Rena Gardiner: Artist and Printmaker

Product Information

As Rena Gardiner was a printer and lithographer by profession, The Baguette Press have decided to print the books lithographically, rather than the cheaper option of digital printing, to keep it in line with the spirit of Rena’s work. The primary technique she used was autolithography. This is a process when the drawing is taken from the original sketches and transferred on to clear film and then on to a metal plate. Rena did not work from a completed drawing. She used her judgement to build on the layers of hand mixed colour. Her reputation continues to grow, with several exhibitions in recent years, particularly at National Trust properties. Further reading The illustrations in this book are from drawings made directly onto lithographic aluminium plates. They are therefore originals and not reproductions of drawings made on paper.’

With the publication of this celebration of Rena Gardiner’s work, we hope to draw attention to her considerable contribution to lithographic illustration whilst simultaneously shining a light on the broader aspects of her legacy as an artist – her paintings, pastels and linocut prints. None of this has been published before. Much of it was thought to have been lost after the sale of her estate and clearance of her studio following her death in 1999. Thankfully, during the research for this book a considerable body of her work was discovered in private hands and the archives of the National Trust at Cotehele in Cornwall. Its inclusion only serves to underline her achievement.

Rena Gardiner’s utterly charming guidebook to Cotehele, first published by the National Trust in 1973, describes the ‘Prospect Tower’ as looking like a church tower from a distance whereas, she continues, it is ‘nothing more than a folly’. Nothing more than a folly??? This casual comment can be forgiven when one sees her distinctive and delightful illustrations – she was clearly a fan of the landmark. Gardiner’s text describes another alleged function of the tower: that it was used to signal between Cotehele and Maker church on the Mount Edgcumbe estate (which is feasible – the two towers have sight of each other). Cotehele was the first property to be accepted in lieu of death duties by the newly-created National Land Fund in 1947, and was passed to the National Trust. The tower is just one of the many attractions of the Cotehele estate. Rena Gardiner’s overview of Cotehele from the 1973 guidebook produced for the National Trust. Moving to Bournemouth School for Girls, she rented a cottage at Wareham, Dorset, and set up a basic printing press using an old mangle. On this she produced her first illustrated book on Dorset in 1960. Her technique meant that none of the limited edition of just 30 copies was identical.

In 2013 I was also invited to meet a number of Rena’s former pupils at a meeting of the Leamington College Association (formerly Leamington College Old Girls) who were able to recall Rena’s early teaching days at their school. Gardiner then took a book illustration course, and found that could well be her forte. However, she decided not to risk trying to earn a living from illustration and became a teacher, working on book illustrations in her spare time. During her first job at Leamington College for Girls, she created her debut book, Royal Leamington Spa (1954), printing and binding all the copies herself. The books were her main source of income after she gave up teaching so to that extent they were a commercial operation – incredibly time consuming as it was, that was how she made her living. But she was a terrifically talented artist in several media and if anything the time the books took to produce probably prevented her from exploring her art in other ways. To be precise, little seems to be factually known, for there are plenty of tales and taradiddles about the tower. All that Historic England has to say about the grade II* listed building is that it is ‘probably late 18th century’, which seems about right, but does rather destroy the first oft-told tale in which the ‘family watched the Armada sail up the channel’ from the top of the tower in 1588. Rena Gardiner’s view of the tower from the gorgeous graphic guidebook she produced in 1973.

