Kate Greenaway, also called Catherine Greenaway (born March 17, 1846, London, Eng.—died Nov. 6, 1901, London), English artist and book illustrator known for her original and charming children’s books.
The daughter of John Greenaway, a draftsman and wood engraver, Kate Greenaway grew up in various residences, including a farmhouse in Nottinghamshire, and studied art in various places, including London. She began to exhibit drawings in 1868, and her first published illustrations appeared in such magazines as Little Folks. In 1879 she produced her first successful book, Under the Window, followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and other books for children, which had an enormous success and became very highly valued. “Toy-books” though they were, these little works created a revolution in the book illustration; they were praised by John Ruskin, by Ernest Chesneau and Arsène Alexandre in France, by Richard Muther in Germany, and by other leading art critics throughout the world.
