Adrian Keith Graham Hill (1895 – 1977) - British Artist

Adrian Keith Graham Hill was born in Charlton, London on 24 March 1895.  His parents were Graham and Emma Matilda Hill.  He was educated at Dulwich College and went on to study at the St John's Wood Art School between 1912 and 1914.

When war broke out, Adrian enlisted with the Honourable Artillery Company. Because of his artistic abilities, he was assigned to a Scouting and Sniping Section, whose work often involved operating in front of the Allied trenches to sketch enemy emplacements.   Later in life, he described a typical patrol into no man's land:

"I advanced in short rushes, mostly on my hands and knees with my sketching kit dangling round my neck. As I slowly approached, the wood gradually took a more definite shape, and as I crept nearer I saw that what was hidden from our own line, now revealed itself as a cunningly contrived observation post in one of the battered trees."

Adrian was the first artist to be commissioned by the newly-created Imperial War Museum to record scenes on the Western Front.  Between 1917 and 1919 he made 180 pen-and-ink drawings showing the examples of the devastation in France and Belgium and the work of troops of different nationalities in the trenches.

"Behind Gavrelle" Adrian Hill

After his First World War service, Adrian studied at the Royal College of Art before working as an artist.  In 1938, while convalescing from tuberculosis at the King Edward VII Sanatorium in Midhurst, he passed the time by drawing nearby objects from his hospital bed.  Adrian found that helped his recovery. In 1939, occupational therapy was introduced to the sanatorium for the first time and Ardian was invited to teach drawing and painting to other patients - at first to injured soldiers returning from the war, and then to general civilian patients.  He found that the practice of Art seemed to help to divert the patients and to relieve their mental distress.

Adrian noticed that art appreciation also aided recovery from illness and he became involved with the British Red Cross Society, setting up a scheme whereby reproductions of famous artists' works were lent to hospital wards all over the country. Speakers were also booked to talk to patients about their artworks. By 1950 this picture-lending scheme had spread to nearly 200 hospitals, and there was a waiting list.

The artist Edward Adamson joined the program in 1946 as it was extended to the long-stay mental asylums, and started classes at Netherne Hospital in Surrey.  Adrian apparently coined the term "art therapy" in 1942 and in 1945, he published his ideas in a book entitled "Art Versus Illness".

Eugène Galien-Laloue (1854–1941) - Official French WW1 artist

Eugène Galien-Laloue was a French artist, born in Paris on 11th December 1854.

The Republic of France selected Galien-Laloue to work as a war artist during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War, chiefly in watercolor but I haven't been able to find any examples of his WW1 paintings.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 – 1946) - artist

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 – 1946) was the son of the War Correspondent Henry Nevinson.

On the outbreak of the First World War, as he was a pacifist, Christopher refused to become involved in combat duties, and volunteered instead to work for the Red Cross. Posted to the Western Front in November 1914, he worked as a driver, stretcher-bearer and hospital orderly. Christopher returned home in January 1915.

The following month he wrote in “The Daily Express” newspaper: "All artists should go to the front to strengthen their art by a worship of physical and moral courage and a fearless desire of adventure, risk and daring and free themselves from the canker of professors, archaeologists, cicerones, antiquaries and beauty worshippers."

Christopher then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. On 1st November 1915, he married Kathleen Knowlman at Hampstead Town Hall.  His Mother, Margaret Nevinson later recalled: "My son informed me, suddenly, one evening that, though not engaged, he meant to get married before he was killed." Instead of being sent to France he helped nurse soldiers being treated at the Third General Hospital in London. After contacting rheumatic fever in January, 1916, he was invalided out of the army.

Painting "La Mitrailleuse" by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson in 1915

Nina Hamnett (1890 – 1956) Welsh artist and writer

Nina Hamnett was born in Shirley House, Picton Road in the coastal town of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales on 14th February 1890. Her father George Hamnett was an army officer, born in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. Her mother Mary was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nina was sent to a private boarding school at Westgate-on-Sea before moving on to the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army in Bath, Somerset from 1902 to 1905.

Her father was dishonourable discharged from the army and worked as a taxi driver. From 1906 to 1907 Nina studied at the Pelham Art School and then at the London School of Art until 1910.  In 1914 she went to Montparnasse, Paris, France to study at Marie Vassilieff's Academy.

Nina went on to become an accomplished artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' shantys. She became known as the "Queen of Bohemia" for her eccentric behaviour. She was a regular contributor to “The Coterie” Magazine.

Hamnett died on 16th December 1956.

