Faith Jaques facts for kids

Faith Jaques (born 1923, died 1997) was a British artist who lived in the late 1900s. She was famous for illustrating and writing children's books. She also designed stamps and fought for artists to have more control over their own work.

Growing Up

Faith Heather Jaques was born in Leicester, England. Her brother, Peter Jaques, was a cricket player for Leicestershire. From a young age, Faith loved to read and draw. She went to Wyggeston Grammar School. At 15, she left school to study at Leicester College of Art from 1941 to 1942. There, she learned about the human body (anatomy), how to draw things to look 3D (perspective), and the history of buildings, furniture, and clothes.

Her Career Journey

Starting Out

As soon as she was old enough, Faith Jaques joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) to leave home. She was sent to Oxford and worked at the New Bodleian Library. Her job involved managing a huge collection of over a million photos of Germany and other parts of Europe during wartime. She paid special attention to pictures of coastlines and village paths. Faith kept these strong organizational skills throughout her life. She built a large library of helpful reference materials.

While in Oxford, she took art classes at Oxford School of Art. Her teachers included William Roberts and Bernard Meninsky. It was then that she decided to become an illustrator. Other artists who inspired her were Rex Whistler and Eric Fraser. After leaving the WRNS in December 1946, Faith went to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London until 1948. She received a grant for ex-service members to help her pay for school. Some of her teachers there were Edward Ardizzione, Jesse Collins, John Farleigh, Laurence Scarfe, and John Minton.

Teaching Art

From the late 1940s, Faith also taught art part-time. She taught at Guildford School of Art (1948–1953) and Hornsey College of Art (1960–1968). At the same time, she created illustrations for many magazines and other projects.

Children's Books

Faith Jaques illustrated many different things starting in 1950. However, from the mid-1960s, she focused mainly on children's books. She often worked in black and white. She looked up to Edward Ardizzone as a big influence.

She illustrated the first British edition of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This book was published in 1967. The US edition had caused some discussion about how the Oompa-Loompas were shown.

In the late 1970s, Faith illustrated all of Leon Garfield’s ‘London Apprentice’ series (1976–1978). After this, she started writing her own children’s books. Later in her career, she began to use color in her illustrations. She also wrote some of these books herself. Tilly's House (1979) was her first picture book where she was both the author and illustrator. It was about a Dutch doll.

The publisher Heinemann asked Faith Jaques to re-illustrate the first four of Alison Uttley’s ‘Grey Rabbit’ stories. The original drawings by Margaret Tempest were too old to be printed again.

In 1982, Alison Uttley’s stories also inspired Faith's first series of cut-out picture books, Little Grey Rabbit’s House. Then, Tales of Little Brown Mouse came out in 1984.

Other Creative Work

Between 1948, when she left art school, and the 1960s, Faith Jaques's illustrations appeared in many different places:

• Stamp and Telegram Designs: In 1960, she was one of three British artists asked to design ideas for a European conference. She didn't take that job. However, she did create designs for other British Postage Telegrams and Stamps between 1960 and 1978. Her designs were chosen for the 1960 Valentines Day Telegram. She also designed stamps for the 1960 Tercentenary of the General Letter Office. Her designs were used for the 1961 Seventh Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference and three Christmas Stamps in 1978.
• Illustrations for the Radio Times magazine.
• Illustrations for BBC Radio's Singing Together program.
• Illustrations for journals like Strand, Lilliput, World Leader, Our Time, Housewife, House and Garden, and Cricket.
• Film publicity artwork.
• Other work included designs for Portmeiron mugs, greeting cards, and menus.

Faith Jaques was also a strong supporter of artists' rights. She believed artists should be paid when their books were borrowed from libraries (Public Lending Right). She also worked to make sure illustrators' work was properly recognized. In 1984, she was made an honorary member of the Association of Illustrators.

Personal Life

Faith Jaques kept writing and illustrating after she moved from London to Bath in 1987. She passed away on July 12, 1997, at the age of 74. Her large collection of work and papers are kept safe by Seven Stories, a national center for children's books.

Selected Works

Books Written and Illustrated by Faith Jaques

• Drawing in Pen and Ink (1964)
• Tilly's House (1979)
• Tilly's Rescue (1980)
• Kidnap in Willowbank Wood (1982)
• Our Village (1983)
• The Christmas Party (1986)

Books Illustrated by Faith Jaques (Written by Others)

• Nesbit, E., The Railway Children (1960)
• Kamm, Josephine, The story of Mrs. Pankhurst (1961)
• Mathieson, Eric, The true story of Jumbo the elephant (1963)
• Knight, Isobel, Rescue in the snow (1963)
• Treece, Henry, The Windswept City: A Novel of the Trojan War (1967)
• Dahl, Roald, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1967)
• Williams, Ursula Moray, Mog (1969)
• Dickens, Charles, The magic fishbone (1969)
• History of Costume (1966–1970)
• Nesbit, E., The Island of the nine whirlpools (1970)
• Williams, Ursula Moray, Johnnie Golightly and his crocodile (1970)
• Ransome, Arthur, Old Peter's Russian Tales (1971)
• Crush, Margaret, A first look at costume (1972)
• Bowden, Nina, Carrie's War (1973)
• Dahl, Roald, Charlie and the great glass elevator (1973)
• Pearce, Philippa, What the neighbours did, and other stories (1973)
• Duggan, Maurice, Falter Tom and the water boy (1974)
• Williams, Ursula Moray, Grandpapa's Folly and the woodworm-bookworm : a story (1974)
• Lang, Andrew, Red Fairy Book (1974)
• Harris, John, A Peck of Pepper (1974)
• Cresswell, Helen, Lizzie Dripping again (1974)
• Nesbit, E., The old nursery stories (1975)
• Garfield, Leon, London Apprentice series (1976–1978)
• Uttley, Allison, A Traveller in Time, Puffin (1977)
• Treece, Henry, The windswept city (1977)
• Avery, Gillian, Mouldy's Orphan (1978)
• Ahlberg, Allan, Mr Buzz the beeman, Puffin (1981)
• Uttley, Allison, Little Grey Rabbit’s House (1982)
• Uttley, Allison, Tales of Little Brown Mouse (1984)
• Masefield, John, The Box of Delights : when the wolves were running (1984)
• Our Village Shop: an old-fashioned model store with its contents ready to cut out and assemble (1984)
• Hoffman, Mary, The Return of the Antelope (1985)
• Thomson, Pat Good Girl Granny (1987)
• Ahlberg, Allan, Miss Dose the doctor's daughter (1988)
• Sutherland, Zena, The Orchard Book of Nursery Rhymes (1990)
• Sutherland, Zena, The Little Orchard Book of Nursery Rhymes (1991)
• Dickens, Monica, The great fire (1993)