身份：英国著名的女画家
出生地：66 Waddon Road in Croydon, Surrey, England
家庭背景：家中的小女儿，有一个大她两岁的姐姐——Dorothy Oswald Barker。父亲Walter Barker, 是一个业余的艺术家（a partner in a seed supply company and an amateur artist），母亲Mary Eleanor (Oswald) Barker。
儿时患有癫痫症（epileptic），无法上学，只能在家接受教育，并通过阅读和绘画消磨大部分时间。Kate Greenaway 和 Randolph Caldecott对她后来作品影响很大。
Life Line：
1895年6月28日，出生在英国（Croydon, Surrey, England）
1908年，Cicely13岁时，她的父亲参加了Croydon艺术社团，她也因此学习了专业的艺术课程。参加了the Croydon School of Art的晚间课程（evening class）
15岁时，她的花仙作品就被刊登在杂志、贺卡和明信片上。
1911年 Raphael Tuck & Sons bought four of Barker's "little drawings" for half a sovereign,[3] and published them as postcards.作品被买下并出版，时年16岁。
同年十月，她赢得了一个海报比赛（the Croydon Art Society's poster competition）的第二名，被吸纳成为Croydon艺术社团中最年轻的成员。In October 1911, she won second prize in the Croydon Art Society's poster competition, and shortly afterward was elected the youngest member of the Society.[2]
16岁时，Cicely因出色的绘画能力被吸纳成为Croydon艺术社团中最年轻的成员。这个时候，根据詹姆斯•马修•巴利小说改编的戏剧[彼得•潘]上演。玛丽巴克的花仙子精灵一时备受喜爱。玛丽巴克喜爱着精灵，她全神灌注的投入到了花仙子精灵的创作中，更多的花仙子在她的笔下拥有了生命。
1912，不幸又一次降临，她的父亲去世了。父亲的离世使这个家庭陷入了困境。玛丽巴克的绘画收入成了这个家庭最主要的经济来源。玛丽巴克努力的画着，向杂志投诗画稿，以支撑起姐姐和母亲的生活。Following her father’s death in June 1912, the seventeen-year-old Barker submitted art and poetry to My Magazine, Child’s Own, Leading Strings, and Raphael Tuck annuals in an effort to support both her mother and sister.[2] Her sister Dorothy taught kindergarten in two private schools before opening a kindergarten at home. She brought in some money for the family's support while supervising the household.[5]在开幼儿园之前，她的姐姐在两所私立学校教幼儿园，给家里带来了一些收入。。。
1912年6月，她的父亲离世了。17岁的玛丽巴克向杂志投稿，用她的画作努力地支撑着母亲和姐姐的生活。
Middle years中年生活
In the late 1920s, Barker began to doubt she was doing enough for the church and considered focusing solely on sacred works. Family and friends recommended she continue secular and sacred works, which she did.[8]
Barker continued to attend evening classes at the Croydon Art School between the 1920s and the 1940s, eventually receiving a teaching position. She took sketching trips to Amberley and Storrington in Sussex and to Cornwall and the southern coast with family and friends. She visited and stayed with artist Margaret Tarrant in Gomshall, Surrey and with family in Ugglebarnby, Near Whitby, North Yorkshire.
In 1940, the Barker's live-in maid retired, and Dorothy Barker closed her school at the back of the house in The Waldrons. She continued to supervise the household, and to give both her mother and sister the care they needed. Dorothy and her sister collaborated upon only two books: Our Darling's First Book and the Christian-themed, He Leadeth Me. In 1954 Dorothy Barker died of a heart attack. Barker was unable to pursue her art to any significant extent following her sister's death, as all the care of her aged mother devolved upon her, but she did manage to begin planning a stained glass window design in her sister's memory for St. Edmund's, Pitlake.[9]
1923年，她的画作《flower fairies of the spring》正式出版。更多人喜欢了她的花仙子。玛丽巴克同时开始了字母表精灵的创作。每个字母都会有一个对应的花仙，孩子们如此喜爱这些花精灵。这成为了玛丽巴克最为重要的创作。直到现在孩子们还在使用这些带有花仙精灵的字母表。
Cicely随后绘制了更多花仙系列:Flower Fairies of the Summer、Flower Fairies of the Autumn、Flower Fairies of the Winter、Fairies of the Trees、Flower Fairies of the Garden、Flower Fairies of the Wayside、The Flower Fairy Alphabet。除了花仙系列，Cicely也为童书绘制了插画，如A Little Book of Old Rhymes、Groundsel and Necklaces、以及The Lord of the Rushie River等。现在，除了印刷品外，Cicely的小花仙还被制作成各种礼品像框、瓷偶、水晶球等摆。花仙图案也在DIY的立体纸雕和十字绣等出现。
In 1924, the family moved into a four-level, semi-detached Victorian house at 23 The Waldrons.