Paintings:

Nina Hamnett painted by Roger Fry (1866 - 1934) in 1917, was wearing a dress designed by Vanessa Bell and made at the Omega Workshops

WW1 painting by Nina Hamnett - Portrait of Major General William Bethune Lindsay by Nina Hamnett - Canadian War Museum

Sources: http://zone47.com/crotos/?p=8&p195=1032442  and Wikipedia

Book Review: "Images of the Great War" by Lawrence Dunn, published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd., London, 2015

Lawrence Dunn, an artist from Sunderland, guides us through a brief history of the First World War featuring a selection of images by some of the British and Empire artists, cartoonists, poets, photographers and sculptors of the time -  paintings, drawings, illustrations and photographs, some of which are from the author's own collection. 

With the skill that only an artist has, Lawrence encourages us to have a closer look at some of those works and in so doing brings the conflict to life as never before. In many instances, Lawrence also invites the reader to compare the styles of artists who have painted the same view or person. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  I already knew some of the names that Lawrence has included but there were many that were new to me.  I was interested to see that Lawrence has dedicated the book to his second cousin, Corporal Michael Davison of the Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish).  Michael was an underground putter at Ryhope Colliery when he enlisted in 1914 and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras - Easter Monday, 9th April 1917.  My great-uncle James Yule was a Private in the Northumberland Fusiliers, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion and he too was killed in that Battle on 9th April 1917, as were the British poets R.E. Vernède and Edward Thomas, Walter Lightowler Wilkinson and Canadian poet William Maunsell Scanland  MC, MM.

Beginning with Lady Elizabeth Butler, both male and female WW1 artists of all disciplines are represented in the book - Sir David Muirhead Bone, Francis Edgar Dodd, Sir William Orpen, Charles Sergeant Jagger, Christopher R.W. Nevinson, Paul and John Nash, Bruce Bairnsfather, Arthur Leonard Smith, Wyndham Lewis, David Bomberg, William Patrick Roberts, Colin Unwin Gill, Harold Sandys Williamson, Augustus Edwin John, John Singer Sargent, Henry Tonks, James Francis Hurley OBE, Olive Edis, Eric Henri Kennington, George Clausen, Sir John Lavery, Austin Osman Spare, Gilbert Rogers MBE, Adrian Keith Graham Hill, Sir Jacob Epstein, Mark Gertler, Joyce Dennys, Olive Mudie-Cooke, Flora Lion, Anna Airy, Lucy Kemp-Welch, Norah Neilson-Gray, Clare Atwood, Dorothy Josephine Coke, Frederick Horseman Varley, Stanley Spencer, David Michael Jones, Robert Douglas Strachan.

But this book is not just about the artists and the pictures of WW1, Lawrence goes into detail about some of the battles and includes personal stories about the artists and the areas and subjects depicted.   On page 137 you will find paintings by the artist William Patrick Roberts, who was at the Battle of Arras on 9th April 1917 and is therefore of special interest to me.

Lawrence has also included poems by both male and female poets - Laurence Binyon, Rupert Brooke, Beatrix Brice Miller, Jessie Pope, John McCrae, Lucy Foster Whitmell, Charles Sorley, Alan Seeger, Vera Brittain, Thomas Kettle, Lady Margaret Sackville, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Francis Ledwidge, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, Iris Tree, Winifred Mabel Letts, May Wedderburn Cannan, Anna Gordon Keown, Alice Meynell, Katharine Tynan, Elinor Jenkins, Muriel Elsie Graham, Edmund Blunden, May Hershel-Clarke, Mary H.J. Henderson, Eileen Newton, Emily Orr, Dorothy Una Ratcliffe and Edward Thomas.

I also very much enjoyed reading about the photographs taken during the First World War in the section about James Francis Hurley OBE, a photographer from Sydney, Australia.   Lawrence explains that many of the photographs taken during the 1914 - 1919 period were not fake but 'composites', as photographers were still experimenting with the medium and developing the films was a lengthy and complex procedure back then.

With a map of the Western Front showing some of the worst battles of the war, a comprehensive Index and Bibliography and a final poem written by the UK's current Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, this is a superb book which I would highly recommend.

Lucy London

Gilbert Holiday (1879 - 1937) – British artist

"Brigadier-General Grogan, CMG in action
at Bouleuse Ridge, Aisne, 29 May 1918"

Eddie Bon tells me that the artist who painted the painting  featured on the cover of the Pen & Sword book “Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914 - 1918” by Frank Davies and Graham Maddox was Gilbert Holiday.

