There is not very much we know about the English artist John Harris Valda. The more famous representative of the family was definitely his father, John Harris Valda senior, a Victorian painter. He had studied under John Millais and achieved such great artistry that he was later even allowed to create a portrait of Edward VII. In any case, his father's craft earned the London family enough money for them to spend extended periods of time in Italy and Austria, enjoying and studying art and culture. These stays abroad strongly influenced the boy John: visiting the museums and exhibitions between Rome and Vienna strengthened him in his desire to follow in the artistic footsteps of the senior.
However, the young Harris Valda did not simply want to be an artist himself, but also to leave his mark on the art world as a teacher. So it came to pass that in 1895, at just 21 years of age, he opened his own first art school. Not alone, but in collaboration with Ernest George Entwistle. And it wasn't just an art school either, but by his own admission the first in Britain to teach magazine illustration. At a time when photography was still very expensive and complex, newspapers, magazines and journals always needed good illustrations for their articles. So the school enjoyed a brisk attendance. Unfortunately, the partnership between Harris Valda and Entwistle was less successful and dissolved after a few years.
Harris Valda, who had also found his own identity as an artist with the school, worked as an illustrator for print publications himself. Then, while working, he met Edwin Drew, a journalist and poet. For quite a while, he lived with him and his wife Annie in St. Pancras - an artistically fruitful threesome. They inspired each other. But when John married Olive Perry after a few years, it was time to set up his own household. Finally he had the necessary small change for it. Magazines like "Pearson's", "English Illustrated" or "Lady's Realm" engaged him regularly in the meantime. Along the way, he also found the time to design book covers, mainly for the publisher "Chatto & Windus".
But his most productive period was certainly the 1920s. Harold Twyman, editor at "Union Jack", had asked him to enrich the cover and also the inside with illustrations for the "Sexton Blake" stories. And that's what Harris Valda did for the next ten years. One of his greatest successes, however, was as an illustrator for the "Film Fun" comic series, which revolved around the western hero Buck Jones, among other things.
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.jpg "The Return of the Vikings, Illustration from")
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.jpg "The Battle of Morgarten by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Return of the Vikings by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Driver Brown returning with wounded on horseback from the firing line by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Whilst in prison Marco Polo dictated the story of his adventures, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Ivan the Black Sets Fire to Zhabliak 1484, from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "A Wonderful Journey to China by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Santiago sent ahead to explore, ran ashore and was wrecked, Newnes Pictorial Knowledge published by Newnes, c.1950")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1504667).jpg "Wallachian Hillmen Founding a City, Ninth Century by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Monasteries had Splendid Writing Rooms, where Monks Kept Illuminated Manuscripts by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Proclamation of the Edict of Milan, AD 313 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Siege of Aquileia, 238 AD, illustration from")
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.jpg "The Cavalry of Shahrbaraz Charging, Illustration from")
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.jpg "The death of Stussi, Burgomaster of Zurich, in battle by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "England in the Middle Ages. Rivers were Crossed by Fords, Around Which Were Clustered a Few Dwellings and Villages by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Prince Alexander Signing His Abdication 1886, Illustration from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "Edward II Gathered an Army and Fought a Battle at Bannockburn 1314 AD, Where Bruce Defeated the English by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Construction of the Via Appia, Illustration from")
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.jpg "Marcellus")
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.jpg "A Frontier Incident from the Balkans War 1912, from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "Tsar Michael Shishman of Bulgaria Killed at the Battle of Velbazhd by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Defence of Arcot by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Aquae Sextiae, 102 BC, illustration from")
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.jpg "Their Mother Silvia Was Overjoyed to See Romulus and Remus by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Assembling for a tournament, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Romulus and Remus were torn from the arms of their mother Silvia and were taken to the Tiber to be drowned by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The last conquest of England 1066 AD, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The hour of decision. Clive in India, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Marco Polo in Prison by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Travellers in the Middle Ages. When darkness fell travellers looked for lights of a monastery, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Wallachian Hillmen Founding a City in the Ninth Century, from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "The Death of Socrates, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1508114).jpg "Annihilation of the Greek Army, 811 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "If any lords conquers land in Wales, he may keep it for himself said King William, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Marathon, c.1940s by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Gunner J Rafferty carrying a wounded woman to safety from a farmhouse which was being shelled, World War I by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Corporal William Scothern RGA Repairing a Field Telephone Under Heavy Fire, Awarded DCM Ypres May 1915 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Livingstone fired at the lion, but the lion attacked him and bit his shoulder, breaking his left arm, Newnes Pictorial Knowledge published by Newnes, c.1950")
