M. C. Oliver

Infobox Artist
name = M. C. Oliver
Born = London England


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birthname = Mervyn Cecil Oliver
birthdate = 1886
location = London, England
deathdate = 1958 (Age 72)
deathplace = London, England
nationality = British
field = Calligraphy, Silversmithing
training = Edward Johnston, Royal College of Arts
movement =
works =
patrons =
awards = MBE

Mervyn C. Oliver MBE (3 March1886 - 10 December1958) was a twentieth century British calligrapher and silversmith taught by Edward Johnston and an early Craft Member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators [ [http://www.calligraphyonline.org/index.html The Society of Scribes and Illuminators] ] (SSI). He is most renowned for his work on the Stalingrad Sword as well as the designing of several war memorials throughout the United Kingdom including those at Durham University and Eton College. His work has been exhibited throughout Europe and America, most notably in London's Victoria & Albert Museum [ [http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/prints_books/modern_calligraphy/index.html Victoria & Albert Museum] ] , and the Harrison collection [ [http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/librarylocations/main/bookarts/prestianni.htm The Harrison Collection] ] in San Francisco's Public Library, both of which still retain a few examples of his work amongst the other pieces of twentieth century calligraphy they maintain. Oliver taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, The Chelsea School of Art, St. Martin's School of Art and the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute and is hailed by the SSI as being one of the "greatest British teachers of the twentieth century." As such he played a major part in the revival of British calligraphy which was begun by Edward Johnston in the early 1900s, with former pupils including the former chairwoman of the SSI Heather Child. He was the author of the chapters on the design of manuscript books and inscriptions, and the development of illumination in "The Calligrapher's Handbook" (1956) and was awarded the MBE for his contributions to British art in the same year.

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