Dora Batty

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Dora Margaret Batty''' (12 January 1891 – 10 July 1966) was a British designer, working in illustration, poster design, pottery and textiles.<ref>''1939 England and Wales Register''</ref><ref>''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995''</ref><ref name="RArtmonsky">{{cite book|author=Ruth Artmonsky|publisher=Artmonsky Books|year=2012|title=Designing Women: Women Working in Advertising and Publicity from the 1920s to the 1960s|ISBN=978-0-9551994-9-3}}</ref>

==Biography== Batty was born in Colchester, Essex,<ref>Dora Margaret Batty, art student, age 20, 1911 England Census</ref><ref>1901 England Census</ref><ref>''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915''</ref> the youngest of three daughters of Rev. Thomas Batty<ref>{{cite news|title=The Rev. D. L. Ward & Miss M. L. Batty|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000381/19100813/049/0002|accessdate=13 August 2017|work=Essex Newsman|date=13 August 1910}}</ref> and Elizabeth Cooke Hopwood Batty. Her father, a Congregational minister, was pastor for 40 years at Stockwell Congregational Chapel in Colchester.<ref>{{cite news|title=Funeral of Rev. T. Batty, of Colchester|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001708/19090619/086/0004|accessdate=13 August 2017|work=Essex Evening Star and Daily Herald|date=19 June 1909|location=Ipswich, Suffolk}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Borough of Colchester: Protestant nonconformity|journal=A History of the County of Essex|date=1994|volume=9|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol9/pp339-351|publisher=Victoria County History|language=en|via=British History Online}}</ref> She attended the Chelmsford School of Science and Art,<ref>{{cite news|title=Story of the Week|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000322/19130905/049/0005|accessdate=13 August 2017|work=Chelmsford Chronicle|date=5 September 1913}}</ref> where she won some prizes.<ref>{{cite news|title=Chelmsford School of Art - Prize Distribution|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000322/19120802/104/0008|accessdate=13 August 2017|work=Chelmsford Chronicle|date=2 August 1912}}</ref>

Batty designed posters for the Underground Group and for London Transport between 1921 and 1938, producing over 50 different designs in a variety of different styles.<ref name=LTMdmb>{{cite web |author=|url=http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/artist/artist.html?IXartist=Dora+M+Batty|title=Artist - Dora M Batty |date=|accessdate=13 October 2017|work=London Transport Museum}}</ref><ref>[http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/museum/alumniresult.php?alumniname=Batty;Dora;&alumniid=48071102 Maker Profile of Dora Batty] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222131357/http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/museum/alumniresult.php?alumniname=Batty%3BDora%3B&alumniid=48071102 |date=February 22, 2014}}, The Central Saint Martins Museum and Study Collection, University of the Arts London website.</ref><ref name=PosterEx>{{cite web |author=|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41552276 |title=Poster Girls exhibition showcases forgotten design heroines |date=13 October 2017|accessdate=13 October 2017|work=BBC News}}</ref> From 1932, she taught in the School of Textiles at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.<ref name="DBownes">{{cite book|author=David Bownes|publisher=london transport museum|year=2018|title=Poster Girls |ISBN=978 1 871829 28 0}}</ref> In 1950, she was appointed the Head of School, apost she held until she retired in 1958.<ref name="RArtmonsky"/><ref name=BCouncil>{{cite web |author=|url=http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/batty-dora-m-1878/initial/b/page/1|title=Overview, Dora M. Batty (1878-1966)|date=|accessdate=21 November 2017|work=The British Council}}</ref>

Batty also designed textiles for Helios and ceramics for the Poole Pottery and for Carter & Co, as well as advertisements for Mac Fisheries and K Shoes.<ref name="RArtmonsky"/><ref name=LTMdmb/> She also worked as a book illustrator.<ref name="RArtmonsky"/><ref name=PosterEx/><ref name="DBownes"/> She lived in London for many years, but died in Essex in 1966.

==Selected works== ;London Underground Posters<ref name="DBownes"/> * ''Kew Gardens, foxgloves'', 1924 * ''From country to the heart of town'', 1925 * ''For Picnics and Rambles from Town to Open Country''<ref>{{Cite web |title=For Picnics and Rambles from Town to Open Country - YCBA Collections Search |url=https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:62107 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=collections.britishart.yale.edu}}</ref> * ''Crocuses are out'', 1927 * ''Come out and see it'', 1927 * ''Daffodils are blooming'', 1927 * ''See London's Gardens'', 1927 * ''The Underground brings all good things nearer'', 1930 * ''RAF Display at Colindale Station'', 1932<ref name="Edelstein">{{cite book|editor=Teri J Edelstein |publisher=Yale Center for British Art / Yale University Press|year=2010|title= Art for All|ISBN=9780300152975}}</ref> * ''Trooping the Colour'', 1936

;Book illustration *W. H. Davies, ''A Poet's Alphabet'', 1925<ref>{{cite news|title=Short Notices|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19251111/107/0004|accessdate=13 August 2017|work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer|date=11 November 1925}}</ref> *W. H. Davies, ''The Song of Love'', 1926 *W. H. Davies, ''A Poet's Calendar'', 1927 *''How to Buy and Sell Money'' The Curwen Press, 1929 (contributor) *Shell-Mex and BP Ltd, ''The Care of Your Tractor'', n.d. ca 1930 *''The B.B.C. Year-Book'', 1931, 1932 and 1933 (dustwrapper) *Geoffrey Holme, ''The Children's Art Book'', 1939 (contributor) *William Cowper, ''John Gilpin'', [1942] (Bantam Picture Book No. 17) *''The Giant without a Heart. An old Norse fairy tale'', 1944

;Ceramics *Hans Van Lemmen, ''Art Deco Tiles'', 2012

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/posters?=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&q=Dora+Batty&=&=&=&=&=&=&= Poster designs by Batty] in the London Transport Museum collection.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batty, Dora}} Category:1891 births Category:1966 deaths Category:20th-century English women artists Category:Academics of the Central School of Art and Design Category:Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University Category:British poster artists Category:British textile designers Category:English graphic designers Category:British women graphic designers Category:Modernist designers Category:People from Colchester