Our New
Book
RENA GARDINER
Artist and Printmaker
by Julian Francis & Martin Andrews
This first book on the artist and printmaker Rena Gardiner
(1929–1999) is long overdue. Her guidebooks to historic places,
buildings and the countryside have an idiosyncratic style that is
unique in post-war British art. Her principal achievement was
some 45 books, all of which she wrote, illustrated and printed
herself, and of which no two copies are the same. But her legacy
also includes paintings, pastels and linocut prints. Her collectors
and admirers are many, and in recent years a new generation
of artists and printmakers have discovered her work, helping to
spread the word and foster the recognition she merits.
Rena Gardiner dedicated her life to her art, doing so alone
in a thatched cottage in the heart of Dorset. Combining the
great tradition of British topographic artists with the rich era of
autolithography of the 1940s and 1950s, she created her own
very personal and individual visual style. An unsung heroine of
printmaking, uninterested in publicity or fame, she created an
artistic legacy that is instantly recognisable for its exuberant use
of colour and texture.
Rena Gardiner is fortunate in the two authors responsible for this
celebration of her work, which includes nearly 200 illustrations – many
of which have never been published before. Both Julian Francis and
Martin Andrews have long been Rena’s champions. As well as tracking
down lost paintings and rare copies of her books, Julian Francis has
contributed a meticulous list of her books, leaflets, cards and prints.
In 1993 Martin Andrews spent a day with Rena Gardiner, talking to
her and photographing her at work, and is thus admirably qualified
to provide both the biographical background to Rena’s career and an
account of a printing technique that was uniquely her own.
JULIAN FRANCIS lives in Dorset and
is a keen collector of Rena’s books. His
previous books include Tom Chadwick and
the Grosvenor School of Modern Art (Fleece
Press, 2013). He is currently working on
a book about the World War Two art of
Anthony Gross ra.
MARTIN ANDREWS is a printing historian and a Lecturer in the Department of
Typography & Graphic Communication,
University of Reading. He has published
numerous articles and books on Robert
Gibbings (2003), Fox Talbot and Allen W.
Seaby (both Two Rivers Press, 2014).
Published by Little Toller Books April 2015
270 x 220mm, Paperback with Flaps
Price: £20 isbn 978-1-908213-30-3
Coloured ends, Rena’s art work throughout - 160 pages on 150gsm Munken paper
Jacket - Durdle Door, Portrait of Dorset by Rena Gardiner (1960) Lithograph
Further details visit - www.renagardiner.co.uk
Distributed by Central Books T: 020 8525 8800 F: 020 8525 8879 E: [email protected] W: centralbooks.com
Also available from Gardners Books, Bertrums & Little Toller Contact Gracie on 01300 321536 or [email protected]