Harry Furniss
Encyclopedia
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. His father was English and his mother Scottish, Furniss identifying himself as English. He was educated in Wesley College.
Biography
His first job as an illustrator was for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic NewsIllustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was an English weekly magazine founded in 1874 and published in London. In 1945 it changed its name to the Sport and Country, and in 1957 to the Farm and Country, before closing in 1970....
, and when it was purchased by the owner of The Illustrated London News he moved to that magazine. There he produced illustrations of social events such as the Boat Race, Goodwood
Goodwood Racecourse
Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House...
and even the annual fancy dress ball at Brookwood Asylum
Brookwood Hospital
Brookwood Hospital at Woking in Surrey, was established in 1867 by Surrey Quarter Sessions as the second County Asylum, the first being Springfield Asylum in Tooting...
, as well as acting as a special correspondent reporting on less pleasant aspects of life in contemporary England, such as the scandalous divorce trial of Lady Colin Campbell
Gertrude Elizabeth Blood
Lady Colin Campbell , born Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, was an Irish-born journalist, author, playwright, and editor. She was married to Lord Colin Campbell, a brother-in-law of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's fourth daughter.-Biography:Her parents were Edmund Maghlin Blood Lady Colin Campbell (3...
. The following extract from his autobiography gives due warning that his illustrations should not always be thought of as being produced by a witness to the events depicted.
One boat race, for example, is very much like another. Some years ago I executed a panoramic series of sketches of the University Race from start to finish, and as they were urgently wanted, the drawings had to be sent in the same day. Early in the morning, before the break of fast, I found myself at Putney, rowing up to Mortlake, taking notes of the different points on the way — local colour through a fog. Getting home before the Londoners started for the scene, I was at work, and the drawings — minus the boats — were sent in shortly after the news of the race.
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
, initially writing and illustrating a series of supplements titled "Life in Parliament", and he comments that "from this time forward it would be difficult to name any illustrated paper with which I have not at sometime or other been connected".
His most famous humorous drawings were published in Punch, for which he started working in 1880, and to which he contributed over 2,600 drawings. He left Punch in 1894 when its owners discovered that he had sold one of his 'Punch' drawings to Pears Soap
Pears soap
Pears transparent soap is a brand of soap first produced and sold in 1789 by Andrew Pears at a factory just off Oxford Street in London, England. It was the world's first transparent soap. Under the stewardship of Thomas J. Barratt, A. & F. Pears Ltd. company initiated a number of innovations in...
for use in an advertising campaign.
He illustrated Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's novel Sylvie and Bruno
Sylvie and Bruno
Sylvie and Bruno, first published in 1889, and its 1893 second volume Sylvie and Bruno Concluded form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. Both volumes were illustrated by Harry Furniss....
in 1889 and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded in 1893. Carroll and Furniss sometimes produced both pictures and text simultaneously. Carroll exerted strong control over Furniss' illustration, to such an extent that Furniss would pretend to be out when Carroll called at his home. After completing Sylvie and Bruno Concluded Furniss vowed never to work for the author again.
In 1890, he illustrated the Badminton Library
Badminton Library
The Badminton Library, called in full The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes, was a sporting and publishing project conceived and founded by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort . Between 1885 and 1902 it developed into a series of sporting books which aimed to cover comprehensively all major...
's volume on Golf.
On leaving Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
Furniss brought out his own humorous magazine Lika Joko, but when this failed he moved to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where he worked as a writer and actor in the fledgling film industry and where, in 1914, he pioneered the first animated cartoon film for Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
.
His two-volume autobiography, titled The Confessions of a Caricaturist was published in 1902, and a further volume of personal recollections and anecdotes, Harry Furniss At Home, was published in 1904.
Furniss wrote and illustrated twenty-nine books of his own, including Some Victorian Men and Some Victorian Women and illustrated thirty-four works by other authors, including the complete works of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
.
On some projects, like his illustrations for G. E. Farrow
G. E. Farrow
George Edward Farrow born in Ipswich in England, was a noted British children's book author and man of mystery.Educated in London and America, during his career Farrow wrote more than thirty books for children...
's Wallypug books, Furniss collaborated with his daughter, fellow artist Dorothy Furniss (1879–1944).
Furniss married Marian Rogers in the Strand in 1877.
Written and illustrated by Harry Furniss
- Royal Academy, an artistic joke — 1887
- M.P.'s in Session — 1889
- Australian Sketches- Made on Tour — 1899
- The Confessions of a Caricaturist — 1901
- Harry Furniss At Home — 1904
- Some Victorian Women - Good, Bad, and Indifferent — 1923
- Some Victorian Men — 1924
- The Two Pins Club — 1925
Works illustrated by Harry Furniss
- RompsRompsRomps was a series of tales illustrated by Harry Furniss, with verses by Horace Lennard and printed by Edmund Evans in 1885. The comical picture book depicts children romping in various settings....
with verses by Horace Lennard, printed by Edmund EvansEdmund EvansEdmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
— 1885 - Sylvie and BrunoSylvie and BrunoSylvie and Bruno, first published in 1889, and its 1893 second volume Sylvie and Bruno Concluded form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. Both volumes were illustrated by Harry Furniss....
by Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
— 1889 - Brayhard, The Adventures of One Ass and Seven Champions — 1890
- Sylvie and Bruno Concluded by Lewis Carroll — 1893
- Gamble Gold by Judge Edward Abbott Parry — 1907
- Charles Dickens LibraryCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
— 1910