Austin moved to London in 1906, where he studied art. His early works, including an illustrated Hamlet were Beardsleyesque in style. After 1925 he was influenced by Art Deco. Books Austen illustrated in this manner include Daphnis and Chloe and a printed version of As You Like it. His work for Radio Times includes the cover of the Easter 1934 edition.[1]
Austen used several techniques in his illustrations, including wood engraving and scraperboard, and changed styles to suit the text he was illustrating. He was also involved in advertising, producing adverts, several posters & numerous dust jacket designs. He was a friend of Alan Odle and Harry Clarke and exhibited with them at the St George's Gallery in 1925.
The novelist Dorothy Richardson, wrote about him in John Austen and the Inseparables (London: William Jackson, 1930).
Issue 27 of The Imaginative Book Illustration Society's Studies in Illustration contains a biography and full bibliography by Martin Steenson.
John Austen illustration for 'The infernal marriage' by Benjamin Disraeli (1929)John Austen illustration The Wine of Circe from 'The golden hind vol. 1 no. 2 (1923)
