English illustrator (1862–1942) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Hardy (baptised David Paul Frederick Hardy; 2 August 1862 – 2 January 1942), was an English illustrator, best known for his regular illustrations in The Strand Magazine, his painting of Canterbury Pilgrims (1903) and for his drawings associated with the serials of the writer Samuel Walkey (1871–1953). Paul was the eldest child of David and Emily Hardy. Paul's father was also an artist, as was his grandfather James Hardy senior and his uncles James Hardy junior and Heywood Hardy, all from an old Yorkshire family.[1] All Paul's siblings, Norman, Evelyn and Dorothy Hardy, were illustrators.[1]
Paul Hardy was born on 2 August 1862, near Bath, Somerset. He received his education in Clifton, Bristol. He settled in Chelsea, London in 1886 and married the sculptor Ida Mary Wilton Clarke (1862–1955) on 28 July 1888 at St. Matthias, Earl's Court, in Kensington and Chelsea, London. After their marriage the couple moved to Bexleyheath for a few years, then to Chobham, Cheltenham, Tisbury and finally to The Cottage, Church Street, Storrington.[1][2] He designed and made the original galleon weathervane, now kept inside St Mary's church in Storrington.[3] His son was Brigadier Gordon Paul Umfreville Hardy (1894-1974) who married Sophia H. Dickinson in 1917.
Hardy exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 with His Majesty Henry VIII visits Sir Thomas More at Chelsea and again in 1899 with There it befell, that as they rode near a forest, they saw a damsel and her dwarf sore distressed.[4] These are the only Royal Academy Exhibition works attributed to Hardy up to 1905.
Hardy was a skilled metal worker and made his own replica armour. He was an advisor to both the Armoury Department at the British Museum and to the Auctioneer Sotheby's. In recognition of his work as a black-and-white artist, and his contribution to the study of medieval arms and armour, he was granted a Civil List pension of £80 in 1932. This was followed by a Royal Academy pension of £50 seven years later.[5]
Hardy illustrated at least 170 books in his career,[6] and was equally prolific with magazines. One of the juvenile magazines he regularly drew for was Chums, which he produced illustrations for from 1896 to 1940, over 40 years.[7] One book that Hardy illustrated was The Story of Susan by Alice Dudeney (1903). (Hardy's affair with Alice Dudeney contributed to the separation of the Dudeneys in 1913).
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Example of story illustration
Rogues of the Fiery Cross was Samuel Walkey's (10 July 1871–29 March 19)[19][20] second serial novel. It appeared in Chums in the 1896–1897 volume and it was a huge success. It was illustrated by Hardy, as was almost all of Walkey's subsequent work in Chums.[18] After appearing in Chums Rogues was almost immediately published as a book by Cassell & Co., London in 1897 with sixteen full-page illustrations, as shown below:
I caught him by the collar
One caught me roughly by the throat
He drew a knife
His sword came swinging down
Turn over- he cried
A ship lay in the lagoon
The two hurtled up and down
He wore a ceaseless grin
They burst up the stairs
He drew a pistol and pulled the trigger
He flung his rapier round and round
He stabbed the second man
The Dutchman fought with desperate fury
The heavy wood dropped backwards
My fathers hands were tight upon his throat
The ship came nearer and nearer
Peppin says that Hardy was a prolific illustrator of adventure stories, particularly in Magazines. Hardy paid attention to historical detail including the rigging of ships and period costume. He maintained a collection of period costumes for his models to wear for his illustrations.[7] Houfe notes that Hardy was one of the artist's whose work proprietor George Newnes had on display in his two-room gallery at the office of The Strand Magazine.[21] Houfe also provides an image of the Art Gallery.[22]
Houfe states that Hardy is at his best in costume romances and adolescent series. . . Overall, he considers Hardy A prolific but unexciting purveyor of adventure.[23] However, Kirkpatrick quotes Brian Doyle in his Who's Who of Boys' Writers and Illustrators (1964) as saying that: Hardy’s work was at once distinctive and accomplished. The villainous characters who formed his pirate crews were faithfully portrayed and completely authentic, as were the nautical details of the old-fashioned ships he drew ... His characters invariably had staring eyes, turned-down mouths and were seldom inactive or in repose.[5] Cooper, who rarely comments on the quality of illustrations in the titles he is cataloguing, refers to Hardy's illustrations as Stylish.[24] The ultimate compliment is probably the way in which Chums, who had a huge stable of illustrators, kept using his work for over 40 years.
Although Kirkpatrick gives a title by Mary Ellen Edwards as having been illustrated by Willian Rainey. This seems unlikely as she was an illustrator herself.
Hardy, Kimber G. (2016). The Hardy Family of Artists: Frederick Daniel, George, Heywood, James and their descendants. Woodbridge, Suffolk UK: ACC Art Books. pp.182–197. ISBN978-185149-826-0.
Graves, Algernon (1905). "Hardy, Paul: Painter". The Royal Academy of Arts: A completed Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904. Vol.III: Eadie to Harraden. London: George Bell and Sons. p.389.
Kirkpatrick, Robert J. (11 July 1905). "Paul Hardy". The Men Who Drew For Boys (And Girls): 101 Forgotten Illustrators of Children's Books: 1844-1970. London: Robert J. Kirkpatrick. p.197.
Kirkpatrick, Robert J. (11 July 1905). "Paul Hardy". The Men Who Drew For Boys (And Girls): 101 Forgotten Illustrators of Children's Books: 1844-1970. London: Robert J. Kirkpatrick. p.196.
Kirkpatrick, Robert J. (11 July 1905). "Checklist of Books Illustrated by Paul Hardy". The Men Who Drew For Boys (And Girls): 101 Forgotten Illustrators of Children's Books: 1844-1970. London: Robert J. Kirkpatrick. pp.198–203.
Kirkpatrick, Robert J. (11 July 1905). "Checklist of Books Illustrated by Paul Hardy". The Men Who Drew For Boys (And Girls): 101 Forgotten Illustrators of Children's Books: 1844-1970. London: Robert J. Kirkpatrick. p.198.
