Biographical Details of Artists. Artists' biographies. - These are for some of the artists whose work we show. They are in alphabetical order. Please scroll down and click on the required name..
Edmond Francois Aman-Jean Biography
George Barbier Biography
Edouard Chimot Biography
Cecil Collins Biography
Charles West Cope R.A. Biography
William Russell Flint Biography
Ethel Gabain Biography
Stephen Haine Biography
Sir Charles Holroyd R.E. Biography
Louis Icart Biography
Sean Jefferson Biography
Ray Nestor Biography
Paul Adolphe Rajon Biography
Charles Haslewood Shannon Biography
Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen Biography
Anthony Tewfik Biography
Marcel Vertes Biography
Jane Wisner Biography
Aman-Jean, Edmond Francois. (1860 - 1936)
Displayed on our website as part of our stock - 'Sous les Fleurs' (Beneath the Flowers)
Aman-Jean was an artist with substantial connections to the Symbolist movement. He knew Josephin Peladan and exhibited in the first two Salons de la Rose + Croix in 1892 and 93, designing the poster for the second Salon. He had close friendships with some of the Symbolist poets and knew Mallarme and painted a portrait of Verlaine (now in the Musee de Metz).
His training was at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (from 1880) and at the atelier of Henri Lehmann. As a young artist he helped Puvis de Chavannes square up his large decorative painting, 'Le Bois Sacre' (The Sacred Grove), which was exhibited at the Salon of 1884. At Lehmann's atelier he met Seurat and the two men became friends.
Aman-Jean made many pictures of women, depicting femininty in a Symbolist fashion, as representing mystery and inner worldliness. His subjects are often quiet, singular figures. The lithograph shown on this website, 'Sous les Fleurs', is such a picture, the design being so as to even cloud the individual features of the face, though the decorative floral patterns around it are displayed with a contrasting clarity.
The critic Roger Marx wrote in 1895 that Aman-Jean painted these subjects "with the all-embracing tenderness of a Baudelaire or a Maeterlinck....the unfathomable mystery of their gaze and their distant smiles betray troubled thoughts taking wing".
Andre Beaunier wrote in Art et Decoration in 1902 - "He (Aman-Jean) wants his art to express a general idea of the Universe, the beauty of which is revealed by the happy combination of colours and the perfection of gestures. He does not conceive of human beings as consciously isolated from everything else, but rather he admires in them the most vital and synthetic expression of the Universe, a Universe aware of itself and of its own beauty".
Aman-Jean visted Italy several times and the influence changed his use of colour from more subdued tones to brighter colours. This was suited to his increasing use of the pastel medium.
He died in Paris in 1936
Barbier, George. (1882 - 1932)
Displayed on our website as present or past stock - 'Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky'- 7 separate pochoirs from this series / 'Les Bienfaits de la Paix' - pochoir / 'Les Pleureuses' - pochoir
Barbier, one of the greatest exponents of late Art Nouveau / Art Deco graphic imagery, excelled and was prolific in his work as an illustrator and designer for contemporary fashions, posters, magazine covers, and the theatre. He designed costumes for the Folies-Bergeres, the Casino de Paris and, a special source of inspiration for him - the Ballets Russes, for which he was also a set designer. On this website we have, alongside other Barbier works, several of his dramatic depictions of Nijinsky dancing some of his most famous Ballets Russes roles. Barbier has become now an iconic figure in respect to the visual culture of the '20s and '30s. The stylized, decorative nature of his work has been increasingly utilized in the last few years by the producers of greetings cards, in fact it is probably unusual now not to find a Barbier image in any specialist card shop.
Much of George Barbier's work was created through the medium of the Pochoir Print. In this method a stencil is used, allowing the artist to hand colour the print using watercolour or gouache. The technique was especially popular in the earlier part of the twentieth century.
