Getting to know Edmund Blampied

In today's episode, Mel is diving into the expressive world of Edmund Blampied, one of Jersey's most iconic artists.  Blampied's expressive etchings, whimsical illustrations and deeply human portraits capture a timeless sense of Island life.   

Louise Downie, former art curator at Jersey Heritage explores the story of Blampied, from his life, his artistic process and his impact on jersey and the wider art world.

Best known for his etching or dry points, his reputation as a print maker in the 1920s was sealing in a publication called 'Modern Artists of Etching'.  He is well-know for his images of scenes of vriac (seaweed) collecting, something he called it his 'signature tune'.  Blampied was also a book, magazine and newspaper illustrator with a significant illustrative work for the story of Peter Pan and Wendy.  He is also know for his character portraits, he was skilled in drawing people and lifestyles depicting Island life. Particularly significant and poignant to Jersey's story are the illustrations he did of the Occupation of Jersey during World War II

To discover the work of Edmund Blampied, visit our Online Catalogue.  

You can support Jersey Heritage by becoming a Member, visit our website for details.

Transcript

The Jersey Heritage Podcast: The Small Island, Big Story Sessions

Getting to know Edmund Blampied with Louise Downie 

Perry (00:02):

Welcome to the Jersey Heritage Podcast,

Mel (00:06):

The Small Island Big Story sessions.

Perry (00:08):

You are listening to Mel and Perry.

Mel (00:11):

In today's episode, we are diving into the expressive world of Edmund Blampied, one of Jersey's most iconic artists whose energetic etchings, whimsical illustrations, and deeply human portraits capture a timeless sense of island life. With me today is Louise Downie, former art curator for Jersey Heritage, to explore his life, his artistic process, and his lasting impact on both Jersey and the wider art world. Thank you for joining us today, Louise. You're very welcome. So we are gonna talk today all about Edmund Blampied. So let's start at the beginning. So when was he born and how did he become an artist?

Louise (00:49):

So, Edmund Blampied was born in 1886 in St. Martin in Jersey. He's family, were all farmers, sadly. His father, who was a farmer, had been out collecting vraic a few days before Edmund was born and had caught pneumonia and died just a few days before Edmund was born. So very sadly, but Edmund was brought up in a farming family. His mum and his three brothers lived in St. Martin and then moved to Trinity. He was educated in Jersey, but obviously wasn't from very, very wealthy stock. So was apprenticed from an early age before moving into the architect's office in the town hall and working in the architect's office. But fortunately, his talent for drawing was spotted and he was sponsored to go off to art college in London. Wasn't very, very wealthy at the time, and had to make his way in the world with gifts from sponsors, gifts from his family to be able to afford that, and also getting himself a job in London.

Louise (02:03):

But that must have been quite daunting for him as a young man because not only was he going off to a big city from a small island, but English wasn't his first language. It wasn't even his second language, it was his third language. So his first language was Jerriais His second language was French, and his third language was English. So quite daunting to go off and make your way in the world as a young man by yourself, going to somewhere where you didn't even speak the language terribly well. But he did. He went off to London to train to be an artist.

Mel (02:40):

Do we know much about his relationship with his mother and his siblings?

Louise (02:43):

He had close relationships with his mother and his siblings, some of his brothers. One of his brothers acted as an agent for him. At one point, his much older brother and his second brother. He shared a conversation with in London. It was only one brother that actually remained in Jersey. So he did have quite a close relationship with his family. And obviously in between his studies he would come back to Jersey for sometimes long periods, sometimes shorter periods, depending on his work situation in London.

Mel (03:17):

So he's obviously best known for his etchings and his dry points. Can we talk a little bit about those what they are for our listeners,

Louise (03:26):

An etching or a dry point, they're two different types of print. So basically an artist will draw a scene, which there will then transfer onto some sort of printing plate and then press some paper down onto that and make a print from that. Whether it's an etching or a dry point is a difference in whether or not you involve chemicals. So without going into all the details of how prints are made, making a print means that you can make multiple copies from the same image. So Blampied did that as a way of making some income from, from his artwork, and particularly in the 1920s. He was highly successful at making money from print. By which time in the 1920s he'd gained, gained a reputation as a printmaker, and he sold his works all over the world. It was a bit of a, a boom time for Printmakers at that point.

