Leslie Fraser Standish Hore, MC, MiD (1870 - 1935) - artist

With thanks to Catherine Avak for finding this artist for us

"Early Morning, Suvla Bay, Oct. 1915"

Born in Murree, Bengal, India on 5th August 1870, Leslie was educated in England before going up to Oxford University, where he studied law in Corpus Christi College.  He became a barrister and solicitor.  In 1895, Leslie travelled to Tasmania. He married Emily Josephine Lacy in Hobart, Tasmania on 30th March 1896.  The couple lived in Davey Street, Denison, South Hobart.

Leslie joined the AIF 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment with the rank of Captain in Gallipoli on 26th May 1915. Wounded during the battle of the Nek on 7th August 1915, by then Major Hore, he rejoined his unit on the 28th September 1915.

Leslie then accepted the post of Brigade Machine Gun Officer of the 6th Infantry Brigade in France.

Leslie was awarded the Military Cross on 18th June 1916 at Pozieres.  His final rank was Temporary Lieutenant Colonel with the Australian Machine Gun Corps.   On 7th November 1917, Leslie was Mentioned in Despatches.  He returned to Tasmania in February 1919.

Leslie died in Kavieng district of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea on 1st September 1935.  His occupation was listed as planter.

The Citation for Leslie's medal

Catherine Avak posted the above image on Facebook - 

Rupert Brooke Remembered added a new photo to the album World War I.

“Early Morning Gallipoli” Suvla Bay October 1915” by Captain Leslie Hore

and also on the Artists of the First World War Facebook page.

Catherine says: "You can find more drawings of the Gallipoli campaign, which I found to have more immediacy than any photographs I’ve seen, as well as further information about the artist at": https://artsandculture.google.com/story/fgXB7Y5BQBwHJg

The Battle of the Nek (Turkish: Kılıçbayır Muharebesi) took place on 7th August 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign of The First World War. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The name derives from the Afrikaans word for a "mountain pass" but the terrain itself was a perfect bottleneck and easy to defend, as demonstrated during an Ottoman attack in June. It connected Australian and New Zealand trenches on the ridge known as "Russell's Top" to the knoll called "Baby 700" on which the Ottoman defenders were entrenched.

Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC, Mentioned in Despatches (1893 – 1968) – British soldier poet, artist, art historian, literary critic and philosopher.

"An Old Soldier" by Herbert Read.
Herbert was born in Kirbymoorside, North Riding of Yorkshire, UK on 4th December 1893.  His parents were Herbert Edward Read, a farmer, and his wife, Eliza, nee Strickland. 

Herbert was studying at the University of Leeds when the First World War began. He was commissioned in January 1915 into the Green Howards Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 and the Distinguished Service Order in 1918.  His final rank was Captain.

During the First World War, Herbert served in France.  He also founded the magazine “Arts & Letters” with Frank Rutter.

Knighted in 1953 "for services to literature", Herbert died on 12th June 1968

On 11th November 1985, Herbert Read was among 16 of the Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey in London, UK.  The area is known as Poet's Corner.

The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as the Yorkshire Regiment until the 1920s, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under various titles until it was amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), all Yorkshire-based regiments in the King's Division, to form the Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) on 6 June 2006.

Green Howards Cap Badge

Charles Constantin Joseph Hoffbauer (1875 – 1957) – French-born American artist

Charles Hoffbauer was born in Paris.  His parents, Féodor Hubert Hoffbauer, a well-known archeologist, architect and artist, and Marie Clemence Belloc Hoffbauer, were from Alsace. Following his initial education in French schools, Charles attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris for three years.

Charles first arrived in the United States in New York City on 21st December 1909. His friend and fellow artist Charles Dana Gibson met him as he arrived and helped establish Hoffbauer in the New York art community.  On 8th August 1914, he returned to France and, although he had met his military service obligations, he was a Reservist in the French Army.   He enlised in the 274th Infantry Regiment at a Private. 

German Prisoners of War, Somme, 1916
by Charles Hoffbauer

While in the trenches, Charles wrote an article for Leslie’s "Illustrated Weekly", entitled “Horrors of Trench Life in France.”  He served as an official war artist and also worked as a liaison officer between the Camouflage Section of his unit and the American camouflage unit. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery during the Battle of the Somme.