Chimot, Edouard (1880-1959)
To view all works by Edouard Chimot displayed on our website as either present or past stock click here: - Edouard Chimot Pictures
In a similar vein to his contemporary Louis Icart, Chimot was an artist of the female figure, of style, of eroticism, and was of the essence of art deco imagery. He was born in Lille in 1880 and moved to Paris in his early twenties. He did not make his mark as an artist at this time though. He worked in other occupations whilst drawing in his spare time and also teaching himself the art and techniques of print making. It was after military service in the First World War that Chimot returned to Paris and really made his mark, not only as an artist and illustrator, but also as an editor in publishing. An etching on our website 'Hommage sympathique a M. Delas' is probably from this period, though could also be an earlier work.
1920s Paris was effervescing into high times and into Art Deco. Around the beginning of this decade he received a number of commissions to illustrate books with his original etchings, the first of these being the limited edition and rare 'Les Après-Midi de Montmartre' (1919), with fourteen etchings by Chimot and a text by René Baudu. The images in this were of "petits filles perdus" and had already been made by him just before the outbreak of the war. Amongst others there were also 'La Montée aux Enfers' (The Ascent into Hell) and 'Les Soirs d'Opium' (Opium Evenings) written by Chimot's friend the Symbolist poet and writer Maurice Magre. Magre was described in Le Figaro as "an anarchist, an individualist, a sadist, an opium addict......a great writer. You have to read his work".(!) Clearly Chimot was well and naturally connected with late Symbolist and Decadent culture and his own artwork is sometimes described as Post-Symbolist. Usually however there is not the right kind of imaginative content in his work to mark him out as a Symbolist. He is very much an Art Deco artist. Another notable publication including his illustrations was 'L'Enfer' (Hell) by Henri Babusse. In this were twenty four etched plates by Chimot. With its theme of voyeurism the novel engendered scandal when it was translated into English.
In 1921 Chimot founded a magazine called 'La Rosere: Revue des Arts et des Lettres'. Though this only lasted for one issue it was a sign of what was to come, as alongside his prolific work as an artist he increasingly became a presence in the world of publishing, beginning with Les Editions d'Art Devambez - producing limited edition art books. Some he illustrated himself such as 'Les Chansons de Bilitis' (1925) by Pierre Louys, a collection of erotic poetry with a predominantly lesbian content. (Other artists were also involved with different publications of the book, amongst them Louis Icart.) Also 'Les Belles de Nuit', again by Magre (1929), and Paul Verlaine's 'Parallelement' (1931).
The 1920s saw Chimot at his most innovative and successful. In 1931 he was the subject of a monograph published by Maurice Rat with his old friend Maurice Magre producing the preface. In 1929 Chimot at age 49 had been at the hight of his career, but then came the Wall Street Crash and along with the collapse of the financial system came a corresponding collapse in the desire and market for his work. Generally it is considered that Chimot's output never again matched up to this period.
With the arrival of the 1930s and then the looming Second World War, Chimot and his young wife Loulou moved to Barcelona in Spain. He was very fond of Spain and had spent time there whilst working on his commission to illustrate another of Pierre Louys' books 'La Femme et le Pantin'. (This is a novel that in more recent times has been adapted for film, on one occasion starring Bridgitte Bardot, and also provided the narrative for Bunuel's 'That Obscure Object of Desire' (1977).) The novel begins with a carnival scene in Seville and centres upon an Andalucian, flamenco femme fatale. Chimot's illustrations, five lithographs, were printed in the 1937 publication of the book. (A Chimot work, in watercolour and crayon, showing this Spanish influence can be seen on this website 'Nude Figure Study with Flamenco Dress'.)
Chimot later returned to Paris where he died in 1959.
Collins, Cecil
To view all works by Cecil Collins displayed on our website as either present or past stock click here: - Cecil Collins Pictures or to view individual pictures click on a title: 'Anima & Animus'; 'The Great Happiness'; 'Untitled Cloaked Figure'; 'Studies of Seated Women'; 'Landscape (1964)'; 'Standing Figure'
There is on this website a full article on Cecil Collins written by one of the main collectors of his work. To access and read this article click here ARTICLES & COMMENTARIES
Cecil Collins was one of the very greatest English creators of Visionary Art, as a painter and as a print maker. He was strongly influenced by William Blake and by the American artist Mark Tobey. Collins taught at Dartington Hall, Devon, and for over twenty years at the Central School of Art leaving a teaching legacy of inspiration and enduring gratitude amongst many of his students.
