{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1315676"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1315676/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0132/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0132/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MY0132","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1315676","accessionNumber":"BP.607(4a)","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\n\t\tDue 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 tree-trunk at night, holding a lantern and talking to three gnome-like men (oakmen)","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ernest Aris","id":"A34048"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30616"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"}],"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"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2021MY0132"],"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.607:4B","id":"O1315674"},"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.607:3A","id":"O1315673"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:3C","id":"O1315672"},"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":"195","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"143","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.1142.","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.1142, p. 137.","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.607:4A"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.1142"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2015-06-08","availableToBook":true}}