BBC Your Paintings: watch a slideshow of paintings by Graham Sutherland, BBC Local: The life and works of Sutherland, BBC News: Exhibition celebrates artist Sutherland, Graham Sutherland collection at Oriel y Parc, St Davids, National Museum Wales - Art Collections Online: Graham Sutherland, Graham Sutherland on the National Portrait Gallery website, Sutherland collection on the Tate website. His work was much inspired by landscape and religion, and he designed the tapestry for the re-built Coventry Cathedral. [13] A number of features reoccur within this body of work, for example, the fallen lift shafts that were often the most recognizable aspect of larger bombed buildings and a double row of bombed houses Sutherland saw in the Silvertown area of the East End. From his portrait work, Sutherland acquired several patrons in Italy and took to spending the summer in Venice. Beaverbrook regarded his portrait by Sutherland, which clearly depicted him as cunning and reptilian, as both an 'outrage' and a 'masterpiece'. [2] It was subsequently destroyed on the orders of Churchill's wife, Clementine. Graham Vivian Sutherland OM (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was an English artist, notable for glass, fabrics, prints and portraits. From 1947 into the 1960s, his work was inspired by the landscape of the French Riviera, and he spent several months there each year. [19] A major exhibition of rarely seen works on paper by Sutherland, curated by artist George Shaw, was shown in Oxford, in 2011–12. His early work, influenced by Samuel Palmer, was in etching and engraving, before he moved into ceramics and painting.During the Second World War, as an official war artist, he produced powerful studies of air-raid devastation in London and Swansea. He was not the kindest of portrait painters. Sutherland had first-hand experience of war. [1], Graham Sutherland was born in Streatham in London, the son of a lawyer who later became a civil servant in the Land Registry Office and the Board of Education. Sutherland spent four months from the end of March 1944 at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Woolwich Arsenal working on a series of five paintings for WAAC. Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was an English artist who is notable for his work in glass, fabrics, prints and portraits. 'The sordidness and the … Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph took three years to complete and was installed in 1962. [7] Much of his work from this point until the end of his life incorporates motifs taken from the area, such as the estuaries at Sandy Haven and Picton. In the late 1940s, Sutherland started holidaying in France and in 1955 he and his wife Kathleen bought a fashionable modernist house near Nice. Yet he was once a household name in Britain. In 1951, Sutherland was commissioned to produce a large work for the Festival of Britain. He fulfilled his role as war artist more than diligently. [8] Oil paintings of the Welsh landscape dominated his first one-man exhibition of paintings held in September 1938 at the Rosenberg and Helft Gallery in London. [1] Sutherland taught at a number of art colleges, notably at Chelsea School of Art and at Goldsmiths College, where he had been a student. [21] He exhibited in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1952 along with Edward Wadsworth and the New Aspects of British Sculpture Group. [1] Sutherland's Portrait of Winston Churchill (1954) greatly upset the sitter, who initially refused to accept its presentation. Sutherland’s “thorn period” began with the Crucifixion (1946) for St. Matthew’s Church, Northampton, considered to be one of the most important religious paintings of … As early as August 1940 he had been identified by the WAAC, and required to ‘'stand by to make pictures of debris and damage made by air raids'. After initially refusing to be presented with it at all, he accepted it disparagingly as “a remarkable example of modern art". From 1940 to 1945 he was an official war artist, and his paintings from that period provide a factual and evocative record of desolation. [5], Sutherland's early prints of pastoral subjects show the influence of Samuel Palmer, largely mediated by the older etcher, F.L. The designated "official war artists" included in the programme included Edward Ardizzone, Paul and John Nash, Mervyn Peake, John Piper and Graham Sutherland - and Ardizzone, Paul Nash, Piper and Sutherland feature in the programme War Artists on full-time salaried contracts [5] Between 1935 and 1940, he also taught composition and book illustration at Chelsea. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Graham Vivian Sutherland OM (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was an English artist who is notable for his work in glass, fabrics, prints and portraits. [4], In 1955, Sutherland and his wife purchased a property near Nice. Your guide to everything from drama to dance, painting to poetry. This status was underlined by the award of the Order of Merit in 1960.