Rene Cloke

Rene Mable Neighbor Cloke (4 October 1904 – 1 October 1995) was a British illustrator and watercolorist best known for her prolific output of artwork for children's books and greeting cards.

Her work often displayed a whimsical quality, with frequent subjects being flora and fauna, pixies, fairies, sprites, and elves.

Born in Plymouth, England in 1904, Cloke never trained formally as an artist and was largely self taught.

She was the older sister of concert pianist Olive Cloke.

Their father was a bank manager.

She began her career as an illustrator in the 1920s with W. R. Chambers Publishers.

Her first work of note for that publisher was as the artist for The Radiant Way children's book series.

She continued to illustrate children's books for the next seven decades, working for most major publishers in the United Kingdom.

Some of the books she illustrated include, Alice in Wonderland, Red Riding Hood Goes to the Teddy-Bear's Picnic, Joy Bells, Little Boy Blues Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales, Little Folk's First Book, Enid Blyton's Everyday Book series, My Best Book of Enid Blyton Stories and Woodland Tales among many others.

She also illustrated several religious books for children.

She worked for many years as an artist for Medici Cards, designing more than 100 greeting cards for that company.

Her work was also featured in the magazine Playhour.

During World War II, Cloke worked as a tracer, producing maps of enemy camps and installations from photographs made by the Royal Air Force for the War Office.

After the war, she settled in Wimbledon Village where she resided with her sister.

A shy person, she avoided being the center of attention or engaging with the public, preferring to remain anonymous and unacknowledged in her work.

She never married and died in Wimbledon on 1 October 1995.

In 2013–2014 Cloke's work was included in the exhibition "Grimm Girls: Picturing the Princess" at The Otter Gallery at the University of Chichester.