15 February 1917 -
J. M. Flagg" I Want You" cover.

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie's Weekly, was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1855 and published until 1922. It was one of several magazines started by publisher and illustrator Frank Leslie. 

Throughout its existence, the weekly provided illustrations and reports — first with wood engravings and daguerreotypes, later with more advanced forms of photography — of wars from John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry and the Civil War until the Spanish–American War and the First World War.

e.e. cummings (1894 – 1962) – American playwright, poet, artist and writer

Self portrait 1920

  Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA on 14th October 1894, Edward Estlin Cummings attended Harvard University and graduated with a B.A.. in 1915 and an M.A. in 1916.  

   Edward served as a volunteer ambulance driver in France with the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, American Red Cross, during The First World War. Edward was imprisoned for three months in a French detention centre, having been mistaken as a spy. He went on to serve in the United States Army (1918-1919), then studied art in Paris (1920-1924).

  e.e. cummings was his preferred style of writing his name.

Dark coloured landscape
e.e. cummings 

Christopher Wyndham Hughes MC (1881-1961) – British artist and teacher

With thanks to Josie Holford for the discovery of this artist

Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire UK, on 19th June 1881, Christopher’s parents were Wyndham Hope Hughes, an artist, and his wife, Eveline Constance Marie Hughes, nee Pinhorne. Christopher had a sister – Mary H. Hughes - born in 1878.  The children’s mother died in 1885. 

Christopher was taught painting by his father, Wyndham Hughes, who was an expert in stained glass and ecclesiastical art.   In 1904, Christopher married Edith Hereford Wynne Willson in Witney, Oxfordshire. 

During the First World War, Christopher served as a Captain in the 7th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 while serving as a Temporary Captain.  With the rank of Major when he left the Army, Christopher served in the Officers Training Corps (OTC) at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where he taught art from the 1920s – 1940s.  His final rank was Colonel.  

Christopher died on 12th January 1961 in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Probate was granted to Ursula Wyndham Simeon.

Josie Holford's website is https://www.josieholford.com/sorley/

Artwork by Christopher Wyndham Hughes MC - Entrance to Sienna Cathedral

 have  not been able to find any WW1 artwork or a portrait of Christopher.  If you can help please get in touch.

John Hassall RI (1868 - 1948) - British artist

Sketching at a Red
Cross fund raiser 1918

Born in Walmer, Kent, UK on 21st May 1868, John's parents were Christopher Clarke Hassell a Royal Naval Officer,. and his wife, Louisa Sparkes.   

Educated in Worthing at Newton Abbot College before going on to Neuenheim College, Heidelberg, Germany, John emigrated to Canada with his brother Owen in 1888, after failing to gain entry to Sandhurst Military Academy . He returned to London two years later when he had drawings accepted by the “Graphic” a British weekly illustrated newspaper. At the suggestion of Dudley Hardy (along with Cecil Aldin, a lifelong friend), he went to study art in Antwerp and Paris. During that period he was influenced by the famous poster artist Alphonse Mucha.

In 1895 John began working for David Allen & Sons designing advertisements, which developed into a 50-year career. He also produced a large number of volumes of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  

In 1900 he opened his own New Art School and School of Poster Design, in Kensington, but the school had to close at the outbreak of the First World War.

Examples of John Hassell's WW1 work:

A poster urging people to help Belgium.

A Tank in Action
Now in the British Tank Museum 

Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore (1870–1955) - Welsh-born American artist

Arthur was born on 25th December 1870 in Bodalog, near Betws-y-Coed, Wales, the second son of Captain Francis Sandys Dugmore and his wife, Emily Evelyn, a daughter of William Brougham, 2nd Baron Brougham and Vaux.  His father served in The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada before his birth, and later in the 64th Regiment of Foot.  

Educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and later in Kadıköy and Bournabat (in modern day Turkey), Arthur went on to study art at the Instituto di Belle Arti in Naples, Italy and went to America in 1889. In 1901 he married  Henrietta Louise Watkins, and the couple had three children.

Forty two years old when the First World War began, as a civilian photographer Arthur travelled to the Western Front and began recording with his cine camera, as the Belgian army attempted in vain to stem the advance of the German Army. 

