{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1315682"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1315682/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0134/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0134/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MY0134","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1315682","accessionNumber":"BP.607(5a)","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\r\n\tBeatrix 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\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’.  \r\n","physicalDescription":"Watercolour and pen and ink drawing of wagons being pulled by rabbits, with gnome-like figures (oakmen) walking alongside carrying bundles on sticks.","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"},{"text":"Transport","id":"THES48881"},{"text":"Landscapes","id":"THES250800"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2021MY0134"],"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.607:5B","id":"O1315679"},"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.607:4A","id":"O1315676"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:4B","id":"O1315674"},"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.1144.","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.1144, 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.607:5A"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.1144"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2015-06-08","availableToBook":true}}