FOR all his manifold and much-loved work as artist and illustrator, Edward Ardizzone continues to be most fondly remembered for the picturebook series which began life in the 1930s. The first was written for his daughter Christianna, aka Lucy Brown, and the second for his son Philip, who, as Little Tim, was to become the hero of the series. For the younger son of the family, however, a different picture book was composed — probably commissioned circa 1948 by Ardizzone’s friend Graham Greene — Nicholas and the Fast Moving Diesel.

Nicholas Ardizzone was born in 1939, shortly before his father was appointed an official war artist. Schooling at Stonyhurst and the Oratory was not a success and he engaged in various avocations on the fringes of the art world before taking up cinematography. This took him to Australia for a number of years where he worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission and for Film Australia. After his return to England in 1978 he lectured for a while at the Film School of the London College of Printing.

With the death of his mother in 1992 (his father had died in 1979), Nicholas turned to the demanding task of cataloguing Edward Ardizzone’s work as a war artist, most of which was housed at the Imperial War Museum. Making impressive use of new electronic methods in taxonomy he produced a richly detailed account of his father’s drawings and paintings for which he was awarded a doctorate by the Royal College of Art. This work proved a useful foundation for further explorations and, with Francis Tinsley, he set about organising the 1999 exhibition at Camberwell College of Art, Running Away to Sea, which marked in grand style the celebrations of the centenary of his father’s birth the following year.

By this time he had also recognised the need for a full appraisal of Edward Ardizzone’s place as a printmaker and in 2000 he published his catalogue of the prints and lithographs, including menu designs and posters, that made up Edward Ardizzone’s world. The book’s success was enhanced by a touring exhibition, initiated at the London Institute Gallery, and Nicholas found himself in much demand as a lecturer and advisor on the subject of his father’s art.

He is survived by his wife, Antoinette, and by two sons from previous marriages.

Nicholas Ardizzone, student of the graphic arts, was born on September 8, 1939. He died on December 22, 2004, aged 65.