On 14 December, Ewbank’s is hosting The Paul Birkbeck Collection, featuring works by the renowned illustrator for BBC programmes. All works in the auction – nearly 350 lots – are the creation of Paul Birkbeck (1939-2019), who illustrated storyboards for a wide range of shows, including Jackanory, Play School, Crystal Tipps and Alistair, Zig Zag, Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple, Glynis Barber’s Jane and Magnus Magnusson’s epic TV series The Vikings.
The character and detail displayed in Birkbeck’s work, along with his mastery of colour and composition, also made him in demand as a book illustrator. In 1990, he brought Salman Rushdie’s children’s fairy tale Haroun and the Sea of Stories to life.
Born in Woolwich, south-east London, Paul attended Brighton College and Epsom School of Art. After completing his National Service, he soon began designing sleeves for Decca Records.
In 1965, working with BBC children’s TV, he became a prolific illustrator for its programmes. He created 14 stories for Jackanory, including A Dog So Small (read by Judi Dench) and Peter Pan (read by Jan Francis), as well as the BBC Sunday afternoon Bible stories series In the Beginning.
His work for Jackanory continued for many years as a commissioned artist. He created the memorable illustrations for The Vikings in 1980, presented by Magnus Magnusson, and the iconic Miss Marple series, starring Joan Hickson. Birkbeck also drew the backgrounds for the ground-breaking TV series Jane, starring Glynis Barber, which mixed cartoon backgrounds with live actors and was based on the 1940s comic strip of the same name.
In 1991, as well as supplying illustrations, Birkbeck was in front of the camera playing himself each week in the BBCs six-part children’s TV history programme Now Then, an educational show that brought our ancestors to life.
He taught illustration at Leicester Polytechnic, Epsom College and the Royal College of Art, but continued to work in TV, including delivering the titles for the Stanley Baxter Show on Channel 4, and branched out into book illustration.
“I think his work on Haroun and the Sea of Stories for Salman Rushdie was a high point for him, as was his involvement in The Vikings,” says his daughter Polly Birkbeck.
Birkbeck spent the latter part of his life on personal commissions: highly detailed paintings with a strong figurative narrative inspired by life in suburbia. His work appeared at the Keith Chapman Gallery, London, in Royal Academy summer shows and Sunday Times watercolour exhibitions between 2003 and 2008, and in the Mall Galleries Discerning Eye exhibitions.
“Whether it was art for exhibitions or his illustration work for programmes like Jackanory, he was very meticulous and old school in his approach,” says Polly.
“He did a lot of research and created incredibly detailed pictures, which could take a long time, especially in the case of Jackanory, because the cameras would zoom in on them during the show.”
The artworks in this Ewbank’s sale were prepared in various mediums used by the artist and often in conjunction with one another, including pen and ink, crayon, watercolour, gouache, pastel, and oil and acrylic paints on card or on paper.
Many show the extraordinary detail that Birkbeck went into to capture the imagination of the viewer, making it almost impossible to understand how he could have completed so many to such a high level of accomplishment by the deadline for the TV shows.
Estimates range from £20 to £250 for individual works.