Louise (04:24):

And his talents as a a printmaker were recognized in two publications which were dedicated to him as a, a printmaker. One called Modern Masters of Etching, another one that was put together by the keeper of print at the British Museum. So his talents as a printmaker were celebrated at the time. He was particularly well known for what he called his signature tune image, which was of rack collecting. Obviously he was completely used to seeing rack being collected in Jersey, but it translated really well into the international market and he made lots and lots of images of rack collecting. So much so that he called it his signature tune. But to me it must be also quite sad considering that his father had died from pneumonia having been out collecting frac so slightly tinge with a bit of sadness.

Mel (05:18):

Hmm. So there must have been like some sort of emotional kind of connection to that. Maybe that was his way of kind of honoring his father or this definitely seems to be some sort of connection there to losing such a critical person such well bef well before he was even born.

Louise (05:35):

Yes, absolutely. I think that is, it is often marked with a little bit of sadness in, in my eyes, really. Yeah, of course. But as you say, honoring his father.

Mel (05:44):

So he clearly made a very successful career from his talent. What other things was he doing other than his signature rack scenes?

Louise (05:53):

Well, he made a living as an artist pretty much from a, a young age. So even when he was studying art at art school, he had a second job in a newspaper. At that time, newspapers didn't rely on photographs like they do now. They relied on artists creating drawings to illustrate their stories. So he worked on the newspapers at the time. He also worked as a book illustrator. So he would, for example, create the dust jackets on books. He did quite a lot of dust jackets. He also drew illustrations to go in magazines. Magazines were really popular at that time. Fashion magazines, news story magazines, all sorts of magazines that people read all of the time. Bystander, London Illustrated News, all of the sphere, all of those kind of magazines that people read quite vociferously at the time. And, and they might have illustrations for stories or just general purpose illustrations, fashion illustrations and so on in them. And Blampied made a significant living eventually making a, made a significant living from illustrating those magazines. He also illustrated a copy of Peter Pan and Wendy, which is the illustrations from that are really, really, they're beautiful. Beautiful.

Mel (07:22):

They're so gorgeous. I love that. Yeah, I love that book.

Louise (07:24):

Yeah, that they're so delicate, those watercolor illustrations, they're really beautiful. He did illustrations for children's books, which tend to be a bit bolder in their look and more like kind of block printed illustrations, so a, b, c books and zoo books and that kind of thing for children. And then later on he also illustrated some humorous books. So bottle trout and polo hot dogs. He did a series of comic drawings featuring dogs <laugh>,

Mel (08:00):

Everyone loves

Louise (08:01):

A dog. Everyone loves a dog. So yes, he made kind of regular day-to-day living from book illustrations, book covers, magazine illustrations and so on.

Mel (08:12):

Another thing that I really find is very poignant about Blampied’s work is that he really paid tribute to island life seemed very dedicated to, to drawing, farming, and lifestyle and what island life really looks like. What do you think is unique about his approach to, to drawing that kind of cultural context?

Louise (08:32):

He loved people. He absolutely adored people. And I think he, I think he almost found it in his fa fashion illustrations. He almost found it more difficult to draw beautiful people than he did.

Mel (08:46):

Real, real

Louise (08:46):

People. <Laugh> draw real people or people with a bit of character. Yeah. So when he drew real people with a bit of character, he seemed to really, really enjoy every mole <laugh>, every big nose. He really enjoyed and he really loved character. So you can almost hear people laughing in his illustrations. He really tried to convey happiness. And on the other side, he also tried to convey sadness. There's this wonderful oil painting called Reflective, which is an older gent with a beard sitting at a table looking at a cross. It was painted just after the second World War, just after the occupation of Jersey. And is very, very lightly painted in oil because they didn't have much access to paint at the time. But it's very poignant in the way that this old guy is just staring at this cross. Obviously, pondering life. Blampied also did really benefit from the kind of farming background that he came from. So amazingly, less drawings of cows, hardly any drawing of cows, but lots and lots and lots of illustrations of horses. Really, really seemed to enjoy horses, drawing horses, you know, horses lying on their back, having a good scratch, <laugh>, horses pulling a plow, you know, all sorts of horses on the beach, horses having a good time in the surf, that kind of thing. Really. You know, he really loved drawing the kind of musculature in a horse's body.

Mel (10:31):

Yeah. I wonder, I wonder why, I wonder what it was maybe kind of realizing the part they play in kind of the farming lifestyle and how important they are to, to like, they, and like a basic necessity, aren't they? So absolutely a lot of admiration for the work that they must help them do. And how did Blondie's work fit into the art world at the time? You know, was he part of a wider movement or was he quite independent and unique?

