Carol Mintum Barker (born 16 February 1938)[1] is an English artist-designer, author and illustrator who is notable for her poster designs, postage stamps and book illustrations, many of them for children.
Carol Barker | |
---|---|
Born | 16 February 1938 |
Nationality | British |
Education | |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Writing, drawing, children's literature |
Notable work | The Bald Twit Lion Achilles the Donkey |
Children | 2 |
Father | John Rowland Barker |
Life and career
editBarker is the daughter of British artist John Rowland Barker.[2] As a child she was evacuated to New York during World War II, but returned to Britain and attended Bournemouth College of Art whilst also studying privately at her father's studio. She went on to study painting at Chelsea Polytechnic and illustration at the Central School of Arts and Crafts under the tutelage of Laurence Scarfe, Merlyn Evans and Raymond Roberts.[3]
Barker became a freelance illustrator in 1958. She was married and had two sons.[1]
Her entry in the Dictionary of British Book Illustrators states "Her work, in pen and ink, watercolour, collage and wax, is decorative rather than spatial in character."[4]
As a book illustrator, Barker collaborated with many authors including John Cunliffe, Spike Milligan and H. E. Bates who wrote the prose for his children's book Achilles the Donkey around her pictures.[5] So integral were her illustrations that in some instances she was given equal billing as a co-author on the book jackets. This can be seen on the covers of Spike Milligan's A Bald Twit Lion[6][7] and H. E. Bates Achilles the Donkey series[8][9][10] amongst others. She would go on to be nominated twice for the Kate Greenaway medal.
As a graphic artist, Barker is known to have designed posters and artwork for London Transport[2] and posters and stamps for the Post Office. Her poster "Children's London" was praised by Modern Publicity magazine in 1974 as one of the best British posters of the previous year.[2] Examples of her work can be found in the collections of the British Council,[11] London Transport Museum,[12] The Postal Museum[13] and The Science Museum.[14]
Selected awards
editYear | Work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Achilles the Donkey by H. E. Bates (Dennis Dobson) | Kate Greenaway Medal | Runner-up / commended | [15] |
1972 | King Midas and the Golden Touch by Carol Barker (Franklin Watts) | Kate Greenaway Medal | Commended | [15][16] |
Unknown | Unknown | The Scotsman 'International Book Jacket Competition' | Won | [17] |
Selected exhibitions
edit- 1988: (November) Barker's work was exhibited at the Barbican Centre in London. It featured illustrations, drawings and photographs of her visit to a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan and to the drought-prone Indian state of Rajasthan whilst carrying out research for her books, A Question of Refugees and A Question of Hunger.[18][19]
- 2017–2019: Barker's work for London Transport was selected as part of London Transport Museum's Poster Girls exhibition commemorating female graphic designers[20] and was featured in an accompanying BBC news article.[21]
Bibliography
editNovels
editYear | Title | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | The Boy and the Lion | Dennis Dobson | Published in the US as The Boy and the Lion on the Wall by Franklin Watts |
1972 | King Midas and the Golden Touch | Franklin Watts | Nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal (1972) |
Non-fiction
editYear | Title | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | Birds and Beasts | Franklin Watts | Reviewed in Los Angeles Times |
1973 | The Alphabet | Hamlyn | |
1974 | How the World Began | Abelard-Schuman | |
1976 | An Oba of Benin | Macdonald & Jane's | Translated into German, Norwegian, Welsh |
1976 | A Prince of Islam | Macdonald & Jane's | Translated into German, Norwegian, Welsh
Reviewed in Teaching History[22] |
1979 | Arjun in His Village in India | Oxford University Press | Translated into German, Swedish. Reviews |
1982 | Kayode in His Village in Nigeria | Oxford University Press | |
1984 | Village in Nigeria | A&C Black | Translated into Dutch |
1985 | Ananda in Sri Lanka. A story of Buddhism | Hamish Hamilton | |
