Edmund Blampied
Born 30 March 1886, in St Martin, Jersey; died 26 August 1966, in Jersey.
Painter, watercolourist, sculptor, engraver, lithographer, illustrator.
Edmund Blampied left school at the age of fourteen and went to work in an architect's office in St Helier. His drawings came to the attention of a local art teacher who introduced him to the rudiments of watercolour at her private art school. A local businessman agreed to finance his studies at Lambeth School of Art in London and in 1903, aged 16, he set off for England. A year later, while still a student, he was recruited as an illustrator for the national newspaper, the Daily Chronicle. In 1905 he transferred to the Bolt Court School of Photo-Engraving and Lithography where he perfected the art of etching. He established his own studio in 1911 where he produced illustrations for magazines, short stories and novels. He returned to Jersey at the outbreak of World War I and took up guard duties in the Royal Jersey Militia. His commercial activities did not cease during the war; he illustrated a number of children's books, notably for Scottish publisher Thomas Nelson and Sons of Edinburgh. He returned to London in 1919 and was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1920 and a full member the following year.
During the 1920s and 1930s he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and he collaborated on numerous magazines, notably the The Bystander and the Illustrated London News. His illustrations of children's books such as the 1939 edition of J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy, were met with critical acclaim. He returned to Jersey just before the outbreak of World War II and remained there during the German Occupation. During the war, artist materials were scarce and magazine and publishing commissions few and far between, but he found work with the State of Jersey designing small denomination bank notes and a set of postage stamps. Blampied continued to live, work and exhibit on the island until his death.
"BLAMPIED, Edmund." In Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/benezit/B00020526 (accessed May 1, 2012).
