Salomon van Abbé was born to a Jewish family in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1883. After his family immigrated to London in 1888, he studied art at Central School of Arts and at LCC School of Photoengraving and Lithography at Bolt Court. He subsequently worked as an artist and an illustrator, contributing illustrations and cover art to numerous publications, such as the Illustrated London News, as well as to adult and children's literature; as a portraitist he became well-known for his depictions of court and legal subjects, occasionally using the pseudonyms ‘J Abbey’ and ‘C Morse’.
Salomon van Abbé was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 31 July 1883. His father, Maurice van Abbe, was a diamond dealer, his mother Rachel (née Rose) was French. Van Abbe was the eldest of four children; his younger brother Joseph also became an artist and illustrator. The family immigrated to England in 1888, settling in London, where Van Abbe studied art at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel; the People’s Palace, Bow; Central School of Arts and Crafts, and at the LCC School of Photoengraving and Lithography at Bolt Court, Fleet Street. There he trained under noted artists and illustrators, Walter Bayes, Cecil Rae, and Walter Seymour; he also met and became close friends with fellow etcher, Edmund Blampied, who later married van Abbé’s sister, Marianne. In 1914 he married Hannah Wolff, the daughter of the frame-maker Jonas Wolff, from another Dutch émigré family. They had two sons, Derek Maurice, born in December 1916, and Norman Jonas in April 1921.
Van Abbé began his artistic career as a newspaper illustrator, contributing to various magazines and periodicals including the Illustrated London News, The Londoner, The Strand Magazine and Sporting and Dramatic News. In 1903 he joined the Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers. In 1920 he exhibited two works at the Royal Academy of Arts under the name Salomon Abbey and, again, a single artwork in 1932. Following the end of the First World War, he worked as illustrator for various publishers, including Ward Lock & Co, Collins, and John Murray, producing book covers and dust jackets. In the 1920s and 1930s he designed cover art for many notable publications, including The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (1928). Van Abbe became a naturalised British citizen in May 1930, adding an accent to his surname to become van Abbé, and with his address given as Streatham Hill, south west London. Alongside his commercial works, he continued to exhibit his art both in Britain and Europe, including at the Ben Uri Gallery in 1935, 1946, 1947 and 1951, and he was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Salon in 1939. He exhibited with St Ives Society of Artists in 1933, joining the Society in 1936. He returned regularly to the south west of England to paint, spending part of the Second World War in Cornwall. Van Abbé was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (ARE) in 1928 and a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1933, often exhibiting St Ives scenes during the war years. In 1941 he became a member of the Art Workers Guild. He was also a prominent member of the London Sketch Club, a gentleman’s club for commercial graphic artists and illustrators, serving as Club President for the year 1940-41. While living in Streatham in south London he was founder member of the Streatham Art Society.
By the 1950s van Abbé increasingly turned his commercial output towards children’s literary classics, including producing illustrations for Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1948) and Good Wives (1953), Carola Oman’s Robin Hood (1949), Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Wonder Book (1949) and Tanglewood Tales (1950), and R. L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1953). He also became known for his drypoint etched portraits of celebrated figures, such as Neville Chamberlain MP (prior to his political downfall), and of professionals working in the legal profession, characterised by finely-hatched shading. Van Abbé often signed his commercial works as ‘Abbey’ or ‘S. Abbey’ to differentiate from his brother, Joseph, who also worked as an illustrator, who signed his works ‘J. Abbey’. This has led to some confusion as to attribution of works between the brothers, as Salomon was often known as Jack.
Salomon Van Abbé died in Streatham, London, England on 28 February 1955. His work is held in UK public collections including the Ben Uri Collection, British Museum, National Army Museum, National Museum Wales and Royal Academy of Music in the UK; Van Abbe Museum, Netherlands; Art Institute Chicago and Fine Arts Museum San Francisco in USA; and Te Papa Museum, New Zealand.
Salomon van Abbé in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Salomon van Abbé]
Publications related to [Salomon van Abbé] in the Ben Uri Library