1986 | The United Nations. Its work in the World | Macdonald | |
1988 | A Question of Refugees | Macdonald | |
1988 | A Question of Feeding the World | Macdonald | |
1998 | The Tibetans. Life in exile | Mantra | in association with The Tibet Foundation |
Illustration / graphic design
editYear | Author | Work / Title | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1959 | Time and Tune | BBC School Radio | Autumn Term Booklet | |
1960 | Postal Addresses | The Post Office (GPO) | Poster. PRD 1077 | |
1960 | London Post Offices and Streets | The Post Office (GPO) | Poster. PRD 1072 | |
1960 | Post Offices in the United Kingdom | The Post Office (GPO) | Poster. PRD 1076 | |
1960 | Sylvia Townsend Warner | The Cat's Cradle-Book | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1960 | Maureen Howard | Not a Word about Nightingales | Secker & Warburg | Dustjacket |
1961 | Curtis Harnack | The Work of an Ancient Hand | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Dustjacket |
1961 | Fred Kitchen | The Ploughman Homeward Plods | Country Book Club | Dustjacket |
1961 | Paul Gallico | Too Many Ghosts | Michael Joseph | Dustjacket |
1961 | Time and Tune | BBC School Radio | Spring Term Booklet | |
1961 | Jane Brown Gemmill | The Little Bear and the Princess | Abelard-Schuman | |
1962 | Aileen Fisher | I wonder how, I wonder why | Abelard-Schuman | |
1962 | Frances Armytage | Georgian England | Ginn | 6 volumes: [1] Life in a country house. [2] Life in a manufacturing town. [3] Roads and waterways. [4] Sailors and ships. [5] Life in a village. [6] A trip to a watering place. |
1962 | Famous Stories of High Adventure | Arthur Barker | Selected and edited by Leonard Reginald Gribble | |
1962 | Swift Annual | Odhams Press | ||
1962 | H. E. Bates | Achilles the Donkey | Dennis Dobson | Nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal (1962) |
1962 | Norman Wymer | Gilbert and Sullivan | Methuen | |
1962 | Roger Lancelyn Green | Ancient Greece | Rupert Hart Davis | |
1962 | Lyn Irvine | Field with Geese | Country Book Club | Dustjacket |
1962 | Mildred Lewis | The Honourable Sword | Deutsch | Dustjacket |
1962 | Sylvia Townsend Warner | A Spirit Rises | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1963 | Mariana Villa-Gilbert | Mrs Galbraith’s Air | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1963 | Daniel Roberts | Nibbleneat | Oxford University Press | |
1963 | H. E. Bates | Achilles and Diana | Dennis Dobson | |
1963 | Eileen Colwell | A Storyteller's Choice. A selection of stories with notes on how to tell them | Bodley Head | |
1963 | Julia Rhys | The Tinsel November | Rupert Hart-Davis | |
1964 | H. E. Bates | Achilles and the Twins | Dennis Dobson | |
1964 | John Cunliffe | Farmer Barnes Buys a Pig | Deutsch | |
1964 | Andre Launay | Caviare and After. The Truth About Luxury Food | Macdonald | |
1964 | Yvonne Meynier | The School with a Difference | Abelard-Schuman | |
1964 | Norman Goodland | Old Stan's Diary: Autumn & Winter on the Farm | Country Book Club | Dustjacket |
1964 | Miss Read | Country Bunch | Country Book Club | Dustjacket |
1964 | Leo Walmsley | Paradise Creek | Country Book Club | Dustjacket |
1964 | Annabel Dilke | Rule III, Pretend to be Nice | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1965 | Mabel Watts | The Light Across Piney Valley | Abelard-Schuman | |
1965 | Noel Lloyd & Geoffrey Palmer | Quest for Prehistory | Dennis Dobson | |
1965 | Lauchmonen | Old Thom's Harvest | Eyre & Spottiswoode | Dustjacket |
1965 | Jocelyn Davey | A Killing in Hats | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1966 | Perdita Buchan | Girl with a Zebra | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1966 | Georgina Groves | Morning Glory | Whiting & Wheaton | |
1966 | John Cunliffe | Farmer Barnes and Bluebell | Deutsch | |
1966 | Rain and Shine. Nursery Rhymes for the Four Seasons | Blackie | ||
1966 | Fenton House | London Transport | Poster. Printed by The Baynard Press | |
1967 | Rumer Godden | The Kitchen Madonna | Macmillan | |
1967 | Andre Launay | Posh Food | Penguin | |
1968 | Janet McNeill | It's Snowing Outside | Macmillan | |
1968 | Richard Parker | Lost in a Shop | Macmillan | |
