Greenaway, Kate, 1846–1901, English illustrator and watercolorist. She is famous for her fanciful, humorous, delicately colored drawings of child life. She influenced children's clothing and the illustrating of children's books and was often imitated, though never successfully. Among the books for which she provided text as well as illustrations are Under the Window (1879), A Day in a Child's Life (1881), Kate Greenaway's Birthday Album, and The Language of Flowers (1885).

Bibliography

See The Kate Greenaway Treasury ed. by E. Ernest (1967).

Greenaway, Kate

orig. Catherine Greenaway

Illustration for “When We Went Out with Grandmamma” by Kate Greenaway for Marigold …

(credit: Mary Evans Picture Library, London)

(born March 17, 1846, London, Eng.—died Nov. 6, 1901, London) British artist and children's-book illustrator. The daughter of a draftsman and wood engraver, she studied art in London. In 1868 she began to exhibit drawings, contribute illustrations to magazines, and design Christmas and Valentine cards. Her first book, Under the Window (1878), was followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), and many others that were enormously successful; the beauty of these books created a revolution in book illustration, and her work was praised by leading art critics around the world. Her yearly almanacs (1888–97) also became very popular.