Margaret Calkin James

Margaret Calkin James (June 1895 - 1985), was a calligrapher, graphic designer, textile printer, watercolour painter and printmaker, and is best known for her posters designed for the London Underground and London Transport between 1928 and 1935.[1] Untold numbers of commuters admired her Kenwood House and Box Hill posters while oblivious of her identity.

Margaret Calkin James
Margaret Calkin James
Born
Margaret Calkin

June 1895
West Hampstead, London
Died1985 (aged 89–90)
NationalityBritish
Education
Known forPainter and graphic designer
Spouse(s)Charles Holloway James

Early life

Margaret Calkin James was born in Emmanuel, West Hampstead, the third of seven children of Harry Bernard Calkin (1861–1926), a senior underwriter at Lloyd's of London and Margaret Agnes Palfrey (1870–1936), daughter of Penry Powell Palfrey (1830–1902), a well-known artist in stone and stained glass.

She attended North London Collegiate School from 1909 to 1913.[2] She was a student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts between 1913 and 1915, specialising in calligraphy and winning the Queen's Scholarship in her final year. She then enrolled at the Westminster School of Art.

Family

In June 1922 she married Charles Holloway James, a distinguished architect who trained under Sir Edwin Lutyens. After her marriage she worked from a studio at her home 'Hornbeams'. Her daughter, Elizabeth Argent, lived in Alcester till her death in 2016. Her grandchildren Alison, Jennifer, Nicholas and Jeremy continue to promote their grandmother's legacy.

Career

Her work was displayed at The Rainbow Workshops in Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury, which she opened in 1920 after World War I and was one of the first galleries started by a woman to promote art, craft and design.[1] She lived and worked at Lapstone Farm, in Chipping Campden during World War II.

She designed posters for London Transport, book jackets for Jonathan Cape, pattern papers for Curwen Press, programmes and booklets for the BBC and a greetings telegram for the GPO.[3] Some of her textiles were used at the new Norwich City Hall in 1938.

Later life

In the late 1960s she suffered a stroke, paralysing her right side and depriving her of speech. Undaunted, she started a series of wool embroidery designs using her left hand. She died in 1985.[4]

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See also

References
  1. David Bownes (2018). Poster Girls. london transport museum. ISBN 978 1 871829 28 0.
  2. Betty Miles, "James, Margaret Bernard (1895–1985)", Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2006. Accessed 18 August 2010.
  3. Teri J Edelstein (Editor) (2010). Art for All. Yale Center for British Art / Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300152975.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Miles, Betty. (2005) At the sign of the rainbow: Margaret Calkin James 1895-1985. Revised edition. Arrow Grange, Warwickshire: Felix Scribo. p. 80. ISBN 0-9528481-1-2
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