Jessie M King

Today's the day ........................ to illustrate

There are two exhibitions on at the moment at the Kirkcudbright Art Gallery - and fittingly, although they are very different in content, they both celebrate the work of an illustrator.

The main gallery delves into the work of the author-illustrator, Raymond Briggs (1934-2022) - best-known for his silent picturebook The Snowman (1978) and other works like Father Christmas (1973) and Fungus the Bogeyman (1977). The fact that Raymond Briggs died in August of this year makes this chance to see his work, all the more poignant.
 
And then on the top floor there is an exhibition entitled ‘1000 Words – the Illustrations of Jessie M. King’.  She was one of Scotland’s foremost illustrators, attending the Glasgow School of Art under Fra Newbery at the end of the 19th century.  She won prizes and acclaim for her imaginative illustrations (as above) and by the early 1900s she was in great demand, taking commissions to illustrate bindings and inserts as well as exhibiting at home and overseas.  

She eventually settled in Kirkcudbright with her artist husband, E. A. Taylor and was a very well-known figure in the town............