Influential friends helped Arthur "to obtain a commission in an infantry regiment — the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry" -The 'Tykes'.   Arthur served in the trenches during the period leading up to the First Battle of the Somme but before the Battle he was gassed and unfit for duty. He wrote from the front lines during this period describing trench warfare, the Somme attack and its consequences and aftermath. 

Arthur recorded his WW1 eye-witness experiences in a book entitled “When the Somme Ran Red: The Experiences of an Officer of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry During the First World War.”

Arthur later created a number of paintings based on his recollections of experiences on the Somme.

Troops Going over the Top, First World War (Battle of the Somme)

                 Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore (1870–1955)       Painting from York Castle Museum

Henry Taylor Lamb MC RA (1883 – 1960)

Henry Lamb self portrait

Henry Lamb was born in Adelaide, Australia, on 21st June 1883.  He was the son of Sir Horace Lamb FRS, professor of mathematics at Adelaide University. When Sir Horace was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the Victoria University of Manchester in 1885, the family moved back to England. 

Henry was educated at Manchester Grammar School, before studying medicine at Manchester University Medical School and Guy's Hospital in London. He abandoned his medical studies in 1906 to study painting at the Chelsea School of Art, which, at that time, was run by William Orpen and Augustus John. 

In 1907, Henry went to Paris to study at the Académie de La Palette - an art academy where stidemts were taught by artists Jean Metzinger, André Dunoyer de Segonzac and Henri Le Fauconnier.

When war broke out in 1914, Henry returned to his medical studies and qualified as a doctor at Guy's Hospital.  He saw active service in the First World War in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a battalion medical officer with the 5th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was awarded the Military Cross. 

Henry served in Palestine and on the Western Front and was badly gassed not long before the end of the war. In February 1918, before he was demobilised, Henry was approached by British War Memorials Committee of the Ministry of Information to produce a large painting for a proposed national Hall of Remembrance. After he was demobilised in March 1919, Lamb began work on the painting, "Irish Troops in the Judaean Hills Surprised by a Turkish Bombardment", which is now in the Imperial War Museum. 

Henry died on 8th October 1960.

Two of his paintings are:  Advanced Dressing Station on the Struma in  1916, 1921 

and

Irish Troops in the Judaean Hills Surprised by a Turkish Bombardment (1919), (Art.IWM ART 2746)

With thanks to AC Benus for finding this artist for us.

"Parade of the Dead" by Georges Bertin Scott (1873 - 1943) - French artist and war correspondent

 "Parade of the Dead" by Georges Bertin Scott (10 June 1873 – 10 January 1943) - a French war correspondent and illustrator for the French magazine "L'Illustration".  With thanks to Ciarán Conlan for finding this image and to to Seosamh McGabhann who suggested I look up the poem by Robert Service entitled “The March of the Dead” to accompany this image.

"The March of the Dead" by Robert Service 

 The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet!

     We watched the troops returning, through our tears;

 There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street,

     And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers.

 And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between;

     The bells were pealing madly to the sky;

 And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen,

     And the glory of an age was passing by.

 And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear;

     The bells were silent, not an echo stirred.

 The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer;

     We waited, and we never spoke a word.

 The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack

     There came a voice that checked the heart with dread:

 "Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black;

     They are coming -- it's the Army of the Dead."

 They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow;

     They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride;

 With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe,

     And clotted holes the khaki couldn't hide.

 Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips!

     The reeling ranks of ruin swept along!

 The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody finger tips!

     And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song!

 "They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn't stop

     On this, our England's crowning festal day;

 We're the men of Magersfontein, we're the men of Spion Kop,

     Colenso -- we're the men who had to pay.

 We're the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain?

     You owe us. Long and heavy is the score.

 Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain,

     And cheer us as ye never cheered before."

 The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead;

     Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice;

 And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,

     The pity of the men who paid the price.

 They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace;

     Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam;

 They were coming in their thousands -- oh, would they never cease!

     I closed my eyes, and then -- it was a dream.

 There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street;

     The town was mad; a man was like a boy.

 A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet;

     A thousand bells were thundering the joy.

 There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret;

     And while we stun with cheers our homing braves,

 O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget

     The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.

