Harry Rountree biography

Harry Rountree (26 January 1878 - 26 September 1950; New Zealand & UK)

Rountree was born in Auckland, New Zealand and began his career at Wilson and Horton Printers in Auckland, where he designed advertisements and product labels. He became the special artist for the Auckland Weekly News, with his first signed drawings appearing in 1899.

He emigrated to London in 1901 at the age of 23 to pursue his artistic career.

Harry Rountree was determined to make his mark on the then-flourishing magazine and book market. For two years he struggled, studied and sold the occasional drawing. However, when the editor of Little Folks magazine gave him a commission to illustrate a story with an animal, he found his feet and suddenly he became quite successful.

He contributed paintings and drawings to many periodicals including The Strand Magazine and Punch, where he produced well-liked cartoons from 1905 to 1939.

By 1903 he was illustrating books for the editor of Little Folks, writing and illustrating his own books, and in demand by nearly every publisher in London. He illustrated many children's books including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1908.

During the First World War, he served as a captain in the Royal Engineers.

He was one of the subjects in Percy V. Bradshaws' "The Art of the Illustrator" 20 part series, published in 1918, where six stages of the creation of an illustration were published along with notes and biography.

During the 1930s he contibuted to Radio Times. His style is instantly appealing both to children and adults.

Rountree developed a distinctive illustration style characterized by flat blocks of color and thick outlines.

Rountree is also noted for his illustrations of British Golf Courses & golfing caricatures and also created advertising posters and book illustrations for writers such as P. G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Harry Rountree passed away on September 26, 1950, in Cornwall, England. He is remembered for his whimsical and detailed depictions of animals, which have delighted generations of children. His work remains influential in the field of illustration, particularly in children's literature.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

See our original copies of The Art of the Illustrator published by Percy V Bradshaw in 1918.

See HARRY ROUNTREE ART ('page not found' if no art currently listed).