Editing Josh Kirby

{{Short description|British writer and illustrator}}
{{About|the twentieth-century English artist|the eighteenth-century artist|Joshua Kirby|the movie series|Josh Kirby... Time Warrior!{{!}}''Josh Kirby... Time Warrior!''}}
{{Distinguish|Jack Kilby|Jack Kirby}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| name        = Josh Kirby
| image       = Josh Kirby.jpg
| imagesize   =
| caption     = Kirby at home
| birth_name  = Ronald William Kirby
| birth_date  = {{birth date|df=y|1928|11|27}}
| birth_place = [[Waterloo, Merseyside|Waterloo]], [[Lancashire]], England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=y|2001|10|23|1928|11|27}}
| death_place = [[Shelfanger]], [[Norfolk]], England
| education   =
| field       = Painting, especially [[book cover art]]
| training    = [[Liverpool College of Art|Liverpool City School of Art]]
| awards      = {{ubl|Best professional science fiction artist at the Annual World Sci-Fi Convention (1979)<ref>This conflicts with the official Hugos page: https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/ </ref>|British Fantasy Award for Professional Artist (1996)}}
| spouse      = {{marriage|Dianne Kingston|1965|1982|end=divorced}}
| partner    
}}

'''Ronald William''' "'''Josh'''" '''Kirby''' (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist.<ref name="Kirby" /> Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels.

==Personal life==
He was born on 27 November 1928 at 58 Argo Road, Waterloo, Lancashire. His parents were Charles William and Ellen (née Marsh) Kirby who ran a grocery shop together, although his father was also a ship owner's freight clerk. They named him Ronald William Kirby.<ref name="Kirby">{{cite web |title=Biographical details |url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/joshkirby/biog/index.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802164701/https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/joshkirby/biog/index.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 August 2019 |publisher=Liverpool Museums |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref>

Kirby dreamed of a career in art from a young age. When he was seven, he made a trade sign that said "KIRBY – ARTIST". He was also attracted to science fiction and fantasy from images seen in films and magazines.<ref name="joshkirbyart" />

At the beginning of the Second World War, his school was evacuated to [[Abercraf]] in South Wales.<ref name="Kirby" /> In 1943, he returned to Liverpool and attended the Junior then Senior Schools of the [[Liverpool College of Art|Liverpool City School of Art]] from the age of 14 until he was 20. He was trained in drawing, painting and lithography. While he was there, his [[Old Master]]-style portraits earned him the nickname "Josh" when colleagues likened his work to that of the painter Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]].<ref name="Kirby" /> The nickname stuck. He also met the model [[June Furlong]] in 1948 and they remained lifelong friends.<ref name="Kirby" />

He moved to London in 1950.<ref name="Kirby" /> In 1965, he married Dianne Kingston and moved to The Old Rectory, [[Shelfanger]], near [[Diss, Norfolk|Diss]] in Norfolk.  He lived and worked there, in a cramped studio, until his death.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Barnett |first=David |date=2024-01-20 |title=Family of Discworld illustrator seek wealthy patron to conserve legacy of 'one of the great artists of our time' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/jan/20/family-of-discworld-illustrator-josh-kirby-seek-wealthy-patron-to-conserve-legacy-of-one-of-the-great-artists-of-our-time |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

Kirby and Kingston divorced in 1982. He died of natural causes in his sleep at home in Shelfanger at the age of 72 on 23 October 2001 and was survived by his brother Len and two nephews.

In 2024, his family were looking for a philanthropist to support the conservation and exhibition of his body of work, around 400 finished paintings and several hundred sketches.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==
[[Image:Equal Rites full.jpg|thumb|Full cover art of ''[[Equal Rites]]'' by Josh Kirby]]
[[File:Equal Rites detail.jpg|thumb|Detail of the cover art showing Kirby's cameo.<ref>Terry Pratchett remarks on this self-cameo in the introduction to ''[[The Art of Discworld]]''.</ref>]]

He worked as freelance all his career, having left his only employment after half a day.<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" />

After leaving art school, Liverpool City Council commissioned him to paint the Lord Mayor, Alderman [[Joseph Jackson Cleary]], in 1950. Kirby carried out the commission but decided against portraiture as a career and turned to illustration for film posters and books.<ref name="Kirby" />

In the early 1950s, Kirby illustrated [[film posters]] for studios in both London and [[Paris, France|Paris]] and continued to do some film posters until the 1980s. In the 1970s, he undertook film poster art for publicity agency feref. Working alongside designer [[Eddie Paul]], Kirby depicted the characters for [[Star Wars]]: ''[[Return of the Jedi]];'' films ''[[The Beastmaster (film)|The Beastmaster]]'' and ''[[Krull (film)|Krull]]'', among others.<ref name="joshkirbyart" /> He also designed a poster for ''[[The Life of Brian]]'' inspired by Pieter Brueghel's Tower Of Babel, but it was not used.<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" />

When the market for film poster illustration dried up in the mid 1980s, Kirby switched his attention to [[role-playing game]]s. He provided cover art for ''Duelmasters'', ''[[Tunnels & Trolls]]'' and ''[[Wizards & Warriors]].''<ref name="joshkirbyart">{{Cite web|url=https://www.joshkirbyart.com/new-page-1|title=The Story|website=Josh Kirby|language=en-US|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="Kirby" />

