{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1315673"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1315673/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0130/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0130/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MY0130","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1315673","accessionNumber":"BP.607(3a)","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Illustration to The Oakmen","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Ernest Aris (1882-1963) was a highly prolific commercial illustrator in the first half of the 20th century.  He studied at the Bradford School of Art and, later, at the Royal College of Art in London.  He began his career as a portrait artist and art teacher, working in watercolour   and charcoal and wash, and exhibited his work at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.   By 1909, Ernest was illustrating for magazines such as <i>The Graphic</i> and writing and illustrating children’s books.  He wrote and illustrated over 170 books (the majority published by Humphrey Milford and Hodder and Stoughton) and contributed illustrations to a further 250 titles.  His illustrations were also used for advertisements, cigarette cards, games, jigsaw puzzles and seaside postcards.   In 1934 Cadbury’s commissioned Aris to design the Cococubs, a collection of animal characters to be given away free with their children’s cocoa.  It was hailed as one of the greatest advertising schemes of the time, with an estimated 300,000 children collecting them.  \r\n\t\t\nBeatrix Potter had always  illustrated her own stories but by 1916 her eyesight was beginning  to fail and her hands  were growing stiff. She  urged her publisher to  find ‘some second string’  to execute the  illustrations to her stories.  Her  original story- letter about the oakmen was  written for one of  her husband's nieces, Nancy Nicholson.   Keen to retain the credit for the  design of the  illustrations herself, Potter collaborated with a  commercial artist, Ernest  Aris, who she hoped  would 'draw to order’.   Potter concealed from Aris both the text of her  story and her own  identity; she sent pencil sketches of her  designs, annotated with instructions for their completion.  Aris returned his completed illustrations, commenting that Potter's designs  were ‘charming little ideas’ and her composition was, ‘in most cases’, good.    However, he instructed Potter that her proposed colour scheme was ‘a little on the sombre side’ and that clean, bright colours are  ‘essential for children’.  It is very likely that Aris knew the origin of his commission; in any case, his remarks must have irritated Potter who would not have welcomed criticism from a commercial illustrator.\r\n\r\nDue to some doubts as to the  originality of the  story, <i>The Oakmen</i> was never  published.  In  any case, the collaboration between Potter and  Aris broke down when Potter's publisher, Frederick Warne & Co., accused Aris's  publishers of plagiarism: his latest book, <i>The  Treasure Seekers</i> (1916),  featured a rabbit  called Peter.  Aris claimed in  his defence that  he had never heard of <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>  (1902) and impertinently  requested a signed  copy from Potter.  Potter  replied, 'I regret that I  am unable to believe that  your statements are  truthful. Coincidence has  a long arm but there  are limits to  coincidences'.  She retorted, 'Your  work has  considerably technical facility but no originality'. Despite the obvious bad feeling between the two, their collaboration is unlikely to have been a success.  Aris had a business-like approach to the art of illustration in which he claimed he was ‘governed’ by a set of ‘commandments’.  Potter, on the other hand, was a highly instinctive artist who believed the secret of her success lay in her refusal to work to order:  ‘The more spontaneous the pleasure   – the more happy the result’.  ","physicalDescription":"Watercolour and pen and ink drawing of an owl sitting on a wall talking to two gnome-like figures (oakmen).  In the distance four oakmen sit on a log.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ernest Aris","id":"A34048"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30616"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour and pen and ink on paper","categories":[{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Landscapes","id":"THES250800"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2021MY0130"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES317963"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1916","earliest":"1916-01-01","latest":"1916-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"BP.607:3C","id":"O1315672"},"association":"Design"},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:1A","id":"O1315668"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:1B","id":"O1315667"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:2A","id":"O1315670"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:2B","id":"O1315669"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:4A","id":"O1315676"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:4B","id":"O1315674"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:5A","id":"O1315682"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:5B","id":"O1315679"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:6A","id":"O1315692"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:6B","id":"O1315688"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"190","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"145","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Inscribed in ink on recto: Ernest Aris '16","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Drawn by Ernest Aris, according to a design by Beatrix Potter, for her unpublished story, <i>The Oakmen</i>, 1916.   Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia   associated with Beatrix Potter and her family.  ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Drawing in watercolour by Ernest Aris, produced for an unpublished book by Beatrix Potter, <i>The Oakmen</i>, 1916; Linder Bequest catalogue no. LB.1139.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. <u>Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia.</u> London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.","id":"AUTH315806"},"details":"Catalogue no. LB.1139","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["The Oakmen"],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["BP.607:3A"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.1139"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2015-06-08","availableToBook":true}}