Harry Pettit: A View of his Art

To make a living as an artist is no easy task. In the middle years of the twentieth century it was more precarious than ever. To bring up a family of three children, not to mention a Newfoundland dog, and to restore an ancient mill at the same time might have seemed quixotic if not plain lunatic. pic left:

dustwrapper

However, Harry Pettit managed to generate enough income to enable his wife to ‘make ends meet’ mainly from advertising contracts and from regular illustrated features in children’s comics of the time.

--------------------- As a commercial artist his skills were appreciated by businesses, but it was as a wildlife artist, illustrating animals and plants in their natural environment, that his work lifts beyond mere skill. He had an intense love of wild things and his beautiful depictions of dramatic and lesser known species in children’s comics and annuals no doubt opened the eyes of many young readers to the delights of the outdoors. He was an ecologist and environmentalist well before these concerns became widespread. He worked with Peter Scott on the beginnings of an international organisation to protect wildlife.
----------------- pic right:

In 1953 his illustrations appeared in Unto the Fields by D W Gillingham. The book describes an area on the edge of Epping Forest to which the Canadian author returns, having spent his early childhood there. The area and its life are detailed with care and delight, and are illustrated throughout by Harry Pettit’s beautiful artwork. More than fifty illustrations grace this book—all of common or rare animals and plants found in the fields described, realistically depicted in their natural surroundings. The book ends with the author returning from the war to find that the land has been obtained by The London County Council and is now disappearing under the concrete of a housing estate.

--------------------  In 1955 Hodder and Stoughton published Under the Sun by George and Martha Berry, illustrated throughout by Harry Pettit.
pic left:

dustwrapper

This was an educational book, aimed at young children, introducing them to little known aspects of wildlife in the country. To tell the story the animals are given names, Belinda the Bee for example, but the story is not anthropomorphic and the illustrations are forerunners of the ‘day in the life’ camera work of wildlife photography films many years later.

------------------- At the start of the book is a double-page map in green of the country area in which the stories take place. In all Harry Pettit provided around fifty black and white illustrations, in sizes from small vignettes to large pictures spreading across double pages for this book and all were true to nature.
insert map pic here A detail from the map showing Spring Valley Mill
He did not approve of the trivial ‘humanising’ of animals and his work for the comic Playhour exhibits this well.
----------------------- pic right:

For several years he provided colour illustrations for this weekly comic— including the back page ’Little Red Squirrel’ strip. Although animals abounded in the comic, mainly depicted dressed up and talking amongst themselves, Pettit’s were real. He refused to treat them with any less than the respect they deserved in being themselves. His work appeared in the Playhour annuals, and when being approached to depict the four seasons with the Seven Dwarfs for the endpapers for the 1957 Annual the Seven Dwarfs are drawn as cartoon characters—as is the castle in the background—yet the countryside and all the dozens of animals around are all natural –simplified perhaps—yet true to nature.

-----------------------------

This characteristic can be seen in the two pages from the 1959 Annual— ‘Sonny and Sally by the river — and in the woods’ which follow. The key with each picture identifies all the animals and plants depicted.

The appearance of the Eagle Comic with its high quality artwork and target of slightly older readers must have appealed to the artist. It is not surprising to find that he published illustrated articles in at least three Eagle Annuals and illustrated one in Girl Annual number 4, all on nature themes. The artwork in all these articles is exquisite.

His death in 1958 brought a premature end to the career of a wildlife artist whose work stands comparison with the best in that field.

A limited bibliography and sources of illustrations:

Unto the Fields by D W Gillingham
1953 Museum Press, London
Illustrated by Harry A Pettit
Cover price: 17/6
Frontispiece; title page vignette; 38 chapter-head and another twenty or so chapter end pictures.

Under the Sun by George and Martha Berry
1955 Hodder and Stoughton, London
Illustrated by Harry A Pettit
115pp; cover price 8/6
Map; around fifty black and white illustrations; full colour wrap-around dustwrapper.

Treasure at the Mill by Malcolm Saville
1957 Newnes, London
Illustrated by Harry Pettit
152pp; cover price 8/6
Full colour dustwrapper; title page vignette; map endpapers; mill plan and eleven chapter header pictures.

Playhour

The Amalgamated Press Ltd, London weekly comic – regular feature Little Red Squirrel by Harry Pettit.

Playhour Annual 1957 Endpapers All the Year Round with the Seven Dwarfs.

Playhour Annual 1959 Little Red Squirrel and the Purple Butterfly pp30-31; Sonny and Sally in the Woods and by the River pp38-9

Playhour Annual 1960 Tale of Two Wrens pp42-3

Eagle Annual 6 (1956) Curiosities of Nature Written and Illustrated by Harry Pettit pp 87-91 5 illustrations

Eagle Annual 7 (1957) Flight in Nature Written and Illustrated by Harry Pettit pp137-140 4 illustrations.

Eagle Annual 8 (1958) River of Life Written and Illustrated by Harry Pettit pp142145 4 illustrations
Girl Annual 4 (1955) Trees in Britain written by C D Dimsdale Illustrated by Harry Pettit pp71-75 5 illustrations

Some examples of the work of Harry Pettit