor. He also worked via Harrods, producing portraits of people who could drop off a photograph which he would turn into a oil painting.

In 1951 Berry married June East, a librarian, and the couple had three sons and two daughters. With a growing family to support, Berry produced book covers for Corgi, Four Square, Panther, Penguin and Readers' Digest. In the Sixties and Seventies, he considered the regular work provided by Ladybird Books to be his bread and butter.

At the same time he continued to produce portraits, his later subjects including the Princess of Wales and President George Bush Sr, and illustrations, including contributing to the 'Special Correspondent' series in Look and Learn in 1967.

In 2004, the Simon Finch Gallery hosted an exhibition of Ladybird work by Berry and Martin Aitchison. A show of Berry's work at the NEC in Birmingham followed in 2005.

Following June's death in 1986, Berry married a second time in 1989 to Jessie Showell. He died on 10 December 2009. A list of Berry's illustrated books can be found here.

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

Barbara C. Freeman

"Barbara C. Freeman is a gentle writer, with a particular appeal to girls. She makes no great demands of her readers, but does provide good entertainment. Anyone wanting easy, fluent, romantic stories would do well to consider her work." So wrote Felicity Trottman in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers.

Freeman was both a writer and artist, starting out primarily as an illustrator. "I write, I suppose, chiefly because I enjoy writing," she later said. "I like living in two worlds: the one I was born into and the other (which becomes entirely real) which I write about. I'm deeply interested in the way ordinary people lived in the past and the way in which the past thrusts into the present. I believe that most writers find that their characters develop lives of their own and sometimes take charge of both conversations and plots. This, for me, is pure delight, and I allow my people all the freedom that is possible.

"At art school I was trained to observe details of every kind, and it is a habit that one never grows out of. Details, especially those of the past, fascinate me."

Barbara Constance Freeman was born in Ealing, Middlesex, on 29 November 1906, the daughter of writer and secondhand bookseller William Freeman and his wife Lucy Constance Freeman (nee Rimmington), who were married in 1905. She studied at the Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston-upon-Thames and at Kingston School of Art.

Freeman began working as a painter with Green & Abbott, a West End wallpaper studio (1926-27). From there she turned freelance, often working on annuals. She specialised as an artist of fairy tales, although in a realistic style with fantastic elements. She was often called upon to illustrate classic stories the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. She also produced illustrations for The Children's Encyclopedia.

As television grew and the number of annuals and entertainments for children disappeared in the 1950s, Freeman turned to writing her own stories, beginning in 1956. He first books, Timi and Two-Thumb Thomas, were published in 1961.

Her work was exhibited at the Heritage Centre, Kingston-upon-Thames Museum, in 1989.

Since her early childhood, she lived in a mid-Victorian house with a large garden, from which she drew much of her inspiration. She died in May 1999.

PUBLICATIONS

Timi. London, Faber, 1961; New York, Grosset and Dunlap, 1970.
Two-Thumb Thomas. London, Faber, 1961.
A Book by Georgina. London, Faber, 1962; New York, Norton, 1968.
Broom-Adelaide. London, Faber, 1963; Boston, Little Brown, 1965.
The Name on the Glass. London, Faber, 1964; New York, Norton, 1966.
Lucinda. London, Faber, 1965; New York, Norton, 1967.
Tobias. London, Faber, 1967.
The Forgotten Theatre. London, Faber, 1967.
The Other Face. London, Macmillan, 1975; New York, Dutton, 1976.
A Haunting Air. London, Macmillan, 1976; New York, Dutton, 1977.
A Pocket of Silence. London, Macmillan, 1977; New York, Dutton, 1978.
The Summer Travellers. London, Macmillan, 1978.
Snow in the Maze. London, Macmillan, 1979.
Clemency in the Moonlight. London, Macmillan, 1981.

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

Jesus Blasco

From November 1954 when his first strip appeared in the UK, Jesús Blasco carved an astonishing path through British comics, producing some of the most popular stories of their times. British strips often played fast and loose with historical facts and physics and grounding them in Blasco’s photo realistic artwork made them believable to their youthful audience. His artwork inspired a generation of new artists, Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland both acknowledging his influence.

Jesús Blasco Monterde was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 3 November 1919, one of five siblings—brothers Alejandro, Adriano, Augusto and sister Pilar—who, to one degree or another, all worked in comics. Entirely self-taught, Blasco began working professionally in comics shortly after his first prize-winning drawing appeared in Mickey when he was 14. Only 15, he created ‘Cuto’ for Biloche in 1935. The boy hero become one of Spain’s most popular comic creations following his appearance in Chicos in 1940 and Blasco added a second popular strip to his CV when he created ‘Anna Diminuta’ for Mis Chicas.