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.jpg "King Olaf the Saint Breaking the Image of the God Thor, 1020 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Private F Hamilton Awarded the DCM by Stopping the Enemy")
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.jpg "Return of Ivan the Terrible to Moscow, illustration from")
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.jpg "Baptism of Boris I, Illustration from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "Under Roman occupation: Britains towns sprang up and trade began by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Roman Colonisers Trading with Native Dacians, Illustration from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "The Last Council of Boabdil at the Alhambra, 1492 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The End of Livingstone, Newnes Pictorial Knowledge, c.1950")
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.jpg "The Young Spartan Never Had Enough to Eat. They Were Sent to the Hills to Hunt, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-206481).jpg "The Oppressed Will Rise Again by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Vittoria Completed the First Trip Around the World in September 1522, Newnes Pictorial Knowledge by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "How Acting Sergeant W Swan Captured Five Germans at Givenchy January 1915 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "With Clive in India by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "In the Reign of King Henry II Nearly 1200 Castles Were Pulled Down, Thus Depriving the Barons of Their Power by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Annihilation of the Greek Army, Illustration from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "The Roman Attack on Anglesey by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Sergeant Somers holding back the enemy by bombing them when a barricade was being raised by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Tutul-Xius Overthrowing Chichen Itza, Mexico by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Corporal Selwood Won a DCM for Watching Germans Reconnoitring Close to British Entanglements at Le Gheer April 1915 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Kosovo by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Wilfred appealing to Pope Agatho AD679, 1920")
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.jpg "Bombardier W H French finishing his message after a shell had come through the room in which he was telephoning, Helpegarde, World War I by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1321547).jpg "A Queen of Roses by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Frederick William, the Great Elector, at Fehrbellin by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Romans Battle with Hannibal")
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.jpg "No Man Was Allowed to Grow a Hedge or Put Up a Gate. This Led to Many Arguments Amongst Villagers by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Ivan Shishman III delivers up his sister to Sultan Murad I, 1366 by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-222465).jpg "One of the Things we are Fighting For by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Private Adams Going to the Assistance of the Wounded in a Motor Ambulance Which Had Run into a Shell-Hole While Under Fire by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Defeat and Death of Sebastian I at the Battle of Alcazar by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Siege of Carmarthen Castle by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Cardinal Richelieu")
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.jpg "Battle of Bouvines 1214, illustration from")
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.jpg "On the Village Green by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Bouvines, 1214, illustration from")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-281396).jpg "The Shell by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Crossing the drawbridge. Every town has strong walls and a moat, a drawbridge and a portcullis for defence, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Griffenfeldt")
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.jpg "Cleopatra visits Herod at Jerusalem 33 BC by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest, c.1950 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Ivan Shishman III Delivers His Sister to Sultan Murad I, AD 1366, from Hutchinson")
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.jpg "The Siege of Constantinople by the Turks, Illustration from")
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.jpg "Lance Corporal P McNee working a trench mortar under heavy fire at Neuve Chapelle by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "In 1853 David Livingstone with a small party of natives set out on a 1000 mile journey through swamps and forests, Newnes Pictorial Knowledge published by Newnes, c.1950")
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.jpg "The Battle of Lepanto, illustration from")
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.jpg "Imprisonment and Death of Dukes Erik and Valdemar by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Capture of Constantinople by Crusaders by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-978411).jpg "Frederick William, the Great Elector, at Fehrbellin by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "The Battle of Zama 203 BC by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1480955).jpg "Frederick William, the Great Elector, at Fehrbellin by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-935279).jpg "Marcellus")
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.jpg "Cardinal Richelieu")
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.jpg "How Spartan Youth was Trained by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Cavalry of Shahrbaraz charging, illustration from")
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.jpg "King Olav the Saint Breaking the Image of the God Mor by John Harris Valda")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1509930).jpg "The Jews before Caligula, AD 40 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "William the Conqueror")
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.jpg "The Guile of Oroetes by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "King Olav the Saint Breaking the Image of the God Mor by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Private Hamilton Reporting the Approach of the Turks, Gallipoli Peninsula, August 1915 by John Harris Valda")
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.jpg "Revolt of the Royal Guard at Damascus by John Harris Valda")
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