News and Reviews
A round-up of interesting new and forthcoming exhibitions for all tastes, along with reviews of some fascinating new books.

Will Grill
Will Grill is an exploratory artist whose art is quite literally concerned with explorers and the animals accompanying them on their quests across vast and impressive landscapes. Grill’s illustrations are by turns lyrical, dramatic, and surprising. Catherine Golden provides a deep dive into Will’s art which is based on a detailed interview with the artist.

Howard Phipps
Well-known as a printmaker and illustrator, Howard Phipps is the creator of intensely beautiful images of the English landscape, which he combines with poetic treatments of interiors. This distinctive material is printed in the form of wood engravings, sometimes in black and white and sometimes in colour. The Editor examines his art using Howard’s own accounts of his practice and inspirations, as well as considering the challenges of being a woodblock artist.

Rodney Matthews
The fantasy artist Rodney Matthews offers another sort of exploration, this time taking us into weird “otherlands” inhabited by dragons, goblins, weird architecture and Gothic landscapes. Well-known as a designer of record sleeves for some heavy-metal bands such as Nazareth, Rodney is also an illustrator of the strange and surreal, which he represents in a bold and idiosyncratic style. In conversation with the Editor, Rodney reveals his inspirations and interests.

Angela Cogo
Evoking the child-like is a difficult task, but a necessary skill for any illustrator of children’s books. Angela Cogo has that skill aplenty, producing immersive images which convey the viewer to an alternative world. Angela’s luxurious palette of intense colours have the intensity of a dream, and her effects are magical. Speaking in an informal interview, Angela talks revealingly of her imaginative process.

Peter Charles
We all remember reading illustrated books as children – but it is often the case that we didn’t know anything about their artists, many of whom have slipped into obscurity. Peter Charles, who illustrated books by Monica Dickens in a very English style, is a favourite about whom little is known. Jim O’Brien retrieves some vital details and speculates on the identity of this elusive practitioner.

Baldwin Zettl
Baldwin Zettl is a German artist who worked with copper engraving to create expressionistic images of characters in books such as Büchner’s Lenz. Zettl’s art is sometimes harsh and always imposing as he charts the psychology and inner worlds of his subjects. Wilfried Onzea introduces the work of this experimental and challenging artist, who is little-known in the English-speaking world.

Charles Léandre
Léandre was a satirist with a sharp eye for the social foibles of late nineteenth century France. Always inventive, he attacks his subjects from multiple directions – sometimes using caricature, sometimes situational comedy. Brian McAvera analyses this artist’s work while providing a great deal of fascinating information about the contexts in which he operated.

F. H. Townsend
The Englishman F. H. Townsend was also a satirist, this time of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Working for Punchas its art-editor, Townsend provided a dryly humorous take on the social mores and political events of the time, and had a special interest in the Great War. Mark Bryant considers the life and art of this important British cartoonist.

Resources
Look and Learn
The latest exhibitions along with details of important resources to facilitate study of illustration, graphic art and related fields. When, where and what can be found here.

Contributors 
Catherine J. Golden is professor of English and the former Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters at Skidmore College. She is the author of Serials to Graphic Novels: The Evolution of the Victorian Illustrated Book(Gainesville, FL: UPF, 2017), Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing (Gainesville, FL: 2000), and Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction(Gainesville, FL: UPF, 2003). She is also editor or co-editor of five additional books and numerous articles on topics ranging from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Victorian illustration, literature, and culture. 

Dr Simon Cooke, Illustration’s editor is a well-known writer of books and articles about Victorian and contemporary illustration. His titles include Illustrated Periodical of the 1860s(British Library, 2010), The Moxon Tennyson (Ohio UP 2021), and a forthcoming book, Illustrating the Victorian Supernatural (Ohio UP, 2O25). He also writes on Pre-Raphaelitism, Gothic, Sensationalism, Dickens, and film.

Angela Cogo is an Italian illustrator who has been living in the UK for over ten years. She graduated from Scuola Internazionale di Comics in 2011 and completed a Master’s degree in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art in 2017. Her work includes illustrations for Monty Mouse (Galileo Publishers) and Albi, The Glowing Cow Boy (UCLan Publishing), among others.

Dr Jim O’Brien read History of Art at University College London and completed his Ph.D at the University of Sussex. Alongside working in primary education, he writes on 20th century film, illustration and popular culture.

Wilfried Onzea is a book collector and former librarian at the Antwerp City Library, He was a founding member of the Flemish bibliophile society, Literarte, and taught the history of the private press movement at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. He is the author of several books and articles on books and bibliography.

Brian McAvera is a playwright, art critic, curator and, occasionally, an art historian. His best-known plays are the cycle Picasso’s Women, which have been translated for productions into over 20 languages. His most recent book is a critical study of the Irish artist, Graham Gingles (“Graham Gingles Boxed In,” Cyphers, Secrecy And Sensuality, F.E. McWilliam Gallery, 2022). Brian is an avid collector of French 19th century illustrated books.

Dr Mark Bryant was an editor in literary and academic book publishing before becoming a writer, journalist, lecturer and curator. He has written for the Independent, History Today, British Journalism Review, Military History Monthly and other publications. His books include the Dictionary of  20th Century British Cartoonists and Caricaturists, and he has contributed articles to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He is a former trustee of the Cartoon Museum, London.