Blasco was called up to serve during the Spanish Civil War and, after the war, served three years military service whilst still managing to keep up a steady output of comic strips from war stories to nursery tales.

In 1954, he made his debut in the UK and continued to contribute to British comics for over 20 years. From drawing ‘Buffalo Bill’ and ‘Billy the Kid’ in Comet and Sun, Blasco took over the artwork of those most British of heroes, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Dick Turpin’. He also turned his hand to fairy tales, drawing beautifully painted spreads for Playhour featuring Pinocchio, the Dancing Princesses, Rumpelstiltskin and others.

In 1962 he drew ‘Vengeance Trail’ for Eagle and, that same year, began work on his two longest-running strips: the darkly menacing adventures of ‘The Steel Claw’ in Valiant and the whimsical children’s fantasy ‘Edward and the Jumblies’ for Teddy Bear.

Thanks to inking help from his brothers Alejandro and Adriano, who did not receive any individual credits in the UK after 1955, the Blasco family were able to turn out an astonishing number of pages each week with no fall-off in quality.

In 1968, Blasco adapted ‘Montezuma’s Daughter’ for Look and Learn and went on to draw further features and stories for that paper and its companion, Treasure. In the 1970s, he also drew the adventures of ‘The Wombles’ and ‘Return of the Claw’, but the market in the UK was no longer able to absorb his output. In 1968 he had drawn ‘Los guerrilleros’, written by Michael Cussó, for Spirou. Now, in 1974, he became more heavily involved in the Portuguese comic Jornal do Cuto and the Spanish comic Chito and his output in the UK fell away. Apart from a few episodes of ‘Dredger’ in Action and the opening three episodes of ‘Invasion’ for 2000AD, Blasco turned his sights to Europe, where he was invited to adapt the Bible as a series of comic strips.

In 1982, Blasco was awarded the prestigious Yellow Kid at Lucca and the French honorary award Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1986 he worked with Victor Mora on reviving ‘El Capitán Trueno’ but the strip was caught up in the collapse of its publisher. Blasco turned to Italy and Bonelli’s long-running western saga ‘Tex’ and science-fantasy ‘Zona X’. He also teamed up again with Victor Mora to recount the historical adventures of ‘Tallaferro’.

Blasco died on 21 October 1995, survived by only one brother, Adriano.

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

Mike Hubbard

Although known as Mike Hubbard, he was born Ernest Alfred Hubbard in Harold's Cross, Dublin, Ireland, on 2 April 1902. Given his Irish origins, the belief that his name was Mike was almost certainly a corruption of Mick.

Hubbard was the son of London-born Edmond John Hubbard, a bookbinder who worked on book edge gilding, and Irish-born Mary Ellen Hubbard. Their two children, Edmond John Hubbard and Ernest Alfred Hubbard were both schooled in Manor Park, Essex

His earliest known work, which appeared in the Amalgamated Press's The Thriller, was signed Ernest Hubbard. Hubbard was already an accomplished artist even in these early illustrations. He was particularly noted for his lissome women in figure-hugging silk dresses, which was to stand him in good stead in the future. His work appeared in Detective Weekly, Modern Wonder and The Passing Show in the 1930s but, like many artists, he turned to comic strips in the post-World War II years, the storypaper having suffered so greatly from the paper shortages and rationing.

During the war, Percy Clarke had stepped into the shoes of Edward Holmes as editor of Knock-out Comic. With scriptwriters in short supply, Clarke instigated a series of adaptations of classics, starting with Gulliver's Travels and taking in Peter the Whaler, Mr. Midshipman Easy and The Children of the New Forest.

For his next adaptation, Clarke hired Hubbard and, thereon, Hubbard (roughly) alternated with Eric R. Parker on adaptations, his strips for Knockout including Treasure Island, The Coral Island, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Sinbad the Sailor, The Adventures of Marco Polo and Red River.

By this time, Hubbard was also involved in the strip that was to make his name. The war years had made Jane of the Daily Mirror a household name. The saucy Jane had won over the hearts of soldiers and her knockabout adventures continued to offer plenty of cheerful, cheeky fun in the drab post-war years. However, the artwork of the strip's creator, Norman Pett, was starting to look a little old-fashioned and Hubbard was bought in as an assistant, at first to draw backgrounds but, before long, to draw Jane herself. After two years, Pett was let-go and Hubbard took over the strip completely.

He was to draw Jane for eleven years, at the same time continuing his association with Knockout until pressure on the daily strip meant no time for further assignments.

