Photograph of John Tenniel.
John Tenniel

Overview

Sir John Tenniel (February 28, 1820 – February 25, 1914) was an English illustrator.

He drew many topical cartoons and caricatures for Punch in the late 19th century, including the iconic dropping the pilot, but is best remembered today for his illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

He was born in London and educated himself for his career, although he became a probationer, and then a student, of the Royal Academy. In 1836 he sent his first picture to the exhibition of the Society of British Artists, and in 1845 contributed a 16-foot cartoon, An Allegory of Justice, to a competition for designs for the mural decoration of the new Palace of Westminster. For this he received a £200 premium and a commission to paint a fresco in the Upper Waiting Hall (or Hall of Poets) in the House of Lords.

In spite of his tendency towards high art, he was already known and appreciated as a humorist, and his early companionship with Charles Keene fostered and developed his talent for scholarly caricature.

Tenniel was blinded in one eye while fencing with his father in 1840.

At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the position of joint cartoonist (with John Leech) on Punch. He had been selected on the strength of his illustrations to Aesop's Fables. He contributed his first drawing in the initial letter appearing on p. 224, vol. xix. His first cartoon was Lord Jack the Giant Killer: it showed Lord John Russell assailing Cardinal Wiseman.

In 1865 he illustrated the first edition of Alice in Wonderland. The first print run of 2,000 was shelved because Tenniel had objections over the print quality; a new edition, released in December of the same year but carrying an 1866 date, was quickly printed and became an instant best-seller, securing Tenniel's immortality in the process. Tenniel's illustrations for both books have taken their place among the most famous literary illustrations ever made. They were used as a model for the costumes in Paramount Pictures' Alice in Wonderland.



In his career Tenniel contributed around 2300 cartoons, innumerable minor drawings, double-page cartoons for Punch's Almanac and other special numbers, and 250 designs for Punch's Pocket-books.

Several of Tenniel's political cartoons expressed strong hostility to Irish Nationalism, with Fenians and Land leagues depicted as monstrous, ape-like brutes, while "Hibernia"—the personification of Ireland—was depicted as a beautiful, helpless young girl threatend by these monsters and turning for protection to "her elder sister", the powerful armoured Brittania. Some modern critics have accused Tenniel of anti-Irish racism (see http://projects.vassar.edu/punch/lockwood2.html, http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/directory/h/hibernia.asp).

When he retired from in January 1901, Tenniel was honoured with a farewell banquet (June 12), at which AJ Balfour, then leader of the House of Commons, presided.

Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and in 1900. Sir John Tenniel is also the author of one of the mosaics, Leonardo da Vinci, in the South Court in the Victoria and Albert Museum; while his highly stippled water-colour drawings appeared from time to time in the exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, of which he had been elected a member in 1874.
In collaboration
*Pollok's Course of Time (1857) *Poets of the Nineteenth Century (1857) *Poe's Works (1857) *Home Affections (1858) *Cholmondeley Pennell's Puck on Pegasus (1863) *The Arabian Nights (1863) *English Sacred Poetry (1864) *Legends and Lyrics (1865) *Topper's Proverbial Philosophy *Barry Cornwall's Poems, and other books

He also contributed to Once a Week, the Art Union publications, etc.
Who is John Tenniel connected to?
Add a Connection

That biography says:

...Such anthropomorphic portrayals of animals were very popular in Victorian England, and were often found in prints, on greeting cards and in satirical illustrations such as those of John Tenniel. Wain was a prolific artist over the next thirty years, sometimes producing as many as several hundred drawings a year...

This biography says:

...At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the position of joint cartoonist (with John Leech) on Punch. He had been selected on the strength of his illustrations to Aesop's Fables...

That biography says:

...Margarete's mock portrait was Sir John Tenniel's model for the "Duchess" in his illustrations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...

That biography says:

...The MacDonald children read the story and loved it, and this response probably persuaded Dodgson to seek a publisher. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with illustrations by John Tenniel, was published in 1865, under the pen name Lewis Carroll. A second "Alice" book, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, followed in 1871...

That biography says:

...*Uncle Sam, a lanky image of the United States (first drawn in the 1830s; Nast and John Tenniel added the whiskers). *John Chinaman, a sympathetic image of a Chinese Immigrant.

This biography says:

...He drew many topical cartoons and caricatures for Punch in the late 19th century, including the iconic dropping the pilot, but is best remembered today for his illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass....

That biography says:

...After the possible alternative titles Alice Among the Fairies and Alice's Golden Hour were rejected, the work was finally published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 under the Lewis Carroll pen name, which Dodgson had first used some nine years earlier. The illustrations this time were by Sir John Tenniel; Dodgson evidently thought that a published book would need the skills of a professional artist...

This biography says:

...Public exhibitions of Sir John Tenniel's work were held in 1895 and in 1900. Sir John Tenniel is also the author of one of the mosaics, Leonardo da Vinci, in the South Court in the Victoria and Albert Museum; while his highly stippled water-colour drawings appeared from time to time in the exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, of which he had been elected a member in 1874.

That biography says:

...The Ugly Duchess is perhaps the best-known of his works. It served as a basis for John Tenniel's depiction of the Duchess in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is probably not a depiction of any one model, though it is sometimes said to be a portrait of Margaret, countess of Tyrol, also known as Margarete Maultasch ("Satchel-mouth")...

This biography says:

...At Christmas 1850 he was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the position of joint cartoonist (with John Leech) on Punch. He had been selected on the strength of his illustrations to Aesop's Fables. He contributed his first drawing in the initial letter appearing on p. 224, vol. xix...
How is John Tenniel connected to Edgar Allan Poe? Tell the world.
How is John Tenniel connected to Frank Holl? Tell the world.

That biography says:

...As a wood-engraver he had abundant opportunity for the minute study of the contemporary artists whose work passed through his hands, of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Sir John Tenniel and Frederick Sandys, and of the masters of the Italian Renaissance, but he was more influenced by the Elgin marbles in the British Museum...
How is John Tenniel connected to Arthur Rackham? Tell the world.
How is John Tenniel connected to John Russell, 1st Earl Russell? Tell the world.
Navigation
rss feed
home | about | guidelines | privacy and terms of service | contact us | community