- Robert Service

 

Robert William Service (1874 – 1958) – British-born Canadian Poet, who joined the Ambulance Corps of the American Red Cross and served as a Stretcher Bearer during WW1  -

“… a people’s poet” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph of Sept. 16, 1958

Find our more about him:

https://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2019/04/robert-william-service-1874-1958.html

https://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2019/05/who-wrote-ww1-poem-stretcher-bearer.html

Alfred Crowdy LOVETT (1863 – 1919) – British soldier and very prolific artist

Alfred Crowdy Lovett was born in Croydon, Surrey, UK in the early months of 1863.  His parents were James Crowdy Lovett and his wife, Ellen Hawkins Lovett, nee Bevan.   Alfred was baptised in St James church, Croydon on September 5th 1863. He first appeared on the census of 1871 aged 8 and living at Addiscombe Road, Holly Mount, Croydon with his parents and brothers.

In 1882 Alfred became a Lieutenant in the 4th Bn. The East Surrey Regiment. 

By the 1901 census, he was aged 38, single and a Captain in the Infantry. The census was for the parish of Sandhurst, Berkshire.

In the second quarter of 1903, Alfred married Fannie Rumsey in Maryleborne London.  He served during WW1, commanding the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment at the retreat from Mons in 1914.  

Alfred’s military career was distinguished and he was gazetted twice. On 16/02/1915 (gazette date) he was made a Companion of the order of the Bath, and on 3/02/1919 in the King’s Birthday Honours he was awarded a CBE. He was by then a Brigadier General and on the “general staff”.

Alfred Crowdy Lovett  “died of illness in the U. K. and was buried in Manor Road Cemetery grave ref. the oval.17. At his death he is listed as having served in the General Staff & the Gloucestershire Regiment, which he joined in 1883. 

Medals:

Silver Star, Victory and British War Medals

C.B. C.B.E. Mentioned in Dispatches

As well as being a distinguished soldier, Alfred Crowdy Lovell was a talented artist, his work being shown at the Royal Academy.   He also wrote books:

“India and the War” (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1915) and

“The Armies of India painted by A.C. Lovett ; described by G.F. MacMunn” ;-with foreword by Earl Roberts (Adam and Charles Black, London, 1911)

Alfred is remembered in Manor Road Cemetery and on the WW1 Roll of Honour at Whitgift School where he was a pupil. 

Roll of Honour at Whitgift School

Sources:

https://www.scarboroughcemeteries.co.uk/database/lovett-alfred-crowdy/

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Lovett%2C%20Alfred%20Crowdy%2C%201862%2D1919

https://glosters.tripod.com/1919off.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=alfred+crowdy+lovett&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB794GB794&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwidlND7ldH5AhWQa8AKHSAFD6UQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1280&bih=824&dpr=1

George Mayer-Marton (1897 – 1960) - Hungarian artist

self portrait

While researching yesterday, I found a Hungarian artist who served in WW1 - George Mayer-Marton (3 June 1897 – 8 August 1960) - a Hungarian artist who was a significant figure in Viennese art between the First and Second World Wars, working in oil, watercolour and graphics. 

Mayer-Marton was born György, or Georg in German, in Győr, Kingdom of Hungary in 1897, and grew up during the final years of Austro-Hungary. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. From 1919 to 1924 he studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, and also visited Ravenna in Italy

Following his emigration to England in 1938, he changed the spelling of his forename to George on British naturalization. He continued to paint in watercolour and oil. He pioneered the technique of Byzantine mosaic in the UK. In 1952, he took up the post of Senior Lecturer in the department of painting at the Liverpool College of Art and introduced the new subject of mural art.  I could not find any WW1 paintings by him but I feel he should be remembered.

Alfred Edmeades "Fred" Bestall, MBE (1892 – 1986) - British artist

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for this information  

 

Alfred Edmeades Bestall wrote and illustrated the “Rupert Bear” cartoon stories for the London “Daily Express” newspaper from 1935 to 1965.   The original creator of the Rupert Bear stories was British artist Mary Tourtel (born Mary Caldwell on 28 January 1874 – 15 March 1948). In 1900 she married an assistant editor of “The Daily Express”, Herbert Bird Tourtel. 