However, eventually Jane came to an end and Hubbard returned to drawing for comics, finding work mostly on girls' titles such as Valentine, Schoolgirl Picture Library, Poppet and June in the early- to mid-1960s. He would also pop up in boys' titles, drawing adaptations of King Solomon's Mines and Alan Quartermain for Ranger, and Coral Island for Look and Learn.

One of his finest later strips was 'Jane Bond, Secret Agent' for Tina and Princess Tina and he produced a range of beautifully painted fairy tales and adaptations of Francis Hodgson Burnett in the early 1970s for Pixie. He was still drawing in his late sixties but eventually had to lay down his pen. He died on 25 June 1976.

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

C. L. Doughty

Cecil Langley Doughty was one of the most prolific and successful historical illustrators to work on Look and Learn and other weekly educational papers. He produced several thousand illustrations between 1961 and 1982, his output astonishing in both quantity and quality.

Doughty was born in Withernsea, Yorkshire, on 7 November 1913 and trained at Battersea Polytechnic. His earliest comic strip was a two-page Buffalo Bill adventure which appeared in Knockout in July 1948. Doughty produced strips for Phillip Marx’s Star Flash Comic and Challenger Comic in 1948, followed by the cover and interior art for an adaptation of 'Oliver Twist' for the first issue of A Classic in Pictures (1949). 'Lorna Doone' followed soon after (in issue 8) before Doughty returned to the Amalgamated Press, drawing ‘Terry Brent’, a spot-the-clue detective series for School Friend.

Doughty found his metier when he began drawing for Thriller Comics, the 64-page pocket library edited by Leonard Matthews. His first tale was an adaptation of W. Harrison Ainsworth’s Windsor Castle (1953) followed by a variety of stories featuring Robin Hood and Dick Turpin. Critic David Ashford, a long-time fan of Doughty’s work, has said, “Turpin’s comrades were beautifully realised by Doughty. Based, as they are, on R. H. Brock’s drawings for the Newnes pocket book series of the 1930s, all the varied personalities came to life – among them, the elegant “gentleman highwayman” Tom King, the swaggering Irishman, Pat O’Flynn and, perhaps best of all, the humorous character Jem Peters, he of the mutton chop whiskers. All are portrayed with obvious affection and enormous gusto. Strongly influenced not only by the Brock brothers but by other 19th century artists of 18th century subjects such as Hugh Thomson, Doughty’s style is, I think, best expressed in the one word, “debonair”. There is a certain way in which his leading characters stand, move and tilt their head which is peculiar to Doughty. It is a style which is ideal for these historical entertainments and strongly reminiscent at times of Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best.”

Doughty’s ability to paint had not been recognised in the 1950s, his only full page painting appearing on the rear cover of an issue of Comet in 1958. He worked briefly for Express Weekly (1957-58) and for eight months took over the artwork for ‘Jack O’Lantern’, a historical adventure strip in Eagle (1959-60).

In 1962, Doughty began producing illustrations in colour and black & white for Look & Learn. Doughty occasionally wrote his own scripts for the series on ‘Famous Houses’ that appeared on the centre pages of in early issues. 

When Look and Learn closed in April 1982, Doughty decided to retire from commercial artwork and concentrate on landscapes. Already in his late sixties, he held an exhibition of his ‘straight’ work in Carmarthen, where he was then living.  He also took on commissions and produced some magnificent paintings for fans.

In 1985, Doughty moved to a dilapidated cottage with a splendid studio, but died shortly after, on 26 October 1985, aged 71. An extensive biography and gallery of Doughty's Look and Learn work appeared in 2012 entitled Pages From History.

Examples of Doughty's work can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.

Bill Baker

Bill Baker is something of a mystery artist. Although it is possible to track his work through various comics over a twenty-year period, very little is known about the artist himself. He first appears with one-off stories in Top Spot, followed by a brief serial, 'New Rider at Clearwater', and illustrations for Girl in 1960-64. He remained active in girls' papers for the next decade, contributing to Tina ('Two on Cockatoo') Princess Tina ('Life with Tina'), June ('Call Me Cupid', 'Wedding in the Family') and Pixie Annual.

In 1974 he produced his first literary adaptation for Look and Learn, based on Jack London's The Call of the Wild. This was followed in quick succession by The Sea Wolf (London, 1974-75), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, 1975), Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes, 1975), The Prince and the Pauper (Mark Twain, 1976), Moby Dick (Herman Melville, 1977), Westward Ho! (Charles Kingsley, 1977), A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens, 1977-78) and King Solomon's Mines (H. Rider Haggard, 1978).

It was during the publication of the latter – in August 1978 – that Baker disappeared from the pages of Look and Learn, the strip taken over with episode nine by C. L. Doughty.

Examples of Baker's work can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.