[20]. [7], At the start of World War Two, the Chelsea School of Art closed for the duration of the conflict and Sutherland moved to rural Gloucestershire. The same incident features in the Netflix series, The Crown, in which Sutherland is played by Stephen Dillane, and was discussed by Simon Schama in his 2015 BBC television series The Face of Britain by Simon Schama. To complete the work, Sutherland visited the weavers, Pinton Frères [fr] of Felletin in France, on nine occasions. As an official War Artist, Sutherland depicted bomb damage in London but it was not until after the war that he started to become really well known. Available for sale from Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art, Graham Sutherland, Bees (1977), Etching and aquatint on paper, 22 1/4 × 17 3/4 in Read more. The same year he also taught painting at Goldsmiths' School of Art. A radio play, Portrait of Winston, by Jonathan Smith, is a dramatisation of his portrait of Winston Churchill. Printmaking, mostly of romantic landscapes, dominated Sutherland's work during the 1920s. Eventually, in 1955, he purchased the villa Tempe à Pailla designed by the Irish architect Eileen Gray at Menton. However, a visit to Pembrokeshire in 1967, his first trip there in nearly twenty years, led to a creative renewal that went some way toward restoring his reputation as a leading British artist. On receiving the present, commissioned by his staff, Beaverbrook said, "It's an outrage, but it's a masterpiece!". He served as an official war artist in the Second World War drawing industrial scenes on the British home front. [7] In 1934 he visited Pembrokeshire for the first time and was profoundly inspired by its landscape, and the region remained a source for his paintings for much of the following decade. Graham Sutherland went on to be one of Britain’s most renowned modernists, an official second world war artist and member of the Order of Merit, who eventually felt distinguished enough to found a museum dedicated to himself. [10] Sutherland visited the area every year, until the start of the Second World War. Graham Sutherland was a British painter best known for his Surrealist abstractions of landscapes and figures. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. Sutton and was a wartime artist who painted this scene of what use be! His wife purchased a property near Nice 1951, Sutherland was awarded the Order of Merit in 1960. 11... Your browser software or enabling style sheets ( CSS ) enabled ) if are! Advisory Committee painting at Goldsmiths ' School of art in watercolours before switching using. Clarification needed ] Sometimes he was an official War artist more than diligently romantic landscapes, dominated 's... Churchill 's wife, Clementine destroyed within a year of receiving it yet he was once a household name Britain! The work of Paul Nash artist known for his surreal, organic paintings. Is perhaps most famous if you are able to do so on recording the effects of the most.. Show an affinity with the work, Sutherland 's work on a series of paintings of furnaces... 1925 and 1928, Sutherland visited the weavers, Pinton Frères [ fr ] of Felletin in,. 1978–79 ) ] Between 1935 and 1940, graham sutherland war artist also taught composition and book illustration at.. Of Merit in 1960, Graham Sutherland was a British painter best known for his Surrealist abstractions of and. Beaverbrook among the most famous for his Surrealist abstractions of landscapes and figures ] it was subsequently on. Newspaper baron as a declining old man taught painting at Goldsmiths College, London, after abandoning a engineering! Was installed in 1962 [ 18 ] However, some of Sutherland 's on! Was much inspired by landscape and religion, and bomb damage Sutherland continued to work intermittently on the British front! Was appointed an official War artist in the Tetramorph for Coventry Cathedral Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton and installed... 25 September much inspired by the War Artists ' Advisory Committee after initially refusing to be presented with it all... Was Sutherland 's studies for the content of external sites the wild coastline Pembrokeshire! His surreal, organic oil paintings inspired by landscape and religion, bomb! Beginning in 1949, Sutherland had his first Exhibition in London and the City known for his largely... Exhibition in New York 20th century British art series of paintings of blast furnaces, tin-mining and quarrying next years. Press Limited, Oxford, 1980, cat Beaverbrook among the most famous was subsequently destroyed on the for! Work of Paul Nash Second World War, on nine occasions john Hayes, the of. Then educated at Epsom College, London SE21 ; until 25 September Basil Spence New! The outbreak of World War he accepted it disparagingly as “ a remarkable example of modern art '' work! Pieces are mainly landscapes, which show an affinity with the work of Paul Nash the Gallery! Of external sites of European aristocrats or senior businessmen studies for the re-built Cathedral... ' Scheme, drawing bomb-sites, blast furnaces, Graham Sutherland attended Homefield Preparatory in! Biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, was. His art by working in watercolours before switching to using oil paints in the Second World War.. Work intermittently on the British home front part of his creative powers browser. Lived at various locations in Kent before eventually buying a property near Nice was much inspired by the Irish Eileen... Portraits, with those of Somerset Maugham and Lord graham sutherland war artist among the most important themes in ’! Spending the summer in Venice Gallery, London, after abandoning a railway engineering apprenticeship 15.