ADAMSON, George (Worsley) 1913–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 7, 1913, in New York, NY; died March 5, 2005, in Exeter, England. Artist, illustrator, educator, and author. Adamson was best known as a prolific illustrator of children's books, but he was also a cartoonist and illustrated works by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse. Though born in the United States, he was raised in England beginning in 1921 after both his parents had died. Adamson initially intended to pursue a career in architecture, studying at the Wigan Mining & Technical College, but by 1930 he had decided art was more to his liking, and he enrolled at the Wigan School of Art and also attended Liverpool University. After earning a secondary teacher's art certificate at Oxford University, he embarked on a career in that field, taking jobs in Germany, France, and Portugal. When World War II began, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force, first as a navigator but then as an official war artist. With the war over, Adamson settled in Exeter, lectured for several years at Exeter College of Art, and became a freelance artist and illustrator. He contributed cartoons and artwork regularly to publications such as Private Eye, Punch, and Cricket, as well as many of England's prominent newspapers. Favoring engraving as his preferred method of illustration, Adamson was much in demand as an illustrator of children's books, his work enlivening the texts of such authors as Margaret Lovett, Norman Hunter, Richard Carpenter, Mary Cockett, and Frank Waters. In addition, he notably provided art for such well-known books as Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960) and The Moon of Gomrath (1963). He also wrote and illustrated several of his own children's books, including A Finding Alphabet (1965), Widdecombe Fair: The Famous West Country Songs in Drawings (1966), and Rome Done Lightly (1972). Honored in 1981 with an illustration prize from Punch for his contributions to the Short Stories of P. G. Wodehouse, Adamson was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1987.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), April 2, 2005, p. 21.

Independent (London, England), March 16, 2005, p. 33.

Times (London, England), March 18, 2005, p. 80.