Maurice Greiffenhagen
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Maurice_William_Greiffenhagen_by_Maurice_William_Greiffenhagen.jpg/220px-Maurice_William_Greiffenhagen_by_Maurice_William_Greiffenhagen.jpg)
Maurice Greiffenhagen RA (15 December 1862[1] – 26 December 1931[1]) was a British painter and Royal Academician. He illustrated books and designed posters as well as painting idyllic landscapes.
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He was born in London. Exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1884, he was made an Associate Member in 1916 and a Royal Academician in 1922. From 1906 until 1926, he taught at the Glasgow School of Art.[1] Greiffenhagen exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in 1921.
His friendship with H Rider Haggard led to him illustrating the author's popular adventure books, starting with an edition of She: A History of Adventure in 1889 – though Greiffenhagen apparently "disliked doing black-and-white work".[2] He illustrated the serialisation of Ayesha The Return of She (1904–05) and that of The Holy Flower (1913–14) in the Windsor Magazine.
He also illustrated a number of Edgar Wallace's Sanders of the River books for the Windsor Magazine: The Keepers of the King's Peace (1916–17), Lieutenant Bones (1917–18) and Sandi, The Kingmaker (1921).
Greiffenhagen's 1891 painting, An Idyll, inspired D H Lawrence's novel The White Peacock. The painting had "a profound effect" on the author, who wrote:
As for Greiffenhagen's 'Idyll', it moves me almost as if I were in love myself. Under its intoxication, I have flirted madly this Christmas.[3]
In 1910, Greiffenhagen illustrated a book of poems by Charles F. Parsons entitled Some Thoughts at Eventide.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Ma%C3%AEtres_de_l%27affiche_V_1_-_Pl_24_-_Maurice_Greiffenhagen.jpg/220px-Ma%C3%AEtres_de_l%27affiche_V_1_-_Pl_24_-_Maurice_Greiffenhagen.jpg)
Greiffenhagen also created distinctive commercial posters, including a colourful 1894 advertisement for Pall Mall Budget magazine which "created a distinct sensation among the younger men" according to one contemporary periodical.[4] In 1924, he created "The Gateway of the North", one of the most popular travel posters in a series commissioned by London, Midland and Scottish Railway.[5]
References
- ^ a b c Tate Collection biography, Tate Online, retrieved 27 Oct 2011
- ^ P B Ellis, H. Rider Haggard: A Voice from the Infinite. 1978. Routledge. p179
- ^ J Meyers, Painting and the Novel. 1975. Manchester University Press. p46
- ^ M H Spielmann in Scribner's Monthly, July 1895, quoted in A Tucker, The Illustration of the Master: Henry James and the Magazine Revolution. 2010. Stanford University Press. p82
- ^ E Burke, The Annual Register of World Events: A Review, Volume 173. 1932. Longmans, Green. p139
- G.T., A. (1894). Maurice Greiffenhagen, The Art Journal, Volume 56. London: The Art Union. pp. 225–229.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 60 artworks by or after Maurice Greiffenhagen at the Art UK site
- Works by Maurice Greiffenhagen at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Maurice Greiffenhagen at the Internet Archive
- Maurice Greiffenhagen at Library of Congress, with 7 library catalogue records