A retrospective exhibition of his prints was held at the Tate Gallery in 1981 and a full retrospective in 1989, the year of his death.
Cope, Charles West. RA. (1811 - 1890)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - 'Milton's Dream' - etching
The following details are first of all centered on Cope's professional life, but then include some more anecdotal references by him to the Etching Club.
Charles West Cope was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1811. He became a Royal Academy student in 1828 and was a winner of a Royal Academy Schools silver medal in 1831. He travelled, visiting Italy 1833 - 1835, and America and Canada in 1876.
In 1843 there was a competition to commission artists to create the new decorations at the Palace of Westminster. Cope won one of the three first prizes, and subsequently painted several frescoes there. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1843, a full Academician in 1848, and Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy 1866 - 1875. His subject matter was largely from literary, historical, genre and biblical sources. He died in 1890.
Re. The Etching Club. Cope was a founder member of the Etching Club. By that time print making had become a matter that largely consisted in the exact reproductions for commercial use of old master paintings. So a dearth of original work in that medium. The founder members of the Etching Club set out to remedy this situation. For instance for a period of time they chose poems to illustrate in their own fashion and according to their own imaginations; ( the relevant picture shown on our website is such a work - 'Milton's Dream' Cope's etching from a sonnet by Milton).
It was very much a social as well as a professional organisation. The original members that Cope cites are Townsend, Fearnley, Richard Redgrave, S. Tollhouse, and Charles Lewis. Later membership included Millais, Holman Hunt, and Samuel Palmer.
The following anecdotal recordings By Charles Cope himself are warmly informative.
"During the time I resided in Russell Place, the Etching Club, which became so well known afterwards, was founded. It was at first only a small society. We met at each other's rooms in turn, once a month, and experimented in etching for an hour or two, and then had a simple supper, limited to bread and cheese. This arrangement soon broke down, for it was found that we had not conveniences, such as proper tables and lights, and we were apt to spill the acid and spoil table-covers etc.
......Subsequently we etched at home, and brought impressions of our plates to the meetings, where they were freely criticised.
......After a time we made a selection from the etchings and published them privately in numbers; and later we took up poems to illustrate.
......Our profits were never very great, although I have received as much as 60 for one etching. The great attraction consisted in the pleasant meetings, where brotherly kindness abounded, and where pleasure was ballasted by a little business and occasional cheques. At one time the club dined at the King's Arms, Kensington, but latterly they dined at each other's houses, and business was done afterwards.
......In time nearly all in the Etching Club became members of the Royal Academy and their evening meals afford a fair test of their growing prosperity; from the modest supper of bread and cheese in lodgings to the comfortable additions of cold meats, these developing into dinners at an inn, and , lastly, to sumptuous repasts in good private houses, and even palaces, waited on by flunkies.
......Of course, this little account of the etching club relates to a good many years, so that from very young men we got to be decidedly old, but yet with some friskiness left in us."
(From Reminiscences of Charles West Cope RA. by his son Charles Henry Cope MA. Richard Bentley & Son 1891).
It could also be mentioned that Cope from his memoirs can be seen to have notably pursued another 'art', again with great enthusiasm and skill, that of angling.
Flint, Sir William Russell. RA, RE. (1880 - 1969)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - 'Frileuse' - Drypoint etching / 'Eve' - Drypoint etching / 'Aragonese String Makers' - Drypoint etching / 'Bagno della Marchesa' Drypoint etching / 'Clatter and Whirl, Granada' - Drypoint etching / 'A Spanish Christening' Drypoint etching
Sir William Russell Flint is most popularly known for his watercolours; light and airy, sun-filled, often exotic scenes.He had a taste and a natural talent for the pleasurable rendition of the sensual. He was by no means only a watercolourist though. He produced large scale works in oil, some of which can be viewed in major public collections, and he was also a consummate draughtsman and etcher. These latter forms benefit from the keen influence of his years as a young man when he worked largely as an illustrator. The female form is the predominant subject matter for him in these media, with many drawings of nudes. In etching, he took to the technique of drypoint, in which, rather than acid being used as the agent to etch into the copper plate, a needle is applied directly to the copper. This enhances the ability of the artist to vary the intensity of line, so that the sensual line of Flint's figure drawing could also be a prime factor in his production of an original print. He said - "...at a single stroke the line can be varied from a hair's breadth to a deep ridged furrow". His period of production of drypoints stated in 1928 and in the main, lasted for just a few years.