The initial purpose of the Rupert Bear stories which began on 8th November 1920, was to win sales from rival  newspapers “Daily Mail” and “Daily Mirror”.

Alfred won a scholarship to the Birmingham Central School (later College) of Art and later attended the London County Council (LCC) Central School of Arts and Crafts in Camden. He served in the First World War as an MT (motor transport) driver in the British Army in Flanders, transporting troops, ammunition and stores in a range of vehicles including converted double-decker London B-Type buses, often under enemy fire. Following the war, Bestall finished his studies at the Central School of Art and was hired to illustrate books by Enid Blyton

Additional information from

https://www.beddgelerttourism.com/Rupert/

Artists/Photographers, etc. who were awarded special medals for outstanding bravery during the First World War

These are the names I have found so far.  If you know of any others please get in touch with me. Thank you. 

Joseph Marius Jean Avy (1871 - 1939) - French Croix de Guerre – French artist 

Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, MC, artist/film maker

Hans Bartle (1880 - 1943) - Austrian official WW1 artist. Iron Cross; Silver Medal for Bravery; the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order

Alan Edmund Beeton, MC

John Warwick Brooke DCM – official WW1 war photographer

John Cosmo Clark, MC (1897 – 1967) – British artist and art teacher; served in Artists Rifles WW1

Philip Lindsey Clark, DSO, ARBS (1889–1977)  - British sculptor. In December 1917, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O) for "...conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when in command of the left flank company of the battalion."

Helena Gleichen OBE, DStJ  (1873 – 1947) – artist. For her First World War work, Helena was awarded the Italian Bronze Medal of Military Valour and was invested as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and as an OBE in 1920.

William Robert Gregory MC (1881 – 1918)  - Irish-born, RFC/RAF British airman, artist and cricketer; France made him a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1917

Antony Gibbons Grinling, MC – artist and sculptor

Carl W Herman, MM (1888 – 1955) – artist

Christopher Wyndham Hughes MC (1881-1961) - artist; served as Temporary Captain in the 7th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment 

Charles Sargeant Jagger MC ARA (1885 – 1934) British sculptor

Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MC (1896-1971), Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery

Paul Maximilien Landowski, Croix de Guerre (1 June 1875 – 31 March 1961) – French Scultpor and WW1 camouflage artist 

A W Lloyd, MC – Arthur Wynell Lloyd (1883 - 1933) – British cartoonist

Walter Marsden MC (1882–1969) – sculptor

John B. McDowell, MC, BEM (1877 – 1954) – British film maker, director and cameraman during WW1

Waldo Peirce (December 17, 1884 – March 8, 1970) - an American painter, who for many years revelled in living the life of a bohemian expatriate.  Awarded the Croix de Guerre

William Charles Penn MC (1877 – 1968) - artist; 5th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment

Geneste Penrose MM (1889 – 1974) – artist 

Gerald Spencer Pryse MC (1882–1956) - British artist and lithographer.

E. Claude Rowberry, MM, (1896 - 1962) – artist

E.H. Shepard, MC (1879 – 1976) – artist (illustrator of A.A. Milne’s “Pooh” stories

William George Storm, MC (1882 - 1917) – Canadian artist

Dents Wells, BEM (1881-1973) served in the Artists Rifles during WWI; awarded a B.E.M. for gallantry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire_Medal

Charles Arthur Wheeler, DCM (1880 - 1877) - New Zealand artist. Served in 22 Bn Royal Fusiliers; awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (1916) for his actions at Vimy Ridge

Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 1888 – 30 November 1958).

Cyrus Cincinato Cuneo (1879 – 1916) – American-born official British WW1 artist

Few people these days have heard of official First World War Artist, Cyrus Cincinato Cuneo.    

Self Portrait

Cyrus Cuneo was born in San Francisco in America in 1879.  His parents were John Cuneo and his wife Annie, nee Garaboldi, who were of Italian origin.  Cyrus's brothers Rinaldo and Egisto also became artists but his sisters, Erminia, Clovinda and Evelina, preferred music.

Cyrus demonstrated artistic ability at an early age and worked hard to save enough money to go and study art in Paris.   With his brother Rinaldo, Cyrus, who was very athletic, became a boxer, entering contests and winning prizes.  Cyrus became a Flyweight Boxing Champion in San Francisco.   By 1896, he had enough money to go to Paris where he enrolled at the Academie Colarossi and was a pupil of the American artist James Whistler (1834 – 1903).

