Margaret Till (nee Levetus)

Margaret Till (nee Levetus) was a student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 and 1940. She studied illustration and her teachers included John Farleigh, Morris Kestelman, William Roberts and Bernard Meninsky. When the Central School closed in 1939 following the outbreak of World War Two (during which she drove an ambulance), she studied for a term at Reading School of Art where she was taught wood engraving by Robert Gibbings. She was awarded a Queens Scholarship during her last year at the Central.

She has taught art at the Sir John Cass School and Durham Choir School. She worked on a wide range of illustration commissions during her career, including book illustrations, book jackets and work for the Radio Times. Her wood engravings have been shown at exhibitions organised by the Society of Wood Engravers, of which she was a member.

In 2000 she presented a collection of her own work to the Museum and Contemporary Collection at Central Saint Martins. The material presented to the Collection by Margaret Till includes, alongside her own work, several pieces by some of her contemporaries at the Central School including members of the faculty such as Farleigh, Roberts and Kestelman, Noel Rooke and Anthony Froshaug, and by some of her fellow students.

For further information about her time as an art student, see the essay 'A student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, 1936-40', on pages 120-128 of 'Making Their Mark', published by Herbert Press, London, 2000.
Author: Sylvia Backemeyer