A signed watercolour by Josephine Ghilchick (née Matley Duddle) showing Church Lane in Chiswick, West London.

Josephine Matley Duddle was the daughter of James Duddle, a musician and college student tutor from Lancashire, and his wife Ellen. In 1915, she married the artist and cartoonist David Louis Ghilchik who had been her fellow student at the Manchester School of Fine Art and the couple settled in London.

Josephine became most popularly noted for her postcards featuring children and fairies, most of her work being produced in the period between World War I and World War II. She wrote and illustrated two books – “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” (1916) and “Kittles of Toy Town” (London; New York: R. Tuck & Sons). However, there was another side to her art. Working in both watercolours and in oils, she belonged to the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Society of Women Artists. Her ‘higher works’ were usually signed in her married name of ‘Josephine Ghilchik’.

She lived and worked in London and exhibited widely including at at the Walker Art gallery and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.  Her work is in public and private collections both in the UK and abroad.