Artist, illustrator and author
The Sun (Sydney), March 1917:
In thousands every week now, the whimsical cards and other art productions from Miss Gibbs’s prolific brush and pen are being sent to our boys in the trenches, and each breathes a message redolent of home as no more serious mementos could.
May Gibbs’s gumnut babies first appeared on the cover of the Lone Hand magazine in January 1914. Within months, they featured on calendars and postcards and, from 1916, in a series of booklets that were both a critical and a commercial success.
The Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie was published shortly before the war ended, and became an Australian classic.
Gibbs drew her inspiration from the flora and fauna of the Australian bush. Her detailed drawings and gentle humour created a magical world that brought joy to children and adults at home, and to soldiers on the front.
In our collection
'Washing Day' by May GibbsAn unused postcard featuring a colour drawing by May Gibbs with a caption that reads "Washing day"
You may also like