Six years later, Cyrus went to live in England.  In 1903, he married Nellie Marion Tenison, who was also an artist.  The couple met in Paris where Nellie had also studied with Whistler.   

In 1911, the couple lived in Uxbridge Road, Hammersmith, London with their two children Desmond and Terence, and Nellie's widowed mother, Frances Tenison.  Cyrus worked as an illustrator for publications such as "The Strand Magazine" and the "Illustrated London News".  He also produced illustrations for some of the best known writers of the era such as Arthur Conan Doyle,  E.W. Hornung (both of whom were members of the J.M. Barrie recreational cricket team) and H. Rider Haggard, to name but a few.  Cyrus was a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and his work was exhibited at The Royal Academy.

When King Edward VII died on 6th May 1910, Cyrus went without sleep for four nights and worked solidly to produce four double page spreads of the funeral for the "Illustrated London News".   

When the First World War broke out, Cyrus became an official War Artist.   One of his paintings was auctioned in 1915 and raised sufficient funds to purchase two ambulances which were sent to France bearing the inscription "The Cyrus Cuneo Ambulance". 

“A Thrilling Charge”, illustration by Cyrus Cuneo from “Told in the Huts: The YMCA Gift Book”, published 1916

“Retreat from Serbia” by Cyrus Cuneo 

Cyrus died on 23rd July 1916 after a brief illness at the age of 37 after having been accidentally stabbed with a hatpin at a dance. 

Cyrus’s son, Terence Cuneo, also became an artist and was an official artist of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. His famous trade-mark – a mouse – featured in all of his paintings.

  

For more illustratons by Cyrus Cuneo, please see http://artcontrarian.blogspot.com/2016/10/cyrus-senior-cuneo.html

Sources:  Carole Cuneo, President of the Cuneo Society https://thecuneosociety.org/

Find my Past and Free BMD 

Ernest Maitland T. Coffin (1868-1944) – British artist

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding this artist

Ernest Maitland T. Coffin was born on 13th December 1868 in Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, UK.    Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is a parish, that was once part of the historical Devonport, UK.  In 1914, Devonport and Plymouth amalgamated with Stonehouse and the new town took the name of Plymouth. Since the amalgamation, Stoke has been an inner suburb of Plymouth in the English County of Devonshire. 

Ernest’s parents were Thomas Coffin, a surgeon and General Medical Practitioner, and his wife, Mary Augusta Coffin, known as Maria, nee Tause, who were married in March 1868.  Ernest had the following siblings: Ethel, b. 1870, Claud D'Eresby, b. 1875 and Algernon Crawford, b. 1875.

The family moved from Devonshire to live in London and by 1891, they were living in Hampstead and Ernest was studying medicine.  

In 1910, Ernest married Almeida Roberts and on the 1911 Census,  the couple were living in Westminster, London and Ernest’s occupation was listed as artist.  

Ernest produced a series of lithographs for the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley, London April to October 1924. 

By 1939, Ernest and Almeida were living in Croydon, Surrey and Ernest’s occupation was listed as ‘artist – retired’.  Ernest died in December 1944.

The illustration by Coffin is from a magazine advertisement for insurance in “The Telegraph and Telephone Journal”, October 1917

Sources: Find my Past, Free BMD and “The Telegraph and Telephone Journal”, October 1917

http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/journals/Telegraph_%26_Telephone_Journal/Whole%20year%20editions/Telegraph%20and%20Telephone%20Journal%20-%20Vol%2004%20%28Oct%201917%20-%20Sep1918%29.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0BTihPFBgaAXAbCpNvwQvHEYfd1hN3v_vbxZVjLifXDn5D-lzp0QvHakU

Louis Meyer (1869 – 1969) - American Artist and Sculptor

 With thanks to Chris Dubbs* for finding this “Puck” magazine of August 1917 - cover artwork by American artist and sculptor Louis Meyer (1869 – 1969) and poem “Patria’s Progress No. 3” by American Berton Braley (1882 – 1966)

Born in Milwaukee, Louis Mayer studied at the Wisconsin Art Institute, before traveling to Europe where he attended the Weimar Art School and the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the Académie Julian in Paris. He returned to his home state, taught at the Wisconsin School of Art, and help found the Society of Milwaukee Artists. He later moved to Fishkill, New York, where he took up sculpting. Eventually he settled in Carmel, California.