第二次世界大战爆发，世界上成百上千万的儿童流离失所，玛丽巴克的花仙子带着治愈的翅膀，从英国的伦敦飞到了世界各地。玛丽巴克用一个花仙子的梦治愈了全世界的儿童。画中明丽的色彩，和欢乐的氛围，给予了每个孩子希望和憧憬。那些惨烈的画面逐渐淡没在她的画中。
童年时，Cicely非常喜欢Kate Greenaway插画中的仙女，喜欢画精灵花仙。她的花仙是一群有着各色蝴蝶翅膀的人间儿童，带着笑意在花丛中嬉戏。无论画的是哪个季节，画面色彩总是带着旧气的暖色调，一如深藏人心的美好传说。
疾病使她不能像其他的孩子一样，到学校里去读书。病中的玛丽巴克，渴望享受集体生活和知识殿堂带来的心灵愉悦。
但生活的残酷让这个愿望成为了她一生不能实现的一个梦想。她的父亲，钟情绘画，是croydon艺术团的成员。良好的家庭熏陶，给予了玛丽巴克最好的绘画启蒙，父亲为她请了家庭女教师，玛丽巴克得以在家中完成学业。
此时玛丽巴克喜欢上了凯特.格里纳韦（Kate Greenaway）的童书插画，她被这位维多利亚时代最著名的插画师，图文并茂的绘画形式吸引，同时内心被这些画的清新优雅感染。
玛丽巴克喜欢绘画，疾病使她不能拥有自由的童年，绘画却以另一种形式打开了她心灵深处的另一扇大门。她的脑海中总是飘飞着一些美丽的精灵，他们长着美丽的翅膀，在花间飞舞，他们都有阳光灿烂的容颜，在玩耍嬉戏，天真烂漫。这可能是世界上最动人的图画了！玛丽巴克开始了她的花仙子人生之旅。她想把这些精灵画了下来。父亲支持她的想法，带她到一所专业学校，学习了一段时间。
热爱让玛丽巴克忘却了病痛，花中的精灵们在她的笔下一个个诞生。他们的眼睛里映上世界的甜美，他们和她似乎在说话，感谢她把他们创造的这么美，他们也向看过他们的人们询问为什么你不开心，他们告诉这个世界，快乐是人生的源泉。
Later life and death[edit]
Detail of memorial to Cicely Mary Barker at Park Hill, Croydon
Barker's mother died in 1960, and, in 1961, Barker moved from 23 The Waldrons to 6 Duppas Avenue in Croydon. She restored a maisonette in Storrington, Sussex, England, bequeathed by her friend Edith Major, and named it St. Andrew's. After taking up residence, her health began to deteriorate. She was in and out of nursing and convalescent homes, and tended by relatives and friends.[10]
Barker died at Worthing Hospital on 16 February 1973, aged 77 years.[2] Two funeral services were held – one in Storrington Church and one in Barker's maisonette. Her ashes were scattered in Storrington churchyard.[10] In 1989, Frederick Warne, a division of Penguin Books since 1983, acquired the Flower Fairies properties.[11]
1973年2月16日，Mary Barker 在她的故乡逝世。直到现在全世界都还在使用这些花仙子的梦境。皮包，陶瓷，琉璃，花仙子们永恒的治愈着世界。
这就是玛丽巴克的故事，命运给予了她缺陷，她却用深情相拥治愈了全世界，让她和别人都成为完美。那么以此献给玛丽巴克和她的花仙子吧！
原文链接：http://www.jianshu.com/p/8c4ce9ea0aef
图片来源：Flower Fairy Prints by Cicely Mary Barker. All 168 Vintage flower fairies for sale.
Cicely Mary Barker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
官网——Flower Fairies · New website coming soon
参考文献 Bibliography
Laing, Jane (1995), Cicely Mary Barker and Her Art, Frederick Warne & Co., ISBN 0-7232-4051-5
