Jessie Marion King (1875-1949)

Painter and illustrator, born at New Kilpatrick, Bearsden, Scotland. She showed a precocious ability for drawing and illustration as a child. Her parents allowed her to attend Glasgow School of Art in the 1890’s. She later taught there collaborating with her colleague Peter Davidson on many decorative designs. She worked for a variety of publishing companies including Routledge and illustrated such works as Morte d'Arthur by Tennyson and Oscar Wilde' A House of Pomegranates. A great traveller, she shared her time between Scotland and Paris using her multi-faceted abilities to not only illustrate books but to work in batik and as a ceramic painter. Her work as an artist was recognised as early as 1898 by theStudio Magazine. From 1902, some sources say 1899 she began to teach book cover design at Glasgow School of Art, and for one year (1907) also taught on the ceramics decoration course. About this time she started to diversify her des