Edward Bawden's England (Victoria and Albert Museum)

A lovely and accessible gift book on the art of Edward Bawden, containing examples of works from his long and celebrated career. The work of Edward Bawden (1903–1989), a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and designer, brims with lively, affectionate, and entertaining accounts of English life. Bawden’s subjects include classic London scenes, such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Liverpool Street station, the Queen’s Guards at Buckingham Palace, as well as charming rural scenes with churches, country houses, cottages, gardens, markets, parks, piers, pubs, and steam trains. He created murals, designed tiles and wallpapers, and was regularly commissioned to deploy his vivacious humor in advertisements, posters, book jackets, and brochures. It was England, with its quiet landscapes, its pleasures and pastimes, and its time-honored trades and traditions, that was the source of some of Bawden’s finest work. This beautifully designed book begins with a brief introduction before exploring examples of Bawden’s work, with each illustration accompanied by an extended caption revealing the artistic vision of this quintessentially English artist.