Great British Illustrators: 1 Edward Ardizzone and "The Land of Green Ginger"

 One of the ways that I kept myself sane and occupied during the first lockdown in April and May was in making a list of some 50 of my favourite British illustrators, and copying an illustration that each of them had made. Writing about my love of 18^th century and Victorian illustration in my last post brought it back to me that I did this. So what I’m planning to do is to make a series of posts showing you the illustration copies that I made. My apologies to all of the artists involved, whose work I’ve undoubtedly failed to do justice to.  

1) Edward Ardizzone and The Land of Green Ginger

Edward Ardizzone was an English illustrator of French-Italian extraction, who illustrated a very large number of children’s books through the 40s, 50s and 60s. It's really rather fitting that he was the first artist I chose, since he was the first winner of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration of a children's book“The Land of Green Ginger” by Noel Langley, is an absolutely wonderful book, full of wit, whimsy, humour and adventure. Although it’s called a children’s classic – which it is – it’s sadly out of fashion now. It continues the story of Aladdin, through his son, Abu Ali, focusing on Abu Ali’s quest to win the hand of the beautiful Silver Bud. It’s just great, an utter gem, and I can’t wait until my grandson is old enough for me to read it with him. 

The illustration I’ve copied shows Abu Ali and Silver Bud on the left, while his rival suitors, TinTac Ping Foo and Rubdub Ben Thud look on from the right. Noel Langley, who wrote the novel, was a South African writer, who wrote the original screenplay for the smash hit film “The Wizard of Oz”, but this book, I think, is his most inspired creation, and it’s perfectly portrayed in Ardizzone’s unique and distinctive style.