Victoria Davidson

Biography

Born Lilli Ursula Barbara Commichau 8 January 1915 in Munich; her father a landscape painter. After studying fashion drawing at the Lette-Haus School of Art, Berlin, 1930-33, she worked for various Berlin journals as illustrator and layout artist, adopted the pen-name ‘Victoria’ after meeting her future husband, Eric Victor, a Jewish South African. They came to London in 1935, married, and she became a British citizen the same year. Illustrated and drew cartoons for Lilliput, Picture Post, Radio Times, Die Neue Auslese, Suddeutsche Zeitung and other journals. Designed posters for London Transport, illustrated her own books for children – A Number Book, 1938; The Life and Adventures of Timothy Turnip, 1943; and Memoirs of a Fir-Tree, 1946. Later elected Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists. Died 23 November 1999 in Boxford, Suffolk (England).