Jessie M. King

Jessie Marion King (March 20 1875 - August 3 1949) was a Scottish painter and illustrator of Children's books. She was married to E. A. Taylor.

She was born in Bearsden, near Glasgow. Her father was a minister with the Church of Scotland and she received a strict religious education and was discouraged from becoming an artist. Jessie M. King began training as an Art teacher in 1891 at Queen Margaret’s College. In 1892 she entered the Glasgow School of Art. As a student, she received a number of awards, including her first silver medal from the National Competition, South Kensington (1898).

King was made Tutor in Book Decoration and Design at Glasgow School of Art in 1899. Her first published designs, and some people believe her finest, were for the covers of books published by Globus Verlag, Berlin between 1899 and 1902. The publisher was a subsidiary company of the great Berlin department store, Wertheim's. She was influenced by the Art Nouveau of the period and her works juxtaposed in mood with that of The Glasgow Four.

She made a Grand Tour of Germany and Italy in 1902 and was influenced by the works of Botticelli. In the same year her binding for "L'Evangile de L'Enfance" was awarded a gold medal in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art, held in Turin. King became a committee member of the Glasgow Society of Artists (1903) and a member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists (1905).

Her contribution to Art Nouveau peaked during her first exhibitions, Annan's Gallery in Glasgow (1907) and Bruton Street Galleries, London (1905). She married E. A. Taylor in 1907 and moved with him to Salford. In 1910 they moved on to Paris where Taylor had gained a professorship at Tudor Hart's Studios. In 1911 King and Taylor opened the Shearing Atelier School in Paris. Her works in Paris are considered as influential to the creation of the Art Deco movement. King and Taylor moved to Kirkcudbright in 1915 and continued to work there until her death.

References

"The Enchanted World of Jessie M King" by Colin White published by Canongate Books in 1989 is the most comprehensive study of her work presently available.

External links

• Biography
• Collection of vintage colour and monotone illustrations from Isabelle, or the Pot of Basil and Seven Happy Days from Spirit of the Ages
• Children's Book Illustrators Gallery - Large Archive of Jessie M. King's first edition illustrations
• Jessie M. King illustrations at Art Passions