However, Kirby's major output between the late 1950s to the 1980s was artwork for [[book covers]] for a very wide range of books including westerns, crime novels, science fiction and non-fiction, as well as covers and interior art for science fiction magazines. His first published book cover art was for the 1955 science fiction novel ''Cee-Tee Man'', by [[Dan Morgan (writer)|Dan Morgan]]. In 1956, he created a cover for [[Ian Fleming]]'s book [[Moonraker (novel)|''Moonraker'']].<ref name="joshkirbyart" /> Working for publishers including Panther, Corgi, Four Square and NEL/Mayflower,<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" /> he illustrated over 400 covers for authors including [[Brian Aldiss]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Stephen Briggs]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[Craig Shaw Gardner]], [[Ron Goulart]], [[Robert Heinlein]], [[Alfred Hitchcock]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Ursula Le Guin]], [[Richard Matheson]], [[Guy de Maupassant]], [[Terry Pratchett]], [[Robert Rankin]], [[Jimmy Sangster]], [[Jules Verne]], and [[H. G. Wells]].<ref name="joshkirbyart" /><ref name="KirbyCovers-full-list">{{cite web |last1=Langford |first1=Dave |title=Josh Kirby Covers |url=https://ansible.uk/misc/joshlist.html |website=Ansible |access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref>

Kirby's most significant work in the 1980s was the covers for the ''Discworld'' series, a commission that Kirby thought would be a "one-off". Starting with ''The Colour of Magic'', he eventually produced the covers for 26 of the series until his death in 2001.<ref name="joshkirbyart" /><ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001">{{cite news |last1=Segar |first1=Rufus |author-link=Rufus Segar |title=Josh Kirby |agency=The Guardian |issue=4 December 2001 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/04/guardianobituaries.books |access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref> Upon his passing, his successor [[Paul Kidby]] painted a portrait of Kirby into the cover art of the novel ''[[Night_Watch_(Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', in tribute to the artist.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fantastic fantasy artwork: Night Watch (Discworld) by Paul Kidby |url=https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2011/10/11/fantastic-fantasy-artwork-2-night-watch-discworld-book-29-by-paul-kidby/ |website=fantasybookreview.co.uk |access-date=11 February 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014030102/https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2011/10/11/fantastic-fantasy-artwork-2-night-watch-discworld-book-29-by-paul-kidby/ |archive-date=14 October 2011}}</ref>

==Style==
Throughout his career, Kirby used oils, acrylics, [[gouache]], or [[watercolor]], often using more than one method on a single piece. Ultimately, he preferred oils as they would not dry too quickly and could be manipulated and applied in layers. This allowed them to be retouched or entirely painted over, whatever it took to achieve the result.<ref name="joshkirbyart" />

When asked about influences, he most often named three past artists. The oldest was [[Hieronymus Bosch]], famous for his fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives; next was [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Pieter Bruegel]], whose religious and mythological depictions expanded the viewer's perspective of reality; and finally muralist [[Frank Brangwyn]], an avant-garde artist-craftsman notable for his boldly coloured murals.<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" />

Kirby worked slowly and meticulously. It would take him four to eight weeks to complete a single painting because his process included reading each novel before illustrating it. He would then draw a rough sketch in pencil to be approved by the art editor at the publisher. Unusually, he discussed the concept directly over the phone with Pratchett, rather than his publisher's art director.<ref name="Discworld" />

==Collections==
Collections of his work include:

* ''The Voyage of the Ayeguy'' (1981), a portfolio of six linked science-fantasy pictures published by [[List of Pacific Comics publications#Schanes & Schanes|Schanes & Schanes]]<ref name="Kirby" />
* ''The Josh Kirby Poster Book'' (1989), containing 13 posters inspired by Discworld
* ''<s>Faust</s> Eric'' (1990), by Terry Pratchett with 15 Kirby illustrations
* ''In the Garden of Unearthly Delights'' (1991), a collection of 159 Kirby paintings
* ''The Josh Kirby Discworld Portfolio'' (1993)

==Exhibitions==
* 1986: Hammer Gallery, Berlin<ref name="Kirby" />
* 1988: Albert Dock, Liverpool<ref name="Kirby" />
* 1996: Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead<ref name="Kirby" />
* 2007: Retrospective at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool<ref name="Discworld">{{cite web |title=Josh Kirby |url=https://discworld.com/josh-kirby/ |website=Discworld.com |access-date=9 June 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609194306/https://discworld.com/josh-kirby/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Awards==
* Best SF Artist (Professional Class), World Science Fiction Convention (1979)<ref name="Kirby" />
* British Fantasy Award for Professional Artist (1996)<ref name="Kirby" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |author=De Lint, Charles |author-link=Charles de Lint |date=Jan 2001 |title=Books to Look For |journal=[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|F&SF]] |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=24–28 |url=https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2001/cdl0101.htm <!--access-date=2019-02-14-->}} Review of ''In the Garden of Unearthly Delights''.

==External links==
* [http://www.joshkirbyart.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.lspace.org/art/joshkirby.html Josh Kirby at L-Space Web]   
* [http://www.ansible.co.uk/misc/joshlist.html Josh Kirby bibliography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180221182620/https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/joshkirby/  "Out of this world: the art of Josh Kirby' exhibition"]
* {{isfdb name|id=Josh_Kirby|name=Josh Kirby}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Josh}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths|Kirby Josh]]
[[Category:Alumni of Liverpool College of Art]]
[[Category:Artists from Liverpool]]
[[Category:British illustrators]]
[[Category:British poster artists]]
[[Category:British science fiction artists]]
[[Category:British fantasy artists]]
[[Category:People associated with the Discworld series]]
[[Category:People from Crosby, Merseyside]]
[[Category:People from South Norfolk (district)]]