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She was probably best known for the many guidebooks she made, and her largest client was the National Trust, but she also produced many lithographs and linocuts of buildings and landscapes from all over the country and of her travels in Europe. Gardiner’s work ranged widely, but Dorset was her muse. Five years before her move to Tarrant Monkton, Gardiner created the book Portrait of Dorset: The South East, and published it herself, taking three years to make the lithographs, write and set the text, producing just thirty copies. The publisher Design For Today has just reissued Portrait of Dorset in a facsimile edition, with an added, useful ‘appreciation’ of Gardiner which includes a brief biography and a summary of her working methods, written by Joe Pearson, the publisher. In 1970, Rena gave up her teaching job and dedicated all her time to print making over the course of the next 20 years she designed and printed scores of topographical guide books All of these were printed at home on her own presses, without traditional publishers or other outside help. What she did was unique, and blurred the lines between art, illustration, printmaking and publishing. Rena Gardiner was a print maker whose work has largely gone unnoticed. From her cottage in Dorset she illustrated and produced guidebooks to historic places, buildings and the countryside. Little Toller have just published the first long overdue book on her, which includes nearly 200 illustrations from her books and prints, many which have not been seen in print before.

Not only did she do some lovely oil paintings and watercolours, but pastels as well. There are some wonderful drawings she made in researching the books, particularly of the architecture, and the illustrated notebooks she made on holiday as well. Sometimes the images she painted were from the same drawings she’d previously made prints from so they’re not always entirely original and had she had more time maybe she would have taken a different approach.’ After leaving college Rena taught at a school in Lemmington Spa, it was during this period that she experimented with making her first lithographic book, Royal Leamington Spa (1954), printing and binding all 33 copies herself. Later that year she moved to Dorset to teach in Bournemouth, and took up residence in an eighteenth century cottage in Wareham with a garage that could be used as a print workshop. Inheriting her father’s love of technical drawing and anything mechanical at the age of 17 she went to study graphics and illustration at Kingston School of Art. Rena Gardiner was born in Epsom, where her father was an electrical engineer but also a skilled technical artist. In 1946 she enrolled at nearby Kingston School of Art to study graphics. During her time there she took the opportunity to visit as many exhibitions as she could and found herself inspired not by traditional art forms such as painting and etching but by much more modern artists and their techniques.She discovered the works of Edmund Bawden, John Piper and Eric Ravilious all of whom practiced lithography. She also discovered Kenneth Clark’s project Recording Britain and works by then unfashionable early landscape artists such as John Sell Cotman and Thomas Girtin. Rena Gardiner was born in 1929 in Epsom, Surrey. In 1946 she enrolled at nearby Kingston School of Art to study graphics. During her time there she discovered the works of Edmund Bawden, John Piper and Eric Ravilious - all renowned artists who practiced lithography. Bawden also created work in linocut, a medium in which Gardiner is now much admired too.This is a quote from one of Rena Gardiner’s guidebooks on Dorset. Rena Gardiner had a unique and very distinctive style of illustrating. She was best known for her guidebooks and designed and crafted the whole process, by hand, from the initial sketches through to the completed book. Looking at them now her illustrations are very typical of the period, however the handmade, artisan approach to her work has recently experienced a resurgence. She bridged the gap between studio print and commercial production. As a boy of eleven in 1963, I first encountered the work of Rena Gardiner when, passionate about the world of knights and castles, I bought her guide to Corfe Castle – excited and inspired by the colour and imagination of her illustrations which contrasted so much with the dull text and grey boring halftones of most guidebooks of the time. I became a keen collector of her books, and years later, in August 1993, I went to visit Rena Gardiner in her home and workshop in Tarrant Monkton and spent the day with her, recording a first-hand account of her printing techniques, artistic influences, her experiences at art school and her teaching career, and taking photographs of her at work. Much of the biographical and technical detail in the following text is taken from the tape recordings made on that day and therefore reflect her own words. She was kind and welcoming, always keen to talk about her books, surprised but delighted by my interest and attention; modest about her achievements but strong in her passion and belief in her work. This is the first book to be published on the work of Rena Gardiner. The project was initiated by Julian Francis who has remained the motivating force and without whom the book would not exist. Those guidebooks, there are about 40 in all, have been collected by enthusiasts such as Julian for many years, but since the publication of the book – already into its second print – things have started to change. Rena Gardiner’s work rarely comes up at public auction so a sale this summer in Crewkerne attracted a great deal of attention.