THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
160
‘Attwell often depicted children looking at fairies, though she stripped the subject of the supernatural atmosphere beloved of male artists. Her approach to charm was more straightforward, the presence of fairies encouraging the wide-eyed curiosity of the children. However, the children sometimes appear to develop a more proactive relationship with the fairies, and one that parallels the relationship between [Appleton’s] Josephine – and many another child – and her toys; it apes that between the responsible parent and the mischievous child. Attwell eventually made explicit the parallel between fairy and toy when she marketed the phenomenally successful pixie doll known as the ‘boo-boo’. Like many a professional woman illustrator, her focus on the nursery as a subject made her aware of its practical needs, and thus of its commercial potential. Imaging the nursery and supplying it became one in the same task, so that the ideal was transformed into the material.’ (David Wootton, ‘Women and Children First’, The Illustrator, London: Chris Beetles Ltd, 1999, page 137)
189 O! WHITE LITTLE BALL, SO TENDER AND SMALL signed pen ink and watercolour 10 x 7 1⁄4 inches Illustrated: Marie Queen of Roumania, Peeping Pansy, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1919