Volume Eight of this set has the following contents:
VOLUME EIGHT: The freedom of the seas – the story of our ships and the sailors who man them; The wonders of the heavens – the story of astronomers and their work; The magic art of writing; A guide to good manners for boys and girls; The story of the human body – a marvellous machine and what it does; Favourite hobbies – Pastimes at home and out of doors; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Models and model making; Favourite hobbies – Things to make and do: Handcrafts of many kinds
ELLIS SILAS
I did wonder, when I have completed my run through these ten volumes, whether I should go back and space out some information about artists. For example in this volume we have a lot of Ellis Silas. But I must simplify my habits, so below you’ll find a mini-biog.
“SILAS, Ellis, U.A. (born 1883).
Marine and landscape painter in oil and water-colour; stained-glass artist. Born in London, son of Louis F. Silas a decorative artist and founder member of the United Artists, and grandson of Edouard Silas a composer. Studied art under his father and Walter Sickert. Exhibited at the R.A., R.I., R.O.I. He was a war artist for the Australian Government 1914-18, and spent three years in Papua painting and collecting curios which he described in his book A Primitive Arcadia. President of the London Sketch Club 1930. Lived in London for many years.” ~Taken from: Grant Waters, Dictionary of British Artists working 1900-1950
In the Daily Mirror of 22 May 1916, I found “On Saturday their Majesties received at Buckingham Palace Signaller Ellis Silas, an artist attached to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force”. This publicity could have done him no harm at the time and indeed his work started appearing in The Bystander from 1920 and from 1925 The Sketch and the Graphic included his work. His three year ‘sojourn’ to the South Seas and the exploits he encountered were wonderful pieces for the post WWI public (from which he wrote “A Primitive Arcadia”and he wrote an article for Wide World in the same year). From October his work also appeared in Illustrated London News. For the Coronation issue of The Sketch, he drew a full page of Elizabeth I’s coronation.
A short bibliography
- Crusading at Anzac Anno Domini 1915. Pictured and described by Signaller E. Silas, etc. London: British-Australasian, 1916
- The Big Picture Book of Trains, Ships, Motors and Aeroplanes by E. Chivers Davies, London & Sydney: George G. Harrap & Co, 1920
- The Story of the British Navy, by Harold Felix Baker Wheeler, London : G. G. Harrap & Co, 1922
- The art of the Trobriand Islanders, London: Studio Publications, 1924
- Catching fish with the hands : unique methods of the dusky fishermen of the coral seas, London: [Unknown], 1925
- A Primitive Arcadia: an artist in Papua, London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1926
- Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1927
- The iron pirate: a plain tale of strange happenings on the sea by Max Pemberton, London: Associated Newspapers, c.1930
- Norman knights set out for the Holy Land, London: Evans Brothers., 1936
- The Flying Pirates by D. E. Marsh, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1938
- A picture map of the ancient world, London: Evans Brothers., 1939
- Atlantic Adventure by Conor O’Brien, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1943
- Living among Cannibals: An account of the author’s experiences on the island of Malekula by Thomas Harnett Harrison, London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1943
- North Wales, by British Railways, 1950
- Orient Line to Australia : Sydney Heads [POSTER] [London: Orient Line?], c.1950
So Ellis Silas was certainly famous back then!
WILLIAM MCDOWELL
William John Patton McDowell (not to be confused with the Suffolk artist McDowall) was born 26 November 1888 and self-taught. Painter, draughtsman and commercial artist, born in the shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, who on leaving school was apprenticed in the drawing office of the engineering firm Vickers. In the 1921 census he is listed as “Artist Sketcher” for Vickers. By 1939 he was listed at “Novelist & Artist” He married Gertrude Evelyn Duerden in 1913, who was born in Burnley in 1889. McDowell was to become a member of the Institute of Naval Architects. Shortly after World War I McDowell left naval architecture to become a full-time artist, producing murals for the liner Mauretania and other vessels, eventually settling in Wallasey, Cheshire. Many of his own paintings were of historical or maritime subjects, shown at the Walker Art Gallery and elsewhere. In 1919, his picture “Stern all-strike!” was included in the RA Summer Exhibition and reviewed positively in The Globe (3 May 1919). During World War II he was commissioned in the Royal Naval Scientific Service. McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock, holds his work. His work appeared in many London weeklies and monthlies including Illustrated London News . He was Honorary Secretary of the Chelsea Arts Club and member of the Society of Marine Artists. He died in Surrey on 21 December 1950.
CYRIL COWELL
I’ve written about Cowell here, but couldn’t resist sharing this as an example of dated suggestions! That bed does NOT look safe! And the next image is of a sea I’ve never travelled on. For some reason my journeys tend to be on choppy water!
Raymond Sheppard also produced four colour plates in this volume which I’ve reproduced and written about on my other blog
ERNEST ARIS (Alfred Ernest Walter George Aris, FZS, SGA)
Search the V&A Collections and you’ll see quite a few artworks including posters. He has a Wikipedia page too
JOHN RIDDLE BURGESS
J.R.B. or JRB? I couldn’t find any likely candidates in Peppin (1983), Horne (1994) but my old standby (Kirkpatrick, 2019) has an entry for one “J. R. Burgess” and on further investigation I found that Robert J. Kirkpatrick had shared the information on my old friend Steve Holland’s blog – allowing me to link to it for you. And one image in particular shows the same initials written in the same way!
John Riddle Burgess was born in 1880 in Shepherds Bush, London, married Margaret Underwood on 3 September 1914 and J.R.B. died at St. Stephens Hospital, Barnet, on 20 July 1966. Thanks to Steve and particularly Robert J Fitzpatrick.
Visual Rants 