posted on 01 Feb 2023

Animals on Parade by E.A. Cabrelly with illustrations by Tom Eckersley

In this 1947 publication from the Conrad Press, author, E.A. Cabrelly gives children an amiable but unremarkable introduction to a seemingly random selection of the world's more colourful animals. The text imagines that the reader is being taken on a sort of virtual safari, guided by the knowing Cabrelly who gives a brief run-down on their habitats and behaviour.

In truth, this book wouldn’t merit too much of anyone’s attention if it hadn’t been illustrated by one of the great graphic artists of the 20th century, Tom Eckersley. It was a masterstroke from the publishers to commission Eckersley to produce a series of large format full and part-page, colour drawings that make the whole book irresistible. 

The Creative Review website describes Eckersley in this way:

“Part of the ‘outsider’ generation that transformed graphic design in the UK in the mid-century era, many of Tom Eckersley’s designs remain instantly recognisable today. The graphic designer and poster artist was one of the key contributors to the explosion of visual print culture in Britain during the 20th century.”

He is especially associated with the poster campaign for the London Underground and his style is immediately recognisable. He makes use of a very flat two-dimensional form that looks almost airbrushed and builds his design around the use of geometric forms.

Even in a children's book of this kind, there are clues that Eckersley worked in advertising - he can’t resist inserting a dose of humour of the kind that wouldn’t be out of place in a Guinness commercial. A great example of this is the illustration he puts in the front and end papers showing a plate-photographer posing a giraffe for a portrait on a high-backed seat with a neck-brace to support his most precious feature.

Successful as Eckersley was in the commercial world of posters, book illustration and magazine covers, he also supplemented his income through teaching at Westminster School of Art and the London College of Printing which made him a major influence of upcoming generations of graphic artists.

Born in 1914, he worked virtually up to his death in 1997 and the international art publication Apollo Magazine summed up his final years in this way:

“Eckersley’s career continued long after the war as he carried on creating posters for RoSPA into the ’60s and for clients such as the Imperial War Museum and the World Wildlife Fund until the mid ’90s. Later his style became more graphic; the dynamic shapes of his early work moved from being shaded to give them volume to being flat blocks of colour, and thus even simpler and more direct. Nevertheless, as the images in this book prove, the designer’s work was remarkably consistent over such a long career, a career which, no matter how talented Eckersley was, would not have flourished without supportive clients.”

Animals on Parade might not contain his finest or most exhilarating work but it is the subtlety and skill of the way he captures the characteristics of the animals featured in the text that make this book a pleasure – and one which is now quite sought-after.

Copies are now hard to find and you’ll have to dig deep in your pocket to buy one of the 1947 editions. I can’t find any evidence of the book ever being reprinted and so it seems likely that you’ll have to keep your eyes open in second-hand and charity shops – which is how I found mine.

 

Terry Potter

February 2023