Kate Greenaway

Kate Greenaway

Biography:
Kate Greenaway (1846–1901) British author and artist Kate Greenaway grew up in North London and spent summers in the Nottinghamshire countryside. These happy times from her childhood were the foundation of many of her stories. Her illustrations—portraying the idyllic landscape as a playground for children dressed in sumptuous Regency clothing—offered a romanticized escape from the realities of the ever-encroaching industrialized world. In her costume designs, she combined the influences of her mother, an accomplished seamstress, with those of her father, a master engraver. She studied art in London where she developed a close relationship with printer Edmund Evans (1826–1905). Together they produced more than 150 books. Greenaway’s popular illustrations inspired lines of ceramics, jewelry, fabrics, wallpaper, and children’s clothing.