Archie Dickens ( christened Archie Bernard Dickins - 1907 – 28 November 2004), son of a bootmaker clicker, was a British

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

artist and later a

pin-up A pin-up model is a model (person), model whose mass-produced pictures and photographs have wide appeal within the popular culture of a society. Pin-up models are usually glamour photography, glamour, actresses, or fashion models whose pictures ...

artist who was born in Balham (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) in June 1907.Archie Dickens
thepinupfiles.com At a young age it became apparent that Archie and his older sister, Doris Louise, had some talent in drawing and it was intended that both he and his sister attend the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. However, due to a change in his father's circumstances, only his sister continued in further education whilst Archie, at the age of 14, was sent to work. After returning from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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where Dickens had spent much of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he purchased a house in Acacia Gardens in

West Wickham West Wickham is an area of South East Greater London, London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies south of Park Langley, Eden Park, London, Eden Park, Beckenham and Bromley town centre, west of Hayes, Bromley, Hayes and north o ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and worked in a purpose-built studio in the grounds. Dickens spent much of the early post-war years drawing pin-ups but in the 1960s and 1970s turned his artistic talents to greeting cards which could be seen in the greeting card shops across the UK at the time — having adopted the signature 'Gluckli' as the increasingly well-known identifying mark to Dickens' obvious Archie style. In March 2002

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, the then

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

, wore a

Paul Smith Paul Smith is the name of: Music * Paul Smith (composer) (1906–1985), American film music composer * Paul Smith (pianist) (1922–2013), Los Angeles jazz pianist * Paul Smith (English singer) (born 1979), vocalist and songwriter of British in ...

designer shirt that displayed one of Dickens' paintings on the cuff.

References

External links

Feminine beauty educational site

Archie Dickens EyeGate Gallery
1907 births 2004 deaths Pin-up artists {{UK-artist-stub