“Puck” was the first successful humour magazine published in the United States containing colourful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day. It was founded in 1871 as a German-language publication by Joseph Keppler, an Austrian-born cartoonist. The first English language edition of “Puck” was published in 1877, covering issues like New York City's Tammany Hall, presidential politics, and social issues of the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The magazine ceased publication in 1918.

"Puckish" means "childishly mischievous". This led Shakespeare's Puck (from his play “A Midsummer Night's Dream”) to be recast as a charming boy and used as the title of the magazine. “Puck” was the first magazine to carry illustrated advertising and the first to successfully adopt full-color lithography printing for a weekly publication.

* Chris Dubbs is the author of several WW1 books:

"An Unladylike Profession: American Women

War Correspondents in World War 1"

(Potomac Books, Nebraska, 2020)

and

"American Women Reporters in World War One"

Ion Bărbulescu - B’Arg - (16 December 1887 - 1 November 1969) - Romanian artist

With thanks to Ognyan Hristov for finding quite so many amazing artists, among them B'Arg

Ion  Bărbulescu signed his work B'Arg. He was a Romanian painter, illustrator and journalist, who was mainly active between the two World Wars. 

Born in Odobesti, Ion inherinted his interest in the arts from his grandfather, a church painter. He had regular features in Toamna, Revista Copiilor si a Tinerimii (Children and Youth Magazine) and Dimineata Copiilor (Morning Children) as early as 1906, while his first solo exhibition was in Bucharest in 1915.

B'Arg commented on social and cultural events in both his drawings and articles, that were printed in magazines like Adevărul (1907-1948), Adevărul Literar şi Artistic” (1921-1948) and Cuvântul Liber (1933-1936). 

His many writings and studies of the arts and cultural scene provide an interesting account of the social, political, moral and human standards of the Romanian society during the 1910-1940 period.

B'ARg's Painting Soldier reading a letter in a shelter during the The Battle of Mărășești, WW1.  

The Battle took place between  6 August 1917 and 3 September 1917 and was the last major battle between the German Empire and the Kingdom of Romania on the Romanian Front during World War I. Romania was mostly occupied by the Central Powers, but the Battle of Mărășești kept the northern region of the country free from occupation.

Posted by Ognyan Hristov on the Facebook Page Artists of the First World War on 31 January 2022  https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799

Brake Baldwin (1885 - 1915) – British artist

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding this artist and his beautiful painting of the family’s cook darning socks during a Zeppelin Raid in WW1

Born John Brakewell Baldwin in Eltham, Kent in 1885, Brake's parents were John Baldwin, a Civil Engineer, and his wife, Sarah A. Baldwin, nee Clarke.  Educated at Forest School, Walthamstow, Brake went on to study art.  

On 6th April 1911, Brake married Edith Mary Wilson in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.  Edith was the daughter of Edith Berridge (who was also an artist), and the stepdaughter of Thomas Berridge, an engineer. 

Between 1912 and 1914, Brake Baldwin's work was exhibited widely, frequently with famous artists such as Lavery, Orpen and Sargent at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, or alongside Glyn Philpot, Augustus John and Walter Sickert at the National Portrait Society. Brake’s work regularly received favourable write-ups in London newspapers. 

During the First World War, Brake lived in London and was the Quartermaster of the 31st London Division, Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.). He devoted himself unsparingly to Red Cross work and died after an operation for internal problems on 30 July 1915 at a London nursing home. The men of his Division paid a last tribute by forming an escort and bearing the coffin to the train at Paddington for the journey to Leamington Spa where the funeral was held.

Sources:  Find my Past, Free BMD and

https://www.courtgallery.com/artists/653-brake-baldwin/works/10747/

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000635/19150716/172/0006

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001670/19150807/102/0004

Frank Algernon Stewart (1877-1945) - British artist

 

With thanks to Ognyan Hristov for discovering this amazing artist who was also a war correspondent during the Boer War.

