Cecile Walton – Illustrations for Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales 1911

Cecile Walton (29 March 1891 – 23 April 1956), was a Scottish painter, illustrator and sculptor.

From an artistic family, Cecile Walton was the daughter of Glasgow Boys artist Edward Arthur Walton. She studied in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Florence and became a member of the Edinburgh Group, practicing in the capital as a painter, sculptor and illustrator. Influenced by the Symbolist style, her book illustrations for the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen perfectly capture the fanciful characters and stories of the Danish author.

Andersen’s fairy tales, consisting of 156 stories across nine volumes and translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West’s collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. His most famous fairy tales include “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Nightingale,” “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Red Shoes”, “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Little Match Girl,” and “Thumbelina.” His stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films. One of Copenhagen’s widest and busiest boulevards, skirting Copenhagen City Hall Square at the corner of which Andersen’s larger-than-life bronze statue sits, is named “H.C. Andersen’s Boulevard.”

Presenting the gorgeous illustrations by Cecile Walton for the Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales. First edition, published by T.C. & E.C. Jack, London, 1911.

Art Gallery: Cecile Walton – Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales 1911