£900

Unframed
This panel shows the front garden at 10 Sylvan Avenue, Hendon where Sheppard's parents lived before they moved to Christchurch, Dorset.

Although best known as an illustrator, especially of magazines such as Lilliput, Picture Post and The Studio as well as of children’s books, Sheppard was one of the most gifted painters of wildlife of his generation. He was also an extremely diverse artist, producing semi-abstract and surrealist images alongside those of a purely realistic nature.
£180

Unframed
Pencil

This drawing is likely to be of Stanmore Common where the artist's children, Christine and Michael, often went to play whilst their father sat and sketched. As Christine recalls, "In those days Stanmore Common had quite a rural feel to it." (email to Paul Liss 16th June 2008).

Although best known as an illustrator, especially of magazines such as Lilliput, Picture Post and The Studio as well as of children’s books, Sheppard was one of the most gifted painters of wildlife of his generation. He was also an extremely diverse artist, producing semi-abstract and surrealist images alongside those of a purely realistic nature.
£300

Unframed
10 x 14 in. (25.5 x 35.5 cm.)
Watercolour and pen and ink

This watercolour shows the pond at the top of Barn Hill, Wembley (then Middlesex, now in borough of Harrow). The Sheppards lived in Kingsbury Green "a regular walk over the railway line and up the hill where cows grazed and there was a farm. This was post war but before the prolific housing developments, although the fields remain", (Christine Sheppard, the artist's daughter, email to Paul Liss 16th June 2008).

Although best known as an illustrator, especially of magazines such as Lilliput, Picture Post and The Studio as well as of children’s books, Sheppard was one of the most gifted painters of wildlife of his generation. He was also an extremely diverse artist, producing semi-abstract and surrealist images alongside those of a purely realistic nature.
£900

Pen, ink and wash
12 x 8 in. (30 x 20cm.)

This shows Christine, the artist's daughter, aged six . 'I remember posing many, many times for my father. Sometimes we were paid pocket money for sittings, especially when we didn't feel like sitting still! I think we wanted to help our dad and were, mainly, willing. When the pressure was on him to complete an illustration for a deadline, we would be asked to pose in a particular position so he could capture the exact line of an elbow, turn of the head, etc. I felt proud and special when my father showed me a final illustration for a publication that was based on sketches of me. The cat, called Ginnie, lived nearby in Kenton and used to visit our house almost every day. (Christine Sheppard, emails to Paul Liss, 3 May 2007 and 4 December 2007).
Not for sale

Signed, and inscribed on label to reverse
Oil on Winsor & Newton's "Rathbone" Canvas Board
16 x 20 ins. (40.5 x 50 cm.)
Sold

Signed; watercolour, 15¼ × 22½ in. (39 × 57 cm.)
Provenance: Christine Sheppard, the artist’s daughter
Literature: ‘Drawings at the Zoo’, The Studio, 1949, p.28

Sheppard’s output as a graphic artist was prodigious, but he is less well known today than he might be, partly on account of his early death, at the age of forty-five. His remarkable studies of birds and animals from life were mainly undertaken at Regent’s Park Zoo. On the strength of these he was made a Fellow of the Zoological Society in 1949. In the same year, he published ‘Drawing at the Zoo’, one of three collaborations made with The Studio magazine.

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Signed; pen and ink, watercolour and gouache,
12 × 16½ in. (30.5 × 42 cm.)
Provenance: Christine Sheppard, the artist’s daughter

Although best known as an illustrator, especially of magazines such as Lilliput, Picture Post and The Studio as well as of children’s books, Sheppard was one of the most gifted painters of wildlife of his generation. He was also an extremely diverse artist, producing semi-abstract and surrealist images alongside those of a purely realistic nature.

Sheppard’s abstract works probably date to the late 1940s and early 1950s. Organic in form, they were a natural extension of the interest he had in plants and animals, but are likely to have been equally informed by his work with the Royal Air Force photographic section from 1939 to 1945.
Sold

Signed; watercolour over pen and ink, on Whatman board, 8⅞ × 13 in. (22 × 33 cm.)
Provenance: Christine Sheppard, the artist’s daughter

This shows Christine, aged six, and Michael, aged four, in the sitting room of
their home, 65 Dorchester Way, Kenton, north-west London. Sheppard’s family provided models for him, and the domestic scenes of their everyday lives offered an endless range of subject matter.

‘I remember posing many, many times for my father. Sometimes we were paid pocket money for sittings, especially when we didn’t feel like sitting still! I think we wanted to help our dad and were, mainly, willing. I clearly remember the toys in the picture’ (Christine Sheppard, email to Paul Liss, 3 May 2007).
Sold

Watercolour, 10 × 14 in. (25.5 × 35.5 cm.)
Provenance: Christine Sheppard, the artist’s daughter

‘Often Dad would sit and sketch us as we were playing, and my guess is me
reading sitting on the floor is one of those occasions. When the pressure was
on him to complete an illustration for a deadline, we would be asked to pose
in a particular position so he could capture the exact line of an elbow, turn of
the head, etc. Not too much talking on those occasions! Other more relaxed
times there would be conversation, but I can’t remember specifically on which subjects’ (Christine Sheppard, email to Paul Liss, 3 May 2007).

Thumbnail panels:

Raymond Sheppard 1913 - 1958

Raymond Sheppard; Artist in water-colour, black and white, oil, pastel; Born London 3 March 1913; son of Edward and Annie Sheppard.

Married Iris Gale on December 3rd 1942; had one daughter Christine born 17 March 1944, and one son Michael born 25th July 1946. Educated Christ’s College, Finchley, north west London.

Studied art at Bolt Court under S.G. Boxsius.

Exhibited: R.A; R.I; R.S.A; Work reproduced regularly in publications including Lilliput ; The Studio, Picture Post, John Bull, Everybody’s ; in children’s books, nature books and calendars.

Raymond Sheppard produced many studies of birds and animals from life, mainly at Regents Park Zoo and was made a Fellow of the Zoological Society in 1949. He also painted landscapes, family portraits, in watercolour, oil, and pastels . He was a founder member of the Wapping Arts Group, a group of artists who sketched and painted by and around the river Thames in London, which was formed just before WW2 but did not start in earnest until 1946.

Publications: How to Draw Birds (first published by Studio in 1940), Drawing at the Zoo (1949 Studio), More Birds to Draw (Studio 1956).
Lived in Kenton and then Harrow Weald, Middx.
Clubs: Chelsea Arts, Langham Sketch.

Raymond Sheppard died in London of cancer in 1958 with which he had battled since 1949. He also served in the RAF photographic section during the WW2. Despite long periods of ill health and the interruption of the War years he was, nevertheless, prolific in demonstrating his wide range of artistic ability as a master draughtsman, illustrator, and landscape and wildlife artist..