The Deserted Garden

Ronald William “Josh” Kirby was born in Waterloo, Liverpool and trained at Liverpool City School of Art, 1942-9. He began his career producing film posters, moving on to book and cover art for magazines. Some of his best-known work includes the first cover for Ian Fleming’s Moonracker and for Monty Python’s Life of Brian and his Ray Bradbury and Terry Pratchett book jackets. His work is probably most familiar to many for his cover illustrations for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Group exhibitions included Portal Gallery, Bluecoat Chambers in Liverpool, the Institute of Contemporary Art and Brighton Art Gallery. He held a solo show at the DLI Museum & Durham Art Gallery in 1995. A major retrospective exhibition, Out of this World: The Art of Josh Kirby, was held at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 2007. This early work dates to the late 1940s when Kirby was still living and working in Liverpool.