Graham Percy

Graham Percy was an artist, designer and illustrator. He was born in Stratford, New Zealand and studied at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland. After graduating in the early 1960s, Percy worked as an illustrator for the New Zealand School Journal and collaborated with other Auckland-based writers and artists. He designed the typography for a number of Colin McCahon's exhibition invitations and set up one of New Zealand's first design consultancies with Hamish Keith. During this period he designed covers for The End of the Golden Weather and The Pohutukawa Tree by Bruce Mason.{{cite web |url=http://www.hastingscityartgallery.co.nz/whats-on/micronaut-wide-world-imaginative-life-and-times-graham-percy |title=A MICRONAUT IN THE WIDE WORLD: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy | Hastings City Art Gallery |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207042530/http://hastingscityartgallery.co.nz/whats-on/micronaut-wide-world-imaginative-life-and-times-graham-percy |archive-date=7 February 2013 |df=dmy-all }} In 1964, Percy received a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in London. From late 1964 until the end of his life, he lived and worked in London as an illustrator and artist. He was the production designer on the 1973 animated film Hugo the Hippo.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10707393|title=Thousands of years and millions of miles|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |date=19 February 2011|via=New Zealand Herald }} While working on the film he met his second wife, the photographer Mari Mahr.

For much of his career, Percy specialised in children's books, illustrating more than 100 works for children. In later years, he produced a body of his own independent art for adults.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sarjeant.org.nz/site/pages/exhibitions/past-exhibitions.php?searchresult=1&sstring=percy#1329343062667S |title=Sarjeant Gallery te Whare o Rehua - Past Exhibitions |access-date=2 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903071305/http://www.sarjeant.org.nz/site/pages/exhibitions/past-exhibitions.php?searchresult=1&sstring=percy#1329343062667S |archive-date=3 September 2014 |url-status=dead }} In 1994, Chronicle Books (San Francisco) published a book of his drawings for adults, Arthouse. In 2007, a further series of his drawings for adults, 'Imagined Histories' was published, supported by the Scottish Arts Council.http://crear.co.uk/ http://crear.co.uk/ Graham Percy died on 4 January 2008.

Books illustrated by Percy for children include the following:

• Illustrations for La Belle au bois dormant{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2079125346|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (1977) written by Charles Perrault
• Illustrations for When Dad cuts down the chestnut tree{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2087035299|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (1988) by Pam Ayres
• Illustrations for The Fantastic Flying Journey{{cite book|title=The Fantastic Flying Journey|first=Gerald|last=Durrell|date=1 June 1989|publisher=Simon & Schuster|id={{ASIN|0671649825|country=uk}}}} (1987) and The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure{{cite book|title=The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure|first=Gerald|last=Durrell|date=27 September 1990|publisher=Conran|id={{ASIN|1850292892|country=uk}}}} (1989) by the noted author and naturalist Gerald Durrell
• Illustrations for The Woodland Gospels According to Captain Beaky and His Band,{{cite book|title=Woodland Gospels|first=Jeremy|last=Lloyd|date=30 April 1990|publisher=Faber and Faber|id={{ASIN|0571142850|country=uk}}}} by Jeremy Lloyd, Faber and Faber (1990)
• Illustrations for A cup of starshine (1991){{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2090047978|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} selected by Jill Bennett
• Illustrations and text for The Cock, the mouse, and the little red hen{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2091071857|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (1992)
• Illustrations and text for Lullabies: Poems and Rhymes to Dream on,{{cite book|title=Lullabies: Poems and Rhymes to Dream on|date=3 January 1998|publisher=Running Press Miniature Editions|id={{ASIN|1561386251|country=uk}}}} Running Press (1995) – part of the Library of Congress Miniature Book Collection{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2094074911|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}}
• Design and illustration for the series Graham Percy's Animal Tails,{{cite book|title=The Tiger's Tale/Book With Tail|first=Graham|last=Percy|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Random House Children's Books|id={{ASIN|067986220X|country=uk}}}} Random House (1995)
• Illustrations for the illustrated Mother Goose,{{cite book|title=Mother Goose The Children's Classic Edition|date=1 January 1998|id={{ASIN|1858338220|country=uk}}}} Running Press (1997)
• Illustrations for The Wind in the Willows,{{cite book|title=The Wind in the Willows|first=Kenneth|last=Grahame|date=17 April 1997|publisher=Thorsons|id={{ASIN|185793914X|country=uk}}}} HarperCollins (1997)
• Illustrations for The mailbox mice mystery{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2098065708|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (1999) by Juli Mahr
• Illustrations for Mama tiger, Baba Tiger{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2099053519|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (2001) by Juli Mahr

Animated film for children:

• Production designer{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0672911/|title=Graham Percy|website=IMDb }} of the full-length animated film Hugo the Hippo in Hungary (1970–1972)

Books for adults:

File:'Crime and the Law' by Bernard Brown, 1969 (18137928705).jpg (1969). It was illustrated by Graham Percy]]

• Illustrations for Crime and the law{{cite web|url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CNT=10&CMD=10%20records%20per%20page&CMD=lccn%20%20%20%2072181526|title=Library of Congress Online Catalog - Legacy Catalog Retired}} (1969) by Bernard Brown
• Concept and illustrations for Arthouse{{cite book|title=Arthouse|first=Graham|last=Percy|date=23 June 1994|publisher=Chronicle Books|id={{ASIN|0811804976|country=uk}}}} (1996), published by Chronicle Books, reviewed in the New York Times,{{cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html|title=IN SHORT: NONFICTION; Rooms of Their Own|first=Christine Schwartz|last=Hartley|date=19 February 1995|via=NYTimes.com}} artwork exhibited at Storyopolis gallery{{cite web|url=http://www.storyopolis.com|title=Storyopolis}} in Los Angeles.
• Concept and illustrations for Imagined Histories{{cite book|title=Graham Percy - Imagined Histories|first=Graham|last=Percy|date=1 May 2007|publisher=Crear, Space to Create|id={{ASIN|0955583004|country=uk}}}} (2007), published by Crear, space to create, supported by the Scottish Arts Council.{{cite web|url=http://crear.co.uk/|title=Crear Space to Create :: Home}}

