Helen Binyon

Helen Francesca Mary Binyon (9 December 1904 – 22 November 1979) was a British artist and writer. She was also a watercolour painter, an illustrator and a puppeteer.

Biography Binyon was born in Chelsea in London, her father being the poet and scholar Laurence Binyon, and was educated at St Paul's Girls' School. Helen Binyon studied at the Royal College of Art, RCA, between 1922 and 1926 where she was taught by Paul Nash and her fellow pupils included Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious. After spending some time at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, Binyon studied engraving at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1928 to 1930. Shortly afterwards she had a joint exhibition, with Bawden and Ravilious, at the Redfern Gallery in London.

Between 1931 and 1938, Binyon taught part-time at the Eastbourne College of Art and also at the North London Collegiate School.

During World War II, Binyon worked for the Admiralty drawing hydrographic charts. Later in the conflict she worked on the preparation of photographic exhibitions for the Ministry of Information and also served in the ambulance service. Her children's book illustrations were often in pen and ink but she also produced wood engravings for her other book work.