Flint was born 1880 in Edinburgh, where he grew up and studied at The Royal Institute of Art. For six years he was apprenticed to a firm of lithographers. In 1900 he moved to London where he had varied work, mainly as an illustrator, including four years with 'The Illustrated London News'. The 1914 - 18 war interrupted his developing life as a freelance artist. Flint served in the Royal Airforce and became a captain. After the war, through the fifty years until his death age 89, Flint developed a very successful and lucrative career. He was elected a full Royal Academician in 1933 and in the same year was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. He received a knighthood in 1947.
Gabain, Ethel (1883-1950)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - 'Le Bain'
Born in Le Havre, France in 1883, and with a French father and Scottish mother, Ethel lived in France during her childhood and adolescence, though she came to a boarding school in England for her education from age fourteen. This was Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire, where her developing skill at art was noticed, as she was invited to paint a portrait of the headmistress. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art and from 1906 was at Central School of Arts and Crafts and attending lithography classes under F.E.Jackson. Additionally, at the Chelsea Polytechnic, she was able to achieve the independence that came with learning how to operate a printing press for herself. Lithography was to become, particularly in the earlier part of her career, a medium in which she was particularly distinguished and also financially successful. In 1908 she returned to Paris where she took a small studio and concentrated on producing lithographs. This began a period in which she often took as a subject a young female, alone, and with an air of melancholy. In this choice of subject matter she was continuing a tradition that had developed from Romanticism into the pre-occupations of many from the Symbolist movement with the inner world and the feminine. 'Le Bain' from 1911 on this website is such a work. A variation on this theme followed later in her her career when she produced a number of works using the image of a young and melancholic bride and, in similar mood, she also took as source material the tragic and romantic tale of Pierrot the clown, passionately but hopelessly in love with a beautiful young ballerina called Columbine.
Gabain became one of the first members of the 'Senefelder Club' under its president Joseph Pennell and contributed six lithographs to its initial exhibition in 1910. The 'Senefelder Club' existed to revive and promote the art of Lithography. Writing in an article published in 'The Studio' in 1914 Pennell stated -
"In the five years of our history we have seen artistic lithography again restored to its right rank among the fine arts; we have succeeded in adding to our membership such practising artists as Anthony Barker, H. Becker, F. Brangwyn, John Copley, Miss Gabain, John Mclure Hamilton, Miss Hope, Spencer Pryse, D. A. Wehrshmidt, in fact all the artist lithographers of Great Britain who have made a name for themselves, save Rothenstein, Shannon.... (and there are a number of examples of Charles Shannon lithographs on this website).... and Sullivan, and we hope ere long they will be amongst us as they are with us"......"we are proudest of the fact that, through the Club, we have in this country helped to bring about the revival of artistic lithography."
As well as her very successful published editions of individual lithographs, Ethel was commisioned to provide lithographic illustrations , notably for two literary publications - 'Jane Eyre', limited to a special edition of 495 copies and published by Leon Piton of Paris, and in 1924 'The Warden' by Anthony Trollope.
The revival of the market for lithographs was not to last and Ethel expediently turned her attention to oil painting. Again, she achieved success and in this medium is best known for her portraits of theatrical figures - Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Flora Robson, Lilian Baylis were among her notable subjects.
Ethel's career shows a marked ability to be able to successfully change and adapt. She was commissioned to be a war-time artist during the second world war, making very effective paintings and prints, particularly of women engaged in various types of war work. Some of these can be seen at London's Imperial War Museum.