Louise (10:57):

I think he was more independent and unique. He had to make a living as an artist. You know, he had, he what that was the, the mainstay of, of his job really, of his life was making, making a living. So he was always doing something for somebody else. It was only through the printmaking that really he, he was able to do his own thing. I think you'd probably regard him as fairly conventional at that time. When you think about, you know, what other artists, you know, he wasn't too dissimilar in time to cocoon. You know, when you think about what Cahun was doing at that time,

Mel (11:34):

So different.

Louise (11:34):

So different. Yeah. So different. But Blampied was very much, this is his role and this is how he creates his, his living and really out of necessity. He didn't have a wealthy background. He had a, a very lower class background. He didn't have a ready supply of, of family money that he could go to. So he had to make a living himself. And to, to do that, he needed to work for a client that was going to pay him.

Mel (12:06):

It's really interesting seeing his work in, in, as you mentioned before, like, you know, comparing the stuff that he was doing commercially in terms of the stuff that he was doing for his own enjoyment or what, or what actually touched his soul and his heart. Mm-Hmm. So, 'cause I've, I've looked at some of his work in the past and it's really interesting to see how different it, like you can really see this whole professional side of him and then there's the more kind of emotive storytelling personal side of his work and it's incredible how different they are.

Louise (12:37):

Yeah, absolutely. It is. And, and it's how like with the, with the Prince, it's how he wanted to present himself as an artist. How he was, you know, his prince went off to America, for example, and were really appreciated in America. So that's Harry who wanted to be seen on a, on a worldwide scale.

Mel (12:56):

And are there any specific works that are particularly significant and poignant to Jersey's heritage? 

Louise (13:03):

I think perhaps some of the illustrations he did for money during the occupation. So he lived with his wife in Jersey during the occupation and the island fairly rapidly run out of paper money. So Blampied was asked to do some designs for new money during the occupation, which he did. So those, those are quite unique because, you know, they're, they're specific to the island. They're specific to Blampied He managed to get a few patriarchic messages in there. So his illustration for the six months, for example, when you, when it was printed, if you folded the six months in a particular way, formed into the VV for victory. Wow. So he managed to get a few messages in there, a few patriotic messages in there as well.

Mel (13:58):

That's so cool. And do we have some of those original drawings in our collect?

Louise (14:02):

We do, we do. We have those in the collection.

Mel (14:04):

Yes. I also really love he, 'cause he did a lot of kind of cider making scenes, didn't he, which I think are really beautiful. Kind of like depicting again that horse churning those apples around the cider press, those images I always think there, there's like a real soul to them. Mm. Where could people see some of these?

Louise (14:24):

They're all cataloged online on the Jersey Heritage website, on our online catalog. Just search under Blampied in the art part of the catalog. And you can find them all in there along with all of other works. We relatively recently bought a big collection of his sketchbooks, some of which are from his travels throughout France. So those are really interesting as well. Because you can see some little sketches, people on the beach or people in a cafe or, and things like things like that. And they're relatively quick sketches, but they capture so much so they're definitely worth a little delve into them on the, on the online catalog as well.

Mel (15:11):

He's probably got a wealth of original pieces out that people must collect privately as well.

Louise (15:18):

Oh, absolutely. Well, I mean he, as I say, he is fairly prolific in the in book illustration. So you still get books that come up with Blampied illustrations in them or occasionally books with dust jackets. Occasionally you find some of the artworks that are assigned blam instead of blore. He used that name. At one point, instead of doing the full name, he just signed it. Blam <laugh>.

Mel (15:46):

Do we know why?

Louise (15:47):

Just I think it was just, it just looked good on a, on a, on a little image that he did once, which where the blam had been formed out of wool, that there was a knitting scene and blam was formed out of a trail of wool. So he just left it and Oh, cool. Yeah. Very cool. And, and then use that again. So for continuity? Yeah, for continuity. Continuity. You do find that more in the kind of children's book illustrations. Occasional bl so it's definitely prolific and out there because there's so much, you know, book covers and book illustrations. You don't get one print, you get, you know, sometimes thousands. So, you know, in that sense there's, there's a lot of it out there.

Perry (16:29):

Have you ever stumbled upon what you believe might be an archeological object at Jersey Heritage? We are committed to preserving and understanding our rich history for our public fine scheme. I'll photograph, identify and record your fines. Every artifact recorded contributes to expanding our archeological knowledge. Call me at eight three three one four one.

