The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies

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Then two wider cultural developments came along that changed fairy reputations forever. One was that "children's literature happened", says Sage. The Victorians promoted the idea of childhood as a time of innocence, requiring its own entertainment. Illustrated children's books really took off from the 1870s, with fairies a staple, and increasingly cutesy, feature. The second was pantomime. "Every Victorian pantomime would have this big spectacle of transformation at the end, where children dressed as fairies filled the stage," says Sage. The standard fairy fancy dress outfit today is basically the same as what these Victorian children would have worn: think tinsel, sparkly sequins, and translucent, gauzy wings. Secret Stories is a new departure for the Flower Fairies. Introduced in 2006, they feature the characters of the Flower Fairies Friends books in chapter book length stories for 6-10 year olds.

The Flower Fairies were an immediate hit – but Barker was far from the only artist of her era to find success with fairies. In fact, fairy fever swelled within the United Kingdom for over half a century, reaching something of a peak around the time the Flower Fairies emerged in 1923. Over 350 fairy books were published in the UK between 1920 and 1925, including in Enid Blyton's first fairy foray, a collection of poems called Real Fairies in 1923. Fairy art even had the stamp of royal approval: Queen Mary was a fan of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite's ethereal drawings, and helped popularise them by sending them in postcard form.If so, it's likely you've been influenced by Cicely Mary Barker, the British illustrator who created the Flower Fairies. 2023 marks 100 years since the publication of her first book of poems and pictures, Flower Fairies of the Spring – an anniversary currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the Lady Lever Gallery in Merseyside, UK. Starting in 1920, Barker painted many religious works, including illustrated Bible stories, written with her sister Dorothy. She also painted panels and triptych for chapels and churches including The Feeding of the Five Thousand for the chapel at Penarth and The Parable of the Great Supper for the chapel of St. George's Waddon.

Having each fairy very specifically related to a particular plant was also commercially canny – whether Barker intended this or not, it created space for identification, for collectability, for a kind of innate brand franchising. "In children's culture, we create series that are collectable, that you identify with… It's like Pokemon or something!" laughs Sage. "When I speak to people about the Flower Fairies, especially groups of sisters, it's always 'which one were you?'"Indeed, Barker herself cut her teeth illustrating such postcards: she produced a patriotic series showing "Children of the Allies", in different forms of national dress, in 1915, followed by a series of characters from Shakespeare, before teasing the Flower Fairies with a set of "Fairies and Elves" postcards in 1918. Flower Fairies Library - The Poems That Inspired Fairyopolis (8 Volume Boxed Set) (1990) 7 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. What I found very intriguing was the fact that the author drew all of the illustrations botanically correct, so it's so much more than just a picture a child or any reader really, one get' s to see what a true sketch of the flower looks like and is then transported into the world of magic of how each little fairy has it's place among the flowers.

Cicely's flowers are always botanically accurate. If she could not find a flower close at hand, she enlisted the help of staff at Kew Gardens, who would often visit with specimens for her to paint. In a foreword to one of her early editions, she wrote that she had drawn all the plants and flowers very carefully from real ones and everything was as true as she could make it, that she had, however, never seen a fairy. [1] Christian art [ edit ] Cicely Mary Barker (28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973) was the illustrator who created the famous Flower Fairies, in the shape of ethereal smiling children with butterfly wings. As a child, she was greatly influenced by the works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom she assiduously copied in her formative years. Her principal influence, however, which she duly credited, was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Barker's art reflects several strong influences. Her family was deeply religious and she retained a strong Christian faith all her life. She greatly admired the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and her own work echoes their philosophy of being true to nature both in her meticulous depiction of flowers and plants and in the way in which the fairies represent their spirit. Originally this book was published as eight individual books, but now it can be enjoyed in a stunning complete collection that tells the tales of those magical beings found in our gardens, who have come to teach us all about flowers.Still, Sage is pleased to see the Flower Fairies exhibited in a fine art context at the Lady Lever gallery. For a long time, men painting fairies has been considered art – but when women do it, it's just silly flowery stuff for children. Flower Fairies are illustrations by Cicely Mary Barker, created during the first half of the 20th century.