The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy was a major posthumous exhibition of Percy's work. It was developed in partnership between City Gallery Wellington and Gus Fisher Gallery, The University of Auckland; it was curated by Gregory O'Brien, leading New Zealand poet, art critic and curator and winner of the 2012 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement.{{cite web|url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/mi/news/2012-prime-minister-s-awards-for-literary-achievement-winners-announced|title=2012 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement: Winners Announced}}

A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy is an account of Graham Percy's life and art by O'Brien.{{cite web |url=http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/notices/template/notice_item.jsp?cid=414185 |title=A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy - Auckland University Press - the University of Auckland |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616013027/http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/notices/template/notice_item.jsp?cid=414185 |archive-date=16 June 2013 |df=dmy-all }}{{cite book|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/51829849|title=A micronaut in the wide world : the imaginative life and times of Graham Percy / Gregory O'Brien. - Version details|year=2011|isbn=9781869404703|last1=O'Brien|first1=Gregory|publisher=Auckland University Press }}

It was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards 2012{{cite web|url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/news/new-zealand-post-book-awards-2012-finalists-announced|title=New Zealand Post Book Awards 2012 Finalists Announced}} and was highly commended in the Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.bookdesignawards.co.nz/2012-best-illustrated-a-micronaut/|title=2012 Best Illustrated A Micronaut|date=28 May 2012}}

A copy of the book was donated by the Chartwell Trust to every high school in New Zealand.{{cite web|url=http://www.chartwell.org.nz/News/CollectionNews/id/92/title/chartwell-books.aspx|title=Chartwell Books - Chartwell Collection of contemporary art|first=Chartwell Collection of contemporary|last=art}}

As of October 2013, the itinerary of the exhibition was as follows:

• 4 February – 25 April 2011: City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
• 6 May 2011 – 25 June 2011: Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 22 July – 28 August 2011: Millennium Art Gallery, Blenheim, New Zealand{{cite web |url=http://www.marlboroughart.org.nz/gallery/index.mvc?ArticleID=67 |title=The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207005420/http://marlboroughart.org.nz/gallery/index.mvc?ArticleID=67 |archive-date=7 February 2013 |df=dmy-all }}
• 10 September – 13 November 2011: Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga, New Zealand{{cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/imaginative-life-and-times-graham-percy|title=High Quality Exhibitions - Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga}}
• 19 November 2011 – 29 January 2012: Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui, New Zealand
• 17 February – 22 March 2012: Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, New Zealand{{cite web |url=http://www.percythomsongallery.org.nz/exhibition.asp?e_id=87 |title=Percy Thomson Gallery |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208163113/http://percythomsongallery.org.nz/exhibition.asp?e_id=87 |archive-date=8 February 2013 |df=dmy-all }}
• 5 May – 16 July 2012: Rotorua Museum, Rotorua, New Zealand
• 28 July – 23 September 2012: Hastings City Art Gallery, Hastings, New Zealand
• 23 November 2012 – 3 February 2013: Southland Museum and Art Gallery, Invercargill, New Zealand
• 17 April – 9 June 2013: Eastern Southland Gallery, Gore, New Zealand{{cite web |url=http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/events/template/event_item.jsp?cid=561312 |title=Graham Percy exhibition opens at Eastern Southland Gallery - Auckland University Press - the University of Auckland |accessdate=2013-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616013106/http://www.press.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/events/template/event_item.jsp?cid=561312 |archive-date=16 June 2013 |df=dmy-all }}
• 15 June – 10 August 2013: Hocken Collections (Uare Taoka o Hākena), Dunedin, New Zealand{{cite web|url=http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/hocken/otago048209.html|title=A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy, Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, University of Otago, New Zealand|access-date=14 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304195408/http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/hocken/otago048209.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}
• 17 August – 13 October 2013: The Forrester Gallery, Oamaru{{cite web|url=http://www.web-file.info/arts-and-entertainment/exhibition-celebrates-beloved-artist|title=web-file.info}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.630695453647785.1073741853.165819686802033&type=1|title=The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy - Facebook|website=Facebook }}
• 19 October 2013 – 26 January 2014: Nelson Provincial Museum, Nelson, New Zealand{{cite web|url=http://www.museumnp.org.nz/enews/enews52.htm|title=Redirect}}
• 24 February – 20 April 2014: Whangārei Art Museum, Whangārei{{Cite web | url=http://www.exhibitionservices.co.nz/exhibition/a-micronaut-in-the-wide-world/ |title = A Micronaut in the Wide World| date=11 September 2013 }}
• 26 April – 15 June 2014: Puke Ariki, New Plymouth
• 21 June – 10 August 2014: Aratoi, Masterton
• 16 August – 23 November 2014: Waikato Museum, Hamilton

• [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/graham-percy-childrens-illustrator-who-took-a-cerebral-approach-to-his-work-769268.html Obituary in The Independent]
• [http://fatherof.martinpercy.com/ma_start.swf Graham Percy's website]
• {{YouTube|WvNTMERQZxQ|Film showing the House of Graham Percy and Mari Mahr}}

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Category:British illustrators

Category:New Zealand artists

Category:New Zealand illustrators

Category:New Zealand children's book illustrators

Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art

Category:Elam Art School alumni

Category:1938 births

Category:2008 deaths