Illustrator, sculptor and commercial artist. He was born Charles Robinson Sykes in Redcar but raised in Newcastle upon Tyne the son of amateur artist and house decorator Samuel Sykes (b.1850). At 25 Charles was according to the 1901 census still working as an assistant to his father in Newcastle although he had been awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. He turned to commercial art after his studies and abandoned his middle name of Robinson. For his commercial art he adopted the names Rilette and Jacques d'Or. His commissions included work at the Cistercian Abbey at the home of Lord Montague of Beaulieu, 1903. Another followed and perhaps his best known commission was the Flying Lady mascot for Rolls Royce, 1911. Within a decade he had also designed both gold and silver cups for Royal Ascot. He went on to adopt the name of 'Rilette' signing many of his travel posters and cartoons accordingly.

His cartoons appeared in the Sunday Dispatch, Tatler, Woman, Printers Pie and magazines of his time. In addition he drew caricatures, two of which featured the pianist Vladimir Cernikoff (1882-1940) and were published in Drawing & Design in July 1923. Sykes exhibited At the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers, Laing Art Gallery, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Royal Academy and Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1938. The Fine Art Society held a memorial exhibition the year after his death and a second followed in 1963 which was organised by his sculptor daughter Josephine Sykes. Examples of his work are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk

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