Peter Warner; Illustrator of many books and advertisements whose work betrayed a special fondness for animals
Hyfler/Rosner
December 15, 2007
Peter Warner
Illustrator of many books and advertisements whose work
betrayed a special fondness for animals, and cats in
particular
http://www.peterwarner.com/
"Well, he did like to draw from life," said a commissioning
editor who had asked Peter Warner to bring her some
specimens of his cat portraits. He arrived noisily in his
much-loved T-Spark Alfa Romeo and flung open his portfolio
to reveal some spectacular studies of the female form. "The
cats came later," she said, "and were indeed very
impressive."
The anecdote indicates something of Warner's debonair
professionalism emerging from not very propitious
beginnings. He was born in 1939 to sympathetic parents. (His
father was a piano restorer, his mother an artist.) His
early years were disturbed by the war, the family being
bombed out of their house in Mitcham in 1944. This left him
with a degree of deafness and also resulted in his having to
spend a summer season sleeping in a tent.
His regular education was also curtailed since he won a
scholarship to the Wimbledon School of Art aged 11. From
1960 to 1963 he had a scholarship at the Royal Academy
Schools, and his professional training was topped up in 1973
by an intensive course on printmaking at the Croydon College
of Art.
Like many young artists he began his career as an
illustrator, undertaking commercial work. This later led to
design commissions from the manufacturers of products
consonant with the direction of his art, such as Whiskas and
Friskies. He also gained an introduction to the publisher
Hamish Hamilton, for whom he illustrated a number of books
in the Reindeer series of stories for young readers, for
which his pen-drawing was particularly apt.
His love of nature, however, impelled him to specialise in
landscape and animal drawing, especially cat portraiture,
first found in his Guide to the Cats of the World (1976). In
this work, both his artistry and his understanding of the
behaviour and the anatomy of the species was evident. (A
friend was startled to discover the corpse of a cat in his
refrigerator, awaiting close physical examination.)
The conjunction of sympathy and accurate observation is best
seen in two books, The Book of the Cat (1981) and Perfect
Cats (1991) - his own favourite. This magnum opus describes
every variety of domestic cat found throughout the world,
illustrating each in colour with a brush so fine that every
hair and its disposition seems to be displayed. He also
worked for other authors, drawing wrappers for many of the
books in the wideranging Animal Ark series and, most notably
in recent years, fine line drawings for the Moon Cottage
Cats stories by Marilyn Edwards.
Despite damage to his hearing Warner became a clarinettist
of distinction, and was among the founders of the North
Downs Wind Quintet and the North Downs Symphonia, harmonious
rehearsals sometimes taking place at his Surrey home at
Tatsfield. He also won many table tennis trophies in local
leagues.
Peter Warner, artist and illustrator, was born on March 1,
1939. He died of cancer on September 22, 2007, aged 68
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