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Bip Pares (1904-1977) - Original 1934 Graphite Drawing. Studies of oxen verso. Inscribed and dated. In fine condition.From a folder of graphite drawings and watercolours by Bip Pares (1904-1977). The sketchbook is dated 1934 as are many of the individual studies within, so all are expected to be dated at this year. Ethel “Bip” Pares was born on 27th February 1904 in the Thames-side village of Clewer, just beyond Windsor. She was the second child of the marriage of Basil Pares (1869-1943) and his wife Caroline Evelyn Whistler (1874-1959), who had married in Norfolk in 1902. Her father was a younger son of the well-to-do family of John and Katharine Pares. A Lancing and Cambridge (Emmanuel) man, Basil Pares became a surgeon, served as a civilian in the South African wars of 1899-1901, and then transferred to the army, becoming Surgeon-Major of the Royal Horse Guards in 1906. He served in the Great War, picking up a DSO in 1915 and a CMG in 1916, and was mentioned twice in despatches. Her best and most striking work was done in a highly commercial British art-deco style. Her more naturalistic designs, although pleasing, are (to my eye at least) a little less successful in comparison. She seems almost to have relished the challenge of working in a cost-controlled exercise limited to two or three colours. Her designs are bold. Her use of colour confident and assertive. Her handling of lettering purposeful and assured. There is a distinctive vitality which stands comparison with the very best of twentieth-century design. One measure of her success and broad appeal is that her designs were very often retained for the American editions of the books she had worked on – something very rarely the case at this period. She has long been admired and collected – but as she is said to have designed some 600 dust-jackets in all, there are plenty of examples still out there waiting to be found. You may well find some at this week’s York National Bookfair – I’ll be there looking as well.For more information please click here.