1968 | Mariana Villa-Gilbert | A Jingle-Jangle Song | Chatto & Windus | Dustjacket |
1968 | Spike Milligan | The Bald Twit Lion | Dennis Dobson | |
1969 | London Museum | London Transport | Poster. Printed by John Swain and Son Ltd | |
1969 | Amanda McKittrick Ros | Helen Huddleson | Chatto & Windus | |
1969 | Margaret Mahy | Pillycock's Shop | Dennis Dobson | |
1970 | P. M. Pickard | The Dancing Harp | Ginn | |
1971 | Margaret Mahy | The Princess and the Clown | Dennis Dobson | |
1971 | Troubadour (No. 1) | Malcolm Peltu and Adel Hamadi | Magazine cover in conjunction with Adel Hamadi | |
1972 | Helen Hoke | Dragons, Dragons, Dragons | Franklin Watts | |
1972 | Sandie Oram | The Sun People | Macdonald & Co | |
1973 | Nicholas Fisk | Emma Borrows a Cup of Sugar | Heinemann | |
1973 | Children’s London | London Transport | Poster. Printed by The Baynard Press. Praised by Modern Publicity in 1974 as one of the best British posters of the previous year.[2] | |
1974 | Margaret Mayo | If You Should Meet a Crocodile, and Other Verse | Kaye & Ward | |
1975 | Helen Hoke | Devils, Devils, Devils | Franklin Watts | |
1979 | Audrey Aarons & Hugh Hawes | Child-to-Child | Macmillan Press | Published on behalf of the Child to Child programme |
1979 | London’s Museums | London Transport | Poster. Printed by Impress Ltd | |
1982 | Spike Milligan | Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Dreadful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon | M. J. Hobbs | |
1983 | Miriam Hodgson | A Touch of Gold. Stories from the Greek Myths | Methuen | |
1986 | John Snelling | Buddhist Stories | Wayland | |
1987 | John Snelling | The Life of the Buddha | Wayland | |
1992 | Umaya Aafjes-Sinnadurai | The Kingdom of Benin: National Curriculum History Key Stage 2 | Commonwealth Institute | Published by Curriculum Development and Resources Section |
References
edit- ^ a b Commire, Anne (1983). Something about the author. Gale. pp. 26–7. ISBN 9780810300576.
- ^ a b c d "London Transport Museum". London Transport Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ Ryder, John (1960). Artists of a certain line : a selection of illustrators for children's books. Internet Archive. London : Bodley Head.
- ^ Peppin, Brigid; Micklethwait, Lucy (1983). Dictionary of British Book Illustrators. John Murray (publishing house). ISBN 0719539854.
- ^ "Achilles the Donkey :: HE Bates". hebates.com. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ "The Bald Twit Lion - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Achilles the Donkey - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Achilles and Diana by Bates, H. E.: Very Good Hardcover (1963) First Edition. | Turn-The-Page Books". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Achilles and the Twins by H. E. Bates: Near Fine Hardback (1964) First edition. | Rooke Books PBFA". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Carol Barker | Artists | Collection | British Council − Visual Arts". visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Collections - Search". London Transport Museum. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Carol Barker, b.1938". The Postal Museum. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Carol Mintum Barker | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Kate Greenaway Medal". ibrowsebooks. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Hal May (1983). Contemporary authors. Internet Archive. ISBN 978-0-8103-1907-3.
- ^ Carol Barker (1977). A Prince of Islam. Addison - Wesley. ISBN 9780201004243.
- ^ "On Show". The British Journal of Photography. 135 (6691). London: 1854 Media: 24. 3 November 1988. ISSN 0007-1196. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Proquest.
- ^ "Bookings: Last Chance". The Times. No. 63234. 9 November 1988. p. 22. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Budds, Diana (30 October 2017). "The Women Designers Behind London Tube's Kickass Graphic Design". Fast Company. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "More posters from London Underground's forgotten designers". BBC News. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Townson, Duncan (1977). "Review of A Prince of Islam, by C. Barker". Teaching History. 17: 31. JSTOR 43256180 – via JSTOR.