Ethlel met the artist John Copley at the Senefelder club and became married to him in 1913. They lived first in Kent at 'The Yews' in Longfield, and thus a Yew tree formed the design for a small remarque that ahe came to use in the lower margin of her prints, and sometimes too she would use the image of a pergola or sundial, also associated with their home. Later the family moved to Hampstead Square in North London and in 1925 moved to Italy for over two years as a help to John's poor health. Both John and Ethel died in 1950.
Haine, Stephen (born 1942)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - Stephen Haine Contemporary Work
As will be seen from his biography, Stephen Haine's creative life has flowed through a rich and varied terrain. He started drawing and painting seriously in 1990 under the guidance of the artist Penny de Haas Curnow. Subsequently he started printing in classes at the Byam Shaw School of Art. From 2002-2004 he did a two-year Diploma in Fine Art at the Hampstead School of Art. In France he met and worked with a printmaker, Eric Langlamet, and this led particularly to his work in woodcuts.
He works primarily as a painter in oils and as a print maker. His work is often figurative and has a strong narrative and symbolic element. Both prints and paintings are often done in themed series. Common to all is an attempt to discover the essence of a subject caught in a moment of time. His work is often informed by his professional experience of our human nature and may be combined with a certain amount of irony.
Stephen grew up in the West Midlands on the edge of Birmingham and the industrial landscape of the Black Country, but spent most of his holidays in the Cotswolds where his father came from a genteel but impoverished farming family. An early influence was the sight of bombed buildings in the heart of Birmingham. His father was a carpenter and metalwork teacher and many of his early practical and creative skills came from his father. His mother was musical and he played the violin from an early age.
After attending a Black Country Grammar School, he went to Cambridge University to read Mathematics and then Theology. A year was then spent working as a labourer in the Sheffield steel industry. Following that he went to Oxford University and did a second degree in Theology and a year's Pastoral and Counselling training. He was then ordained minister in the Congregational Church (later United Reformed Church) and worked in Reading for thirteen years as a minister, counsellor and Industrial Chaplain. Following this for eight years he ran Youth Counselling services initially in Uxbridge and then in Central London. In 1980 he also undertook psychoanalytic psychotherapy training and since 1987 has worked as a psychotherapist in private practice. Currently he works part-time as a psychotherapist both in London and Reading combining it with his work as an artist. Two months of the year he spends in the mountains of the French Auvergne where he has both a home and a studio.
We are very pleased to have a selection of his work showing here on our website in the 'Contemporary Art' section.
Stephen has also exhibited at: Hampstead School of Art, Burgh House in Hampstead London, University Women's Club, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Caversham Open Studios in Reading, Henley Festival of Arts, and he has had a number of commissions, most recently a large oil painting of the port of Piran in Slovenia.
Holroyd, Sir Charles RE (1861-1917)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - 'Nymphs by the Sea'
Holroyd was both a practicing artist - a painter and an etcher, and a senior figure in the Edwardian art world - he was the first Keeper of the Tate Gallery 1897-1906, and was Director of the National Gallery 1906-1916. His paintings were mainly historical subjects, including religious scenes, and portaits. Originally from Leeds, he moved to London to study art at the Slade where he was taught by Alphonse Legros. Under Legros he honed his considerable skills as an etcher and became a Fellow of the Society of Painter - Etchers in 1885. His paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1885 and 1895.
It is in some of his etchings, that Charles Holroyd entered into the territory of Symbolism, which was in its prime during his most active period as an artist. The etching currently on display on this website 'Nymphs by the Sea' is a case in point. The subject matter is of the mythological and the romantic, the arcadian ideal so often treated by those such as Puvis de Chavannes and Arnold Bocklin.
Icart, Louis (1880-1950)
Displayed from our stock on this website - 'Open Cage'
When Louis Icart returned to Paris after his service in the infantry in the Great War of 1914-18 the art and fashion world were about to effervesce into the accute stylishness of art deco. Icart was to become one of those artists, and he was already much influenced by the profession of fashion design, who would both picture the era and in doing so would make his own contribution to its distinctive visual style. Shown from our stock on this website is an etching from the post-war period - 'Open Cage'.
