April A-Z Blogging Theme: Picture This! Traditional Fairy Tale Illustrators.

Cinderella Runs Away from the Palace

Jennie Harbour was born in London’s East End to a family which had escaped the Polish pogroms. Her father’s millinery business was successful enough to send his daughter to boarding school to nourish her intellect and creativity.

In her late 20s, Harbour began illustrating for Raphael Tuck & Sons. Her 12 color plates and numerous ink illustrations for Edric Vrendenburg’s My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales were so compelling that people soon forgot they were his favorite Fairy Tales and asked for her book. Still do!

A biography, Searching for Jennie Harbour, by writer Adele Garaghty is in the works.

“Red Riding Hood” (Don’t you love her striped skirt!?), Zélie and the Fairy Candide from “Prince Chéri,” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

A question for my artist friends: Do you think these are pastels? I could not find anything about her medium or process.