Collection: Edward Ardizzone

Edward Ardizzonewas born in Haiphon, French Indo-China (now Vietnam) to a father of Italian extraction and an English mother. Whilst his father stayed in the Far East working for the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company, his mother brought the five year old Edward to live in England. Here they moved from place to place, but they were never too far from Ipswich where Edward’s grandmother resided. At Ipswich the young Ardizzone explored the docks, met the sailors and established the memories which would later form the basis for the famous Little Tim books.

During the war Ardizzone was appointed Official War Artist by Sir Kenneth Clark (of ‘Civilization’ fame – an admirer and collector of Ardizzone’s work). He was sent first to France and then to the Middle East. But on his return trips to England he continued to illustrate and soon, with a work he created and which was published just before the War - ‘Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain’ - his work began to attract the following it now enjoys.

In 1956 Ardizzone was to win the first Kate Greenaway medal for the pictures in the Tim books. But the illustrations have received universal acclaim from those young and old. The New York Times heralds Ardizzone as being able to paint…’the wettest sea you ever saw’. And one of the greatest children’s illustrators himself, Maurice Sendak, declares the books…’the saltiest and most satisfying picture books created...’.