Frank was born in Croydon, UK on 16th October 1977.  His parents were Ebernezer Stewart, a seed crusher, and his wife, Mary Ann Stewarat, nee Betts.    Educated in Hastings, Frank studied art under George Ward in Rochester, Fred Brown at the Slade, and Frank Calderon at the School of Animal Painting. Frank became a war artist for “The Illustrated London News” and in October 1899 went to Africa where he saw action at Colenso, Spin Kop, Monti Christo and the releif of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.

Invalided home, Frank went to Paris in 1901, to study at the Académie Julian with Rodolphe Julian.  In 1903, he married Eliza Jane Brown in Havant, Hampshire.  The couple lived in Croydon but Eliza Jane died in December 1905.   

Sketch by Frank of General Buller riding in to greet General White outside the Town Hall in Ladysmith - 28 February 1900   Sketched in situ by Frank Algernon Stewart, the official Boer War artist of the London Illustrated News who came to South Africa in October 1899.

The Surrey Yeomanry on the Struma Valley Front, Salonika 1917-1918. The Evening Wireless - Komarjan Bridge. By Frank Algernon Stewart .

During the First World War, Frank served in the King Edward's Horse, Norfolk Yeomanry. Frank was a keen huntsman and his work was predominantly of hunting scenes. In later life he was forced to give up hunting as the result of an operation, but he continued to follow the hounds on foot, making sketches of hounds running.

By 1939, Frank had re-married and he and his wife, Muriel Winifred, lived in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where he died in June 1945. 

NOTE:  The Académie Julian was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 until 1968. The Academy remained famous for the number and quality of artists who attended during the great period of effervescence in the arts in the early twentieth century.  After 1968, the Academy integrated with ESAG Penninghen.

William Frank Calderon and Charles Edward Johnson, a landscape artist, started the School of Animal Painting at 54 Baker Street, London in April 1895 and Frank Calderon was the school’s Principal until 1916.

Percy Hague Jowett (1882–1955) was a British artist who became Principal of the Royal College of Art

Found by Ognyan Hristov

 Portrait by Peter Coker 

Percy was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, UK on 1st June 1882.  His parents were Smith Jowtt, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Lucinda Georgina Jowett, nee Hague, who was a schoolmistress.  Percy has a sister, Gertrude, who was born in 1885. 

He studied art at Leeds College of Art and London's Royal College of Art.

In September 1912, Percy married Enid Ledward, sister of the sculptor, Gilbert Ledward.

During the First World War, Percy served in the Royal Garrison Artillery, first as a Corporal then as a Second Lieutenant.

In 1927, Percy became head of Chelsea School of Art, and in 1935, principal of the Royal College of Art, succeeding William Rothenstein, and went on to give the sculptor Henry Moore his first job.  

During the Second World War, Percy served as a committee member with the War Artists' Advisory Committee. He retired from the RCA in 1948.

“England, Triptych” by Percy Jowett, First World War. circa 1918

Sources: Find my Past, Free BMD 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799

Portrait of Howett - Percy Hague Jowett (1882–1955) by Peter Coker (1926–2004)

A triptych is an artwork made up of three pieces or panels. 

 

Alfred Basel (1876-1920) - Austrian artist and etcher

Alfred Basel was born on 23 March 18 in Vienna. His father was a factory owner. Alfred studied at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule under Felician von Myrbach between 1892 and 1898. 

He was a reserve officer during the First World War, serving with the rank of Oberleutnant in the Fourth Army on the Galician Front from March 1915. In the autumn of that year, Alfred became ill and was declared unfit for military service. By November 1915, he had been appointed to serve as a war artist serving the Kriegspressequartier. In 1916 he was on the Vistula, in the Carpathians, in Albania, on the Isonzo, and in the Ukraine. It was his artistic breakthrough.

In 1919, at the winter exhibition of the Wiener Künstlerhaus, Basel exhibited his work outside of the Kriegspressequartier for the first time. His treatment of military events was careful and accurate, and both stylistically and biographically he has many similarities to Oskar Laske. Like him, Basel avoids sensationalising or exaggerating, and favours crowds of small figures and a simplicity approaching photographic accuracy.

Alfred died on 24 January 1920 from the effects of a hunting accident in Dickenau, Türnitz, Lower Austria.