William Thomas Wood (1878 - 1958) - British artist

Mainly a landscape and flower painter, William Thomas Wood was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK on 17th June 1878. His parents were Thomas Wood, a builder, and his wife Anne, née Clarke,  He received his formal art education at the Regent Street Polytechnic and in Italy.

By 1900 William was living in Putney, London.  He exhibited his first work, entitled "Summer Heat" at the Royal Academy. In 1909, William married artist Camille Bernice Knowles. They had a son and a daughter. 

During the First World War, William served as a kite-balloon observer in the Royal Flying Corps. He  was appointed Official War Artist in The Balkans in 1918. Largely as a result of his war experience, Arthur J. Mann hired William to illustrate his book “The Salonika Front” ( A. & C. Black, London, 1920).

From 1900 – 1947 William exhibited over fifty-five works at the Royal Academy. He lived for most of his life in London, exhibiting his work frequently. William's work was extremely popular during his lifetime and he had a number of one-man shows at the Leicester Galleries, as well as receiving nine official public purchases. William was elected an Associate of the Royal Watercolor Society (R.W.S.) in 1913, and became a full member in 1918. He served as Vice President of the R.W.S. from 1923-1926 and became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (R.O.I.) in 1927. 

William died on 2nd June 1958.

Works by William T. Wood can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as the museums in Hull, Leeds, Manche­st­er and Perth.

WW1 works:

“Brought down in Flames”

“The great Fire, Salonica: The Famous White Tower in the Foreground” and “The Fire, Salonica: The Last Phase.” The Great Fire of Salonika occurred in 1917.

https://archive.org/details/salonikafront00mannuoft/page/n12
https://rehs.com/William_Thomas_Wood_Bio.html
Find my Past
https://rehs.com/William_Thomas_Wood_Bio.html

Felix Vallotton (1865 - 1925) – French artist

Self portrait 1923

Born Felix Edouard Vallotton in Lausanne, Switzerland on 28th December 1865, Felix studied art in Paris where he made his home, becoming a French citizen in 1900. 

When war broke out in 1914, Felix tried to volunteer for service in the French Army but was turned down because he was too old. In 1915–16 he returned to the medium of woodcut for the first time since 1901 to express his feelings for his adopted country in the series, “This is War”.

War painting by Felix Vallotton

In June 1917, the French Ministry of Fine Arts sent him, along with two other artists, for a three-week tour of the front lines. The sketches he produced became the basis for a group of paintings, The Church of Souain in Silhouette among them, in which he recorded with cool detachment the ruined landscape. The works made by the three artists were presented at the Musée du Luxembourg.

Verdun by Felix Vallotton

After the First World War, Felix travelled to different regions of France until 1924, continuing to paint.

In 1925, Félix Vallotton was hospitalized in Paris to have an operation but unfortunately he did not survive and died on 29th December 1925.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Vallotton

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for reminding me that I had not yet posted my write-up about Felix Vallotton

Mary Riter Hamilton (1873–1954) – Canadian Artist

AMary Riter Hamilton Exhibition Panel

Mary Riter Hamilton was commissioned by the Canadian War Amputees Association to go and paint what she saw of the desolation left by the conflict. In May 1919, Mary travelled to France, where she lived for three years in a tin hut among the members of the Chinese Labour Corps who cleared away the mess left by the conflict.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to live there back then? The water table had become contaminated early on in the war and food was scarce. As local people began to return to the area, they shared their food with Mary but it obviously was not like the food you can get if you visit the area now! Food was scarce and indigestible.

One of Mary's paintings on the Western Front

Nothing daunted, Mary painted on, in spite of being attacked by some of the members of the gangs of bounty hunters, etc that roamed the area in the immediate aftermath of the war. Her health suffered and she lost the sight of one eye.   Before she returned home, some of Mary's amazing paintings went on display in London and Paris. When she returned to Canada, Mary donated her 300+ paintings to the National Archives and never painted again. Photo: one of Mary Riter Hamilton's paintings on the Western Front.

You can see more of Mary's WW1 work on www.collectionscanada.gc.ca and find out more about the Canadian War Amps onwww.waramps.ca

"Trenches on the Somme" by Mary Riter Hamilton

David McLellan (1886 - 1962) – Official WW1 Photographer

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for bringing David McLellan to my attention

and setting me off on a voyage of discovery to find out more about him

David McLellan was born on 18th March 1886 in Islington, London, UK.  His parents were J.W. McLellan, an architectural photographer, and his wife, Mary Ann A. McLellan nee Haydon. David had the following siblings: Violet, b. 1885, Wallace, b. 1888 and Archie, b. 1889.  The family lived in Highbury Grove, Islington.

During the First World War, David joined the Royal Flying Corps as a photographer in 1915 and was promoted to Flight Sergeant in 1916. In 1917, he became an official war photographer for the “Daily Mail” and the “Daily Mirror” newspapers. One of only five official photographers on the Western Front, David’s task was to generate positive propaganda.


In 1917, David married Hilda Ellis..  By 1939, David and Hilda were living in Eastville Avenue, Hendon, Middlesex, UK, where David died in 1962.

Much of David McLellan's First World War work is in the safe-keeping of the Imperial War Museum in London. 

Sources:  Find my Past, Free BMD and
https://onthisdateinphotography.com/2017/11/08/november-8-joie-de-vivre/

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/reviews/great-war-photographic-narrative-review-mark-barnes.html

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/photograph-taken-during-the-battle-of-amiens-of-german-prisoners-of-war

Photograph by David McLellan - WAACs drawing petrol July 1918 - Western Front Etaples.

Margaret Rose Preston (29 April 1875 – 28 May 1963) - Australian artist and printmaker - Occupational Therapy Teacher WW1

With grateful thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for bringing Margaret and her work to my attention

Margaret Rose Preston 

Margaret Rose Preston was born on 29th April 1875 in Port Adelaide, Australia.   Her parents were David McPherson, a Scottish marine engineer, and his wife Prudence McPherson. Margaret was the first-born child;  her sister Ethelwynne was born in 1877.

In 1885, the family moved to Sydney and Margaret was educated at Fort Street Girls' High School.  She demonstrated an early aptitude for art, first with china painting. Margaret took private art classes with William Lister Lister, an Australian artist and seven times winner of the Wynne Prize for landscape art.

In 1899, Margaret set up her own studio and later taught at St Peter's College and at Presbyterian Ladies' College in Adelaide.

After the death of her mother, Margaret travelled to France in 1912 with Gladys Reynell (1881–1956), one of South Australia's earliest potters. When war was declared in August 1914, Margaret and Gladys moved to  Britain.  Margaret studied pottery and the principles of Modernist design at Roger Fry's Omega Workshops. Later, she and Gladys taught pottery and basket-weaving as therapy for shell-shocked soldiers at the Seale Hayne Military Hospital in Devonshire. During that time, Margaret exhibited her work in both London and Paris during this period.

Example of Margaret's artwork

In 1919, Margaret travelled to America for an exhibition at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On her way back to Australia, she met her future husband, William George "Bill" Preston, a recently demobilised Second Lieutenant of the Australian Imperial Force. They were married on 31st December 1919 and settled in Mosman, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Margaret died on 28th May 1963.

Source:  Wikipedia