Harry Furniss (March 26, 1854 – January 14, 1925) was a British illustrator. He established his career on the Illustrated London News before moving to Punch. He also illustrated Lewis Carroll's novel Sylvie and Bruno.
Harry Furniss (1854-1925) was an English artist and illustrator, who established his career with The Illustrated London News before moving on to Punch. He also illustrated Lewis Carroll's novel Sylvie and Bruno, as well as many other children's novels.
Born in Wexford, Ireland in 1854, to an English father and Scottish mother, Furniss was educated at Wesley College in Dublin. His mother was the miniaturist painter Isabella Mackenzie. He worked as an artist in Ireland after leaving school, before moving to England in 1876. His first job as an illustrator was for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, before moving on to work for The Illustrated London News, and then for The Graphic. He worked for Punch from 1880 through 1894, and contributed 2,600 drawings to the publication. He illustrated Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno in 1889 and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded in 1893. In addition to his prolific contributions to magazine illustration, and his work on other authors' books, he also wrote and illustrated twenty-nine books of his own, including his two-volume autobiography, The Confessions of a Caricaturist, which was published in 1902. After a brief stint publishing his own magazine, Like Joka, Furniss moved briefly to the United States, where he worked in the film industry with Thomas Edison, helping to pioneer animated cartoon films with War Cartoons (1914) and Peace and Pencillings (1914).
Furniss married Marian Rogers in the Strand in 1877, and his daughter, Dorothy Furniss (1879–1944) also became an artist. Father and daughter sometimes worked together, including their collaboration on the illustrations for G.E. Farrow's Wallypug books. Furniss died in his home in Hastings in 1925.