Mary Tourtel (1874 – 1948) was the creator of Rupert Bear. She studied art at the Sidney Cooper School of Art in Canterbury, and chose a career as a children's book illustrator. Later she married Herbert Tourtel, editor of The Daily Express.
Rupert Bear was first published in the 1920's as a nameless character in Little Lost Bear. Originally Rupert was a brown bear. But this was found to be too expensive to reproduce in print. To save money it was decided to make him a white bear! This dichotomy remains to this day, with Rupert being painted as a brown bear on Annual covers but as a white bear in the text.
Mary Tourtel wrote and illustrated the Rupert stories until 1935, when she was forced to stop due to poor eyesight. Although she remained involved with her creation until her death in 1948.