Louis was born in 1880 in Toulouse, Southern France. His father was a banker and wished him to follow in his footsteps, but Louis became increasingly fascinated by the arts, initially with a love of the theatre. In 1907 he made the move to Paris where he developed his skills in fine art, through drawing and painting and also through learning print making. This latter medium was to become tremendously important for Icart's career. His etchings became increasingly popular in Europe and the USA giving him an iconic status in respect to the art deco era, a status that remains to this day.
His active participation in the creation of fashion design married well with his increasingly independent expression of the female figure, absolutely the source of his inspiration and the main subject of his art. The clothes often play an important part in the composition, whether his model is fully clothed or, as sometimes later in his career, less so, and even when the apparel is scanty - style is the essence; and the style was art deco. So, for Icart, these factors converge: his love of drawing, of the female form, of fashion in feminine clothing, and most opportune for the expression of these, this onset of the art deco period with its huge flair, its innovation in clothes for women and its eroticism.
Icart was stylistically an independent figure, but had his influences, notably the French Roccoco painters, Watteau, Fragonnard and Boucher. These are artists who had aims and preoccupations similar to his own: the female subject, her clothes, beauty and style, though, of course, manifesting in a style of a previous era.
Louis lived in New York for a period in the 1920s where he also achieved considerable professional success. In 1914 he had married Fanny Volmers a beautiful and lively eighteen year old, often a model for the figure in his pictures. It was a marriage that lasted. He died in Paris in 1950. His pictures, particularly his etchings, which he used to colour individually by hand, remain very evident in the art world and as formost examples of the artistic style of the period.
Jefferson, Sean. (Born 1957)
We have a continual selection of Sean Jefferson works on paper on our website - Sean Jefferson works on paper
Sean Jefferson, born Woolwich 1957, was educated at Bexleyheath Comprehensive and graduated in microbiology at Imperial College London in 1978. Fascinated by irrational thought and its associated art, he attended seances and studied the 19th Century magical revival, in his view the hidden hand behind Art Nouveau and Symbolism. Starting his own artistic quest, his first exhibited work was at the Portal Gallery in 1985, followed by a one person exhibition at the Garden Gallery, New Cross Gate.
He went on to have solo exhibitions in Moscow, Amsterdam, North London, Mayfair and numerous mixed exhibitions including the RA Summer Exhibition, Art of the Imagination (Mall Galleries), and the Academicians Exhibition - having been made a South West Academician. His most recent solo exhibition was held at Dimbola Lodge on The Isle of Wight.
In 2001 Jefferson moved to the inspirational environment of North Cornwall where he became involved with the work of The Brotherhood of Ruralists particularly through his relationship with a founder member, Graham Ovenden, and has subsequently exhibited in 'May Magic' at Barley Splatt Ruralist Gallery, and the SW Academy. After seven years in Cornwall he has returned to live and work in Kent.
At Talisman Fine Art we have worked closely with Jefferson for over ten years, including presenting three solo exhibitions of his work. We now specialise in his works on paper, particularly his drawings, and there is always a good selection on this website including recent work. Our connection with him is particularly through our mutual involvement with the Symbolist Art movement of the latter part of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th. This historical area of artistic endeavour has been an inspiration to Jefferson, and he has become one of the foremost 'Contemporary' Symbolists at work in the present day. Though he owes much to the Symbolists, the artists of the Art Nouveau period, the Ruralists, and to the Victorian fairy painters, he at the same time expresses his own very distinct and recognisable style and vision.
(Sean Jefferson's studio is in an old forge in the picturesque village of Farningham in Kent. From here, as a qualified teacher of fine art, he also provides tuition in painting and drawing. Please contact us for further details of available classes).
Nestor, Ray (1888 - 1988)
Displayed on our website as current or past stock - 'Coral Reef at Nyali, Mombasa' / 'Cork Tree in Bloom and Forest, Kipkarren' / 'Forest on my Farm, Kenya' / The Buried City (1942 - Ruins of Gedi in Dense Forest at Malindi, Kenya) / Untitled Watercolour 1., Kenya / 'New Nairobi Market (Early 1930s)'
Ray Nestor, worked in all mediums, for many years depicting scenes from his beloved Kenya, and then in the latter part of his life, having left Africa and retired to Sussex, images from English life.
