{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1315688"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1315688/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0137/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MY0137/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MY0137","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1315688","accessionNumber":"BP.607(6b)","objectType":"drawing","titles":[{"title":"Design for an 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>Th e 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":"Rough pencil drawing depicting a gnome-like figure (oakman) unloading a wagon with rabbits eating from tubs in foreground. Hills with trees in distance.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beatrix Potter","id":"A18000"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil on paper","categories":[{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Landscapes","id":"THES250800"},{"text":"Transport","id":"THES48881"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2021MY0137"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES317963"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}]],"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.607:1A","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.607:5A","id":"O1315682"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:5B","id":"O1315679"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"BP.607:6A","id":"O1315692"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"205","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"167","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Inscribed in pencil on recto by Beatrix Potter: Gnomes unloading boxes & furniture / & carrying them into dugouts'; 'dug out / in bank'; 'giving rabbit food in bucket'\r\n\r\nInscribed in pencil by Ernest Aris on recto: 'Your figures / are a little / too near the / front of the Pictures / E.A.'","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":"Design by Beatrix Potter for an illustration to an unpublished story, <i>The Oakmen</i>, 1916, produced as a  guide for Ernest Aris who was  commissioned by Potter to illustrate the  book. Acquired by the V&amp;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":"Rough design in pencil by Beatrix Potter  for an illustration to an unpublished book, <i>The Oakmen</i>, 1916; Linder Bequest  catalogue no. LB.1147.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","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.607:6B"],"accessionNumberNum":"607","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.1147"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2015-06-08","availableToBook":true}}