Charles Gilbert H. Holiday was born in Paddington, London in January 1879. His parents were Sir Frederick C. Holiday, a Civil Servant, and his wife, Adela M. Holiday, nee Mileham, who was an artist.  Gilbert had the following siblings: Climene M., b. 1875, Mary E. A., b.1881 and Christabel S M., b.1883.  Gilbert was a nephew of the artist and stained glass designer, Henry Holiday.  Educated at Westminster School, Gilbert went on to study art at the Royal Academy Schools.  He then worked as an illustrator for “The Graphic”, “Tatler”, “Illustrated London News” and other magazines.

Gilbert married Mina Spencer from Guernsey in 1908.  When war broke out in 1914, Gilbert initially worked as a war artist for “The Graphic” magazine.  He volunteered to join the Army and was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in January 1915 as a Second Lieutenant, serving on the Western Front as a Forward Observation Officer. He was later appointed Reconnaissance Officer.  He drew plans of German positions, often working in No Man’s Land with his sketchbook.  Gilbert fought at the Battles of Arras, Passchendaele and the Third Battle of Ypres.  He left the Army in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant.

After the war, Gilbert concentrated on painting sporting scenes, especially those involving horses. He illustrated a number of books including the Royal Artillery War Commemoration Book. While hunting with the Woolwich Draghounds in 1932, Gilbert had a bad fall from his horse, resulting in injuries necessitating the use of a wheelchair.  He painted on but died on 8th January 1937 after contracting pneumonia.

Examples of Gilbert’s WW1 paintings: “1st Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers defending Lock No. 2 on the Mons-Conde Canal at Jemappes on 23 August 1914” and “Horse-drawn transport passing the Cloth Hall, Ypres, 1917”.

“Horse-drawn transport passing the Cloth Hall, Ypres, 1917”
by Gilbert Holiday

Gilbert Holiday (1879 - 1937) – British artist - featured in the exhibition WW1 “Aftermath” held in January 2019 at the Wirral Peninsula’s Award Winning Wilfred Owen Story.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799/?fref=nf

The title of the paintinhg featured on the cover of "Bloody Red Tabs" is Brigadier-General Grogan, CMG, DSO, GOc, 23rd Infantry Brigade - In action at Bouleuse Ridge on the Aisne, 29th May 1918, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross."

For further information on the book and other Pen & word military publications, please see their website https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/

Olive Hockin (1881–1936) – British artist, suffragette, author

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for this post

Olive was born early in 1881 in Bude, Cornwall, UK.  Her parents were Edward Hockin and his wife, Margaret Sarah Hockin, nee Floyer.   Edward died in June 1880, shortly before Olive was born.  Olive had a brother, Arthur, b. 1878

Olive studied art at The Slade School of Art.  By 1911, she was living in Berkshire and described her occupation as “artist".

She was imprisoned for four months in 1913 for bomb attacks at the home of Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. Papers with Olive's address were found at the scene of the attack and wire cutters and paraffin were later discovered at her home. While she was in prison, Olive agreed not to go on hunger strike providing she could continue to create art.  Olive continued exhibiting at the Society of Women Artists, at the Walker Gallery and until 1915, at the Royal Academy.


During the First World War, Olive  joined the Women’s Land Army and worked on a farm in Dartmoor, Devon. She wrote a book describing her experience as a Land-girl entitled “Two Girls on the Land: Wartime on a Dartmoor Farm”, published by E. Arnold, London, 1918.   Here is a quote from the book:

“In those early days of the War it was not common for a young woman to go about seeking situations as a farm-hand.  In the West Country especially, such a thing was almost unknown and long after the sight of lady farm-workers had become a commonplace in the home counties, th idea would be greeted with sceptical and derisive laughter by the slow-moving old farmers of Devon.” (Chapter 1 – “Arrival”, p. 8).

"Moorland View" watercolour by Olive Hockin

In 1922, Olive married John H. Leared who trained polo ponies in Cheltenham. They had two sons.

The National Portrait Gallery has a picture of her by the Criminal Record Office, and two pages of picture called "Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes", also by the Criminal Record Office, which includes her.

Illustrations:
Cover of the Summer edition of the Suffragette publication "Votes for Women" designed by Olive Hockin. Date: June 26th 1914
And “Moorland View” watercolour

Olive Hockin cover design for "Votes for Women"

Sources:

http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/…/olive-hockin-suffragette-art…/

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/olive-hockin/

https://www.mediastorehouse.com/…/votes-women-summer-1914-1…
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