Ray Nestor was born in 1888 in India. His first arrival in East Africa was in 1912, but the First World War followed shortly after and he fought in France where he was severely wounded. On returning to Africa he resumed work as a government surveyor until he and his wife Dorothy decided to farm in Kenya. They settled in the beautiful Nandi Hills in western Kenya. Here Nestor prolifically drew and painted the African scenery, wildlife and people. Many of his works were of the local Nandi tribespeople whom he depicted with the greatest sensitivity both in detailed painting and pen and ink, and also filling his sketchbooks with beautiful drawings.
Nestor was also an accomplished landscape and wild animal artist, usually in watercolour, and also a portrait artist, carrying out a number of portrait commissions for prominent members of the famed Muthaiga Club in Kenya (subject of the film 'White Mischief'). In 1988 when Nestor was 100 years old, The Fountain Press published a book of his work and memoirs - 'An African Sketchbook' with an introduction by Elspeth Huxley.
Nestor and his wife left Africa for England in 1950 and he continued to paint and draw with the scenes now being from London city life, the countryside, portraits and horse racing.
Ray Nestor has a permanent exhibition of his work in The Margaret Thatcher Library at Moi University, Kenya.
Rajon, Paul Adolphe (1842/3-1888)
Displayed on our website as either current or past stock 'After the Masquerade'
Rajon was born in Dijon France. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Isidore Alexandre Augustin Pils and during this period maintained himself by working as a photographer. He had previously helped his brother with his photography business. He first showed his work as an artist at the Salon in 1865. In Paris he counted amongst his friend and aquaintances Emile Boiluin, Philippe Burty, Felix Bracquemond and Louis-Charles-Auguste Steinheil. Rajon studied the technique of etching with Leon Gaucherel and with Leopold Flameng and this became his favoured medium. As with the case of the etching currently showing on this website 'After the Masquerade' Rajon showed great expertise, as well as gaining financial success, in the reproduction in etching form of popular paintings. These were published in journals such as 'Gazette des Beaux-Arts', 'L'Art' and Lodon's 'The Studio' and by the Goupil Galleries. He was also a portaitist, making etchings and lithographs of contemporary figures from the arts and literature such as Tennyson, Turgenev and Theophile Gautier.
Rajon found a productive niche for himself in Britain where, from 1873, he came to spend six months of each year exhibiting at The Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Manchester City Art Gallery.
Rajon was awarded medals at the Salons of 1869, 70, 73, and at the Exposition Universelle of 1878.
Shannon, Charles Haslewood RA. (1863 - 1937)
The work of Charles Haslewood Shannon (the middle name sometimes spelt Hazelwood) is held in major public collections in Britain, Europe, and the USA including the London Tate Gallery. He was included in the seminal Tate Gallery exhibition 'Symbolism in Britain 1860 - 1910'. His art can be associated with Late Pre-Raphaelitism, Symbolism, and the Aesthetic Movement. Together with his life long partner the artist Charles Ricketts, he published an influential arts periodical 'The Dial' (1889 - 1897) and founded The Vale Press which specialised in illustrated books of fine quality. The two were also responsible for creating one of the best known illustrated books of the late 19th century, 'Daphnis and Chloe' (1893). Particularly admiring of Titian and showing an influence of Rossetti, Shannon produced some sumptuous oil paintings.
He is though particularly known as one of the finest lithographic artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In some of the lithographs there can also be seen the influence of the great French Symbolist Puvis de Chavannes. Shannon had several themes that he favoured, for instance figures on the sea shore, the bath house, swimmers, females preparing themselves for the day. Male and female nudes often feature, as does the element of water. Examples of these themes can be seen on this website. In his lithographs Shannon would often print different coloured versions of the same image. As well as the use of black ink, he favoured red/brown and dark green. His subject matter and treatment is often romantic, enigmatic, clearly in the tradition of the Symbolists. He produced 109 lithographs and all of them can be viewed in the Print Room at the British Museum. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the University of Texas are also amongst those outside the UK with fine collections of the artist's lithographic work.
