Nora Fry Lavrin
| Nora Lavrin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1897 Liverpool |
| Died | August 30, 1985 (aged 87–88) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Engraver, book illustrator, painter |
Nora Lavrin, née Fry (1897 – 30 August 1985), was an English engraver, book illustrator and painter. She illustrated twenty editions of children’s books.
Nora Fry was born in Liverpool, the daughter of Canadian-born Ambrose Fry, an urban landlord and chemical manufacturer, and Lydia (Lily) Thompson, who was from the Shetland Isles. Nora's brother, architect Maxwell Fry, in his autobiography mentions their mother playing the piano and that she had painted. She had an older sister Muriel Fry, and two younger brothers, Edwin Maxwell Fry and Sydney Fry.
Nora Lavrin studied arts with her sister Muriel at the Liverpool School of Art. She won a travelling scholarship in 1920 and spent a year in Paris attending the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. She also traveled in the provinces, particularly Semur-en-Auxois where she did drawings and watercolors. Lavrin began her career as an illustrator of children’s books in 1926, with designs for Little Grey Men by Betty Timms for Harrap. In 1927 she illustrated two more books, both of which ran to several editions. Her illustration of Aesop’s Fables (1927 and 1934) ran to eight editions between 1927 and 1989. She also illustrated A Treasure of Tales for Little Folks (1927) which ran several versions in the 1930s. In September 1927 she entered the Engraving School of the Royal College of Art, RCA, in Kensington where she specialized in engraving and etching under Robert Austin. Lavrin left the RCA in July 1928 having achieved her Certificate in Etching.
In July 1928 Nora Fry married Janko Lavrin. Her marriage to Lavrin, Professor of Slavonic Studies at Nottingham University College, introduced her to Slovenia and Yugoslavia, a region she memorialized with some of her dry point landscape sketches in Slovenia Summer (1928) and Yugoslav Scenes (1935). The couple had two children, John Lavrin, a painter, and David H. Lavrin, an immunologist. From 1935 to 1937 she joined the University College of Nottingham as an art teacher. In the 1920s and 1930s she exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer exhibition; Liverpool Autumn Exhibition, Nottingham Society of Artists and galleries in England and, later in 1961, in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
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