Mel (16:53):

And what kind of person do we think he was? Like, do we know much about his character?

Louise (16:57):

I think he had an amazing sense of humor and he obviously loved the island. He loved his home, he loved his art. He always seemed to have a cigarette in his mouth. <Laugh> <laugh>. I think I've seen three illustrations of him as a relatively young man and all of them. He's got a on <laugh>, which always makes me laugh. So it must have been, I think he, there's accounts of him having smoked anything he could find during the occupation. Yeah.

Mel (17:27):

That must have been hard for him. Yeah.

Louise (17:29):

Yes, absolutely. There's a, there's a little cartoon sketch that he did during the, I think it was just slightly after the occupation where he, it is a old guy sitting on the back of a horse and the horse has lost its tail and the old guy's got a, a big cigarette on that. The implication in the, in the, in the saying below the, the horses that he's smoking the horse's tail. 'cause He's run out all the, all the, all the tobacco's gone. He's smoking anything you can get his hands on <laugh>. So yeah Blampied had a good sense of humor.

Mel (18:02):

Did he have any kids?

Louise (18:03):

He didn't have any kids. He was married to Marianne was fan Abe. And there's various stories about why they didn't have children. But they didn't have any children. But Marianne's mother suffered from men mental illness and it, it is recorded that they didn't want to have children 'cause they didn't want to face the possibility that that was going to be passed on. Obviously that's what they believed at the time. At the time. So that, that's one, one thought behind why they didn't have any children. Well, that's really sad. It is very sad. Marianne had a very interesting life. She was his agent, her brother was also an artist. So Lumpier knew her brother before he knew Marianne. Aw. And that he seems to have asked her to marry him because he didn't want to going out with anybody else. <Laugh>, <laugh>.

Mel (19:02):

See, it's kind of sucks. Maybe if they had had kids maybe they would just would've passed down like loads of artistic Yeah. Kind of talent.

Louise (19:09):

Yes, absolutely.

Mel (19:10):

Do you have a particular favorite piece of his work?

Louise (19:13):

Oh no, that's quite, well I love Reflective because I think it's different to anything else. And it's also quite poignant and sad. On the other side of that, I love his caricatures. He did a series of caricatures, which were on a big board in a billiard hall. And they're just faces, but they're hilarious faces as, as you know, a guy with a top hat who's obviously had one too many to drink. Those kind and that's Blampied really is, you know, the kind of character that he pulls out of people is amazing.

Mel (19:46):

Yeah. He see it sounds to me like he was a real man of his community.

Louise (19:50):

Yes, absolutely.

Mel (19:51):

He was really active in, in kind of like, you know, community. Like whether they're farming community or just like, he obviously seemed to have a lot of, he was very like social.

Louise (20:00):

He was very gregarious and he did seem to give away a lot. You know, he seemed to sometimes pay for his bills in, in illustrations. He Why not? Yeah, why not? <Laugh>, he was always giving, giving pictures away or signing things for people. Just doing a quick sketch and giving it to somebody as they were sitting next to him. He just seems to have been generous with his energy. Really?

Mel (20:24):

Was he the artist that did the little illustrations on like Matchboxes?

Louise (20:29):

He did, did do some on Matchboxes. Yes. And Ike and metal tins as well. He'd be scraping with a wow. With a screw. You'd scrape into it. Oh,

Mel (20:38):

I'd love to know. And how many of these are in the world still? Mm. Like and where they are and who has them.

Louise (20:44):

He printed his own Christmas cards, so, you know, that's so lovely. Little illustrations on humorous illustrations or Christmas cards. So there's still families out there that have got Christmas cards from Pierre.

Mel (20:56):

Oh, that's so special. So he must, he just spent all of his time drawing.

Louise (20:59):

Yes, absolutely. I think that was what he loved doing. He absolutely loved doing with his cigarette in his mouth. <Laugh> <laugh>.

Mel (21:08):

Well thank you so much, Louise for sharing a little bit more about Edmund Blampied. He sounds like the kind of guy I would've gone to dinner with. Yeah.

Louise (21:14):

Yeah. That he would've been a good dinner companion. Yeah.

Mel (21:18):

<Laugh>. Let's bring him back. <Laugh>

Louise (21:20):

<Laugh>,

Mel (21:20):

Thank you very much.

Louise (21:21):

You're welcome.

Mel (21:25):

If you enjoy today's episode, don't forget to click on the subscribe button for more.