John Tenniel

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John Tenniel

Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 – 25 February 1914) was an English

England

Illustrator

An illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text....
.

He drew many topical cartoon

Cartoon

The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time.The original meaning was in fine art, and there cartoon meant a preparatory drawing for a piece of art such as a painting or tapestry....
s and caricature

Caricature

A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness, or in literature, a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others....
s for Punch in the late 19th century, including the iconic dropping the pilot
Dropping the Pilot

Dropping the Pilot is a political cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, first published in the British magazine Punch , March 1890. It depicts Chancellor Otto von Bismarck stepping off a ship, watched by the German Emperor Wilhelm II....
, but is best remembered today for his illustrations in Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an England author, mathematics, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer....
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel written by England author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a Rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures....
and Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of children's literature by Lewis Carroll , generally categorized as literary nonsense....
.

He was born in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
and educated himself for his career, although he became a probationer, and then a student, of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

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Encyclopedia

Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 – 25 February 1914) was an English

England

Illustrator

Cartoon

Caricature

Lewis Carroll

London

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. As an academy, it functions to encourage British art, and has a membership of practising artists....
. In 1836 he sent his first picture to the exhibition of the Society of British Artists, and in 1845 contributed a cartoon, An Allegory of Justice, to a competition for designs for the mural decoration of the new Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
. For this he received a £200 premium and a commission to paint a fresco in the Upper Waiting Hall (or Hall of Poets) in the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". The Parliament comprises the British monarchy, the British House of Commons , and the Lords....
.

In spite of his tendency towards high art, he was already known and appreciated as a humorist, and his early companionship with Charles Keene fostered and developed his talent for scholarly caricature.

Tenniel was blinded in one eye while fencing with his father in 1840.

At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon

Mark Lemon

Mark Lemon was founding editor of both Punch and The Field . Born in London, England, he was the son of Martin Lemon, a hop merchant, and Alice Collis....
to fill the position of joint cartoonist (with John Leech) on Punch. He had been selected on the strength of his illustrations to Aesop

Aesop

File:Aesop pushkin01.jpgAesop , known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a Slavery in Ancient Greece who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratos in the mid-6th century BC in ancient Greece....
's Fables. He contributed his first drawing in the initial letter appearing on p. 224, vol. xix. His first cartoon was Lord Jack the Giant Killer: it showed Lord John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Order of the Garter, Order of St Michael and St George, Privy Council of the United Kingdom , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an England British Whig Party and Liberal Party politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
assailing Cardinal Wiseman.

In 1865 he illustrated the first edition of Alice in Wonderland. The first print run of 2,000 was shelved because Tenniel had objections over the print quality; a new edition, released in December of the same year but carrying an 1866 date, was quickly printed and became an instant best-seller, securing Tenniel's lasting fame in the process. Tenniel's illustrations for both books have taken their place among the most famous literary illustrations ever made. They were used as a model for the costumes in Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production company and distribution company, located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California....
' Alice in Wonderland.

Tenniel's illustrations for the 'Alice' books were engraved onto blocks of wood, to be printed in the woodcut

Woodcut

Woodcut - formally known as Xylography - is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges....
process. The original wood blocks are now in the collection of the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest library in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library....
in Oxford. They are not usually on public display, but were exhibited in 2003.

In his career Tenniel contributed around 2300 cartoons, innumerable minor drawings, double-page cartoons for Punch's Almanac and other special numbers, and 250 designs for Punch's Pocket-books. He was knighted in 1893.

Several of Tenniel's political cartoons expressed strong hostility to Irish Nationalism

Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Culture of Ireland, Gaelic language and History of Ireland, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people....
, with Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians, both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood, were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the nineteenth and early twentieth century....
s and Land league

Irish National Land League

The Irish Land League was an Ireland political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish Absentee landlord in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on....
s depicted as monstrous, ape-like brutes, while "Hibernia

Hibernia (personification)

Hibernia as a national personification representing Ireland appeared in numerous cartoon and drawings, especially in the nineteenth century.As depicted in frequent cartoons in Punch , a magazine outspokenly hostile to Irish nationalism, Hibernia was shown as "Britannia's younger sister"....
"—the personification of Ireland—was depicted as a beautiful, helpless young girl threatened by these monsters and turning for protection to "her elder sister", the powerful armoured Britannia

Britannia

Britannia was the term originally used by the Roman Empire to refer to the island of Great Britain. The term was later used to describe a Roman province covering much of the island, apart from the area beyond the Antonine Wall belonging to the Picts in the north, which was known as Caledonia....
.

When he retired in January 1901, Tenniel was honoured with a farewell banquet (12 June), at which AJ Balfour, then Leader of the House of Commons

Leader of the House of Commons

The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the United Kingdom House of Commons....
, presided.

Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and in 1900. Sir John Tenniel is also the author of one of the mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
s, Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
, in the South Court in the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million Object ....
; while his highly stippled water-colour drawings appeared from time to time in the exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours , initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London....
, of which he had been elected a member in 1874.

Works illustrated

Juvenile Verse and Picture Book, (1846)
Undine
Undine

Undine, Undines, Undina, or Ondine are sometimes interchangeable and may refer to:* Ondine , a water nymph from German mythology...
(1846)
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop , a Slavery and story-teller who lived in Ancient Greece. Aesop's Fables have become a blanket term for collections of brief fables, especially beast fables involving Anthropomorphism animals....
, 100 drawings (1848)
Blair
Robert Blair

Robert Blair may refer to:* Robert Blair , excommunicated Scottish Bishop* Robert Blair , Scottish poet* Robert Blair , son of the above, Scottish lawyer...
's Grave (1858)
Shirley Brooks's The Gordian Knot (1860)
Shirley Brooks
Shirley Brooks

Charles William Shirley Brooks , journalist and novelist, born in London, began life in a solicitor's office. He early, however, took to literature, and contributed to various periodicals....
's The Silver Cord
The Silver Cord

The Silver Cord is The Classic Crime's second full-length studio album. It was released on July 22, 2008 on Tooth & Nail Records....
(1861)
Moore
Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was an Irishman poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and the The Last Rose of Summer....
's Lalla Rookh, 69 drawings (1861)
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an England author, mathematics, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer....
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel written by England author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a Rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures....
(1866)
The Mirage of Life, 1867
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an England author, mathematics, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer....
's Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of children's literature by Lewis Carroll , generally categorized as literary nonsense....
(1870)

In collaboration

Pollok
Robert Pollok

Robert Pollok was a Scotland poet best known for The Course of Time, published the year of his death.Pollok was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland....
's Course of Time
The Course of Time

The Course of Time is a ten-book poem in blank verse, first published in 1827. It was the last published and most famous work of Scotland poet Robert Pollok....
(1857)
Poets of the Nineteenth Century (1857)
Poe
Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, Short story writer, Editing and Literary criticism, and is considered part of the American Romanticism. Best known for his tales of Mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the Detective fiction genre....
's Works (1857)
Home Affections (1858)
Cholmondeley Pennell's Puck on Pegasus (1863)
The Arabian Nights (1863)
English Sacred Poetry (1864)
Legends and Lyrics (1865)
Tupper
Martin Farquhar Tupper

Martin Farquhar Tupper was an English writer, and poet, and the author of Proverbial Philosophy.He was the eldest son of Dr. Martin Tupper , a medical man highly esteemed in his day who came from an old Guernsey family, by his wife Ellin Devis Marris , only child of Robert Marris , a landscape painter ....
's Proverbial Philosophy
Barry Cornwall's Poems, and other books

He also contributed to Once a Week, the Art Union publications, etc.

External links

Gill Stoker's Tenniel website