Betty Maxey's Non Enid Blyton Work

[pete9012S]

I have been discretely sharing some of Betty Maxey's non Enid Blyton work with Rob recently.
Rob as an artist himself, gives a fair appraisal and critique of the work produced by other artists.

I will occasionally post some of Betty Maxey's other work here. It will I feel give a more rounded/overall view of her talents as an artist.

[Katharine]

I'm not a fan of Betty Maxey's, but I like that one.

Maybe because it is more detailed that the ones in the Famous Five books. The lady's face is really good.

I look forward to you sharing some more with us Pete.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Pete. I like a lot of Betty Maxey's work. Her coloured illustrations are detailed and attractively composed, while even many of her sketches have a certain elegance and fluidity. She illustrated Noel Streatfeild's Gemma books as well as Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. She manages to put a lot of expression into characters' faces with just a few deft lines and I also like the way she draws flowing hairstyles and patterned fabrics.

[Fiona1986]

I like Betty Maxey's covers, and that's a good painting too. Which makes it all the more baffling that her internal Famous Five illustrations are so bad at times!

[pete9012S]

When you look at a large body of her non Blyton work, which amazingly includes a number of nude studies, you get the impression Betty was possibly following orders, or a brief from the publishers on how they wanted the newer Knight Famous Five paper back illustrations.

They certainly don't represent her normal artistic output away from the world of Enid Blyton!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, I'm sure Betty Maxey was following guidelines set by the publisher when she provided sketchy illustrations for the Famous Five series. That pared-down style was popular in the 1960s-70s.

A while ago, I read the following article about Ladybird artist Martin Aitchison:

http://oldladybirdbooks.blogspot.com/20 ... ed_28.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martin Aitchison illustrated heaps of Ladybird books over the years, including many of the 1960s 'Peter and Jane' books. In the 1970s, he was asked to update the 'Peter and Jane' pictures:

...when he was commissioned to re-illustrated the books in the 1970s, Martin was a lot more comfortable. Not only were the children to be brought up-to-date in terms of clothing and activity but the illustration style was to be more sketchy and fluid.

It seems that "sketchy and fluid" were the buzzwords for children's book illustrations in the 1970s (and in the late 1960s when Betty Maxey began work on the Famous Five).

[pete9012S]

Thank you for the link Anita - I loved the artwork in the ladybird books.
Just looking at the illustrations reminds me of many great childhood times.

[pete9012S]

Another of Betty Maxey's non Enid Blyton works - thankfully, in this depiction the lady is clothed.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The understated colours, the mellow light and the variety of textures are lovely. I like the fact that the focus is completely on the stylish-looking woman.

[Fiona1986]

I had the edition of The Princess and the Frog with the illustrations by Martin Aitchison. I probably still have it, in fact. His 'sketchy and fluid' updates are still good, clearly more modern but everyone still has all their body parts!

[pete9012S]

Betty Maxey in her younger days with some work colleagues.


1976 illustration by Betty Maxey
For the story The Match by John Davies. From Woman magazine.

[timv]

I like the Betty Maxey illustration for 'The Match' - thanks for sharing this with us. This shows a side to Betty Maxey that I didn't know about; the girl on the left is very like her version of Anne in the later books. (The boy? on the right could be George except the hair isn't curly enough!) It would be interesting to find out if BM was following a 'brief' from the publishers in how she did the Famous Five illustrations, particularly the ones that seem more sketchy and short of a few lines. A series of FF illustrations done in the style of 'The Match' would have been a contrast to the ones that appear in the Knight editions of the FF stories. (I wonder how 'Timmy' got fixed in the imagination as a sheepdog for more modern illustrations; was this due to Toddy's role in the 1978 TV series and reflects the practical reason that the TV trainers could teach a sheepdog what to do easier?)

I must admit I prefer her 'Aunt Fanny' to Eileen Soper's, though this is a matter of individual taste and ES's version is suitable for the 1940s; you get an impression in Maxey's version of someone who is still youngish and cares about arranging the children's holidays etc, and is 'relaxed' about Uncle Quentin's eccentricities. It would be interesting to have some 'inside info' on who thought up the 'Uncle Quentin as a curly-haired 1970s pop star' idea - perhaps it's in correspondence in the publisher's archives?

[Anita Bensoussane]

...the girl on the left is very like her version of Anne in the later books.

I was just thinking the same thing, Tim. Thanks for sharing these pictures, Pete. They show what a talented and versatile artist Betty Maxey was.

[Eddie Muir]

This is an interesting thread, Pete. Betty Maxey was certainly a very talented artist. Do you have any of her biographical details?

[Anita Bensoussane]

If you have Journal 53 (Spring 2014), Eddie, it contains an article written by Peter Taylor who knew Betty Maxey and her husband Dale in the early 1970s. It's an interesting read, though it only covers a portion of Betty's life in detail and it would be great to know more.

I know that Betty Maxey did some artwork for the United States Air Force Art Program and for the NASA Art Program. I've always wondered what those pieces of work were like - I don't know whether you can provide any examples of those, Pete?