Steinlen, Théophile-Alexandre (1859 - 1923)
Steinlen moved to Paris from Swizerland at the age of twenty. Though largely untrained as an artist, he became one of the leading illustrators of his time and a celebrated designer of the Art Nouveau poster. His work was also often oriented towards his views on contemporary society and his concern for the disadvantaged and impoverished. These views were radical enough to sometimes require a pseudonym as the signature on the picture.
A creator of 382 original lithographs and 115 etchings, Steinlen was very influential and highly regarded in his own time, and fellow artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and a young Picasso were admirers. Steinlen also had a penchant for producing rather special images of cats.
Tewfik, Anthony (b. 1955)
Anthony Tewfik is a painter, sculptor and producer of fine drawings. After Art College he worked as an illustrator for many national and international publications, before pursuing a career as a 'society' portrait artist, exhibiting regularly at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. His output now covers a variety of subjects, though the human face and figure remain essential to his work, very often placed in imaginative settings.
Tewfik spent his childhood years in Devon up to the age of eleven when he moved to Cornwall. He studied initially at the Plymouth College of Art and Design and then at Epsom School of Art and Design where he was awarded a First Class Diploma in Fine Art / Painting. As a student he received the coveted David Murray Landscape Scholarship and the British Institution Award; both from The Royal Academy of Arts. He was also a finalist (London and SE) in the Windsor & Newton Student Awards.
On returning to Cornwall, Tewfik set up the Peak Rock Studios and Gallery in Polperro, where he worked and exhibited through the 1990s. He remains living and working in Cornwall and now concentrates on fine sculpture as well as painting and drawing.
Exhibitions include: The Royal Society of British Artists, The Hunting Group, The Lyn Painter Stainers, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The New English Art Club, The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. In 2003 one of his paintings was included in twenty shortlisted finalists from over ten thousand entries in the NOT The Turner Prize. His work is held in many collections in the UK and abroad.
Vertes, Marcel (1895-1961)
Marcel Vertes was a Hungarian born painter, printer and illustrator, whose imagery whilst in Paris during the 1920s, was one of the most defining and exemplary of that exciting period. He made many pictures of women, often depicted stylishly of their time, along with scenes of the circus, cabaret, and the street life of Paris.
With the advent of the second world war he moved to the USA and settled in New York where he consolidated his considerable reputation and extended his work into the area of the cinema, being a consultant to the producers and set designers for the 1952 award winning movie 'Moulin Rouge'.
Vertes returned to Paris for the last years of his life. He died in 1961.
Wisner, Jane (1944-2006)
Jane Wisner is currently our 'Featured Artist' and so we have a large selection of her work on display on the website. To view all - Jane Wisner Pictures
We also have a short article by Jane on the influence upon her of the artist and inspiring teacher Cecil Collins. To read this click here - Articles & Commentaries
Jane Wisner was able to convey in her landscape pictures a devotion and sensitivity to nature that follows a ripe and distinctive tradition in British Art. She was not only a landscape artist, but the greater number of her works were of this kind. To varying degrees, these pictures, also show that the artist's 'inner' landscape was dialectally in relation to the scenes that she observed without. Her travels took her to many places in the world and her experiences of connection with the land were vivid and remained as a rich resource for her.
Jane worked in most media, but mainly on paper with pen and ink, watercolour, and etching. Though on some occasions a picture might have been completed in the studio she was happiest working from nature, and an unusual thing, even drawing straight onto the plate in situ for her etchings. The pen and ink drawings show a unique sensitivity and capacity to express through line - "Every single mark that goes on to the paper must be vital and contribute to the whole. Each mark must have its own power". And in overall respect to her work - "That it is possible to distil an energy and contain it within line and colour on paper, and that those contemplating the result are recipients of the same energy, excites me profoundly".
Jane was brought up in the middle of Kent and attended Ravensbourne College of Art and Design. She travelled widely including eighteen months in the USA, a three month period in Casa Manilva, Andalucia, Spain as an artist in residence (1995), and three months painting in Hawaii (1997). She exhibited widely and on many occasions. As a an illustrator she contributed to many publications and her work as a fine artist is in private collections throughout Europe, USA, Africa and Australia.
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