Philip Wilson Steer
Encyclopedia
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Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
(28 Dec 1860 – 18 March 1942) was a British painter of landscape and occasional portraits and figure studies. He was a leading figure in the Impressionist movement in Britain.
Life and work
Philip Wilson Steer was born on 28 December 1860 in BirkenheadBirkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, in Merseyside, near Liverpool. He was the son of the portrait-painter, Philip Steer (1810-1871).
After finding the examinations of the British Civil Service
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports Her Majesty's Government - the government of the United Kingdom, composed of a Cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister, as well as the devolved...
too demanding, he became an artist in 1878. He studied at the Gloucester School of Art and then from 1880 to 1881 at the South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
Drawing Schools. He was rejected by the Royal Academy of Art, and so studied in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
between 1882 and 1884, firstly at the Académie Julian, and then in the École des Beaux Arts under Cabanel
Alexandre Cabanel
Alexandre Cabanel was a French painter.- Biography :Cabanel was born in Montpellier, Hérault. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter...
, where he became a follower of the Impressionist school.
Between 1883 and 1885 he exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1886 he became a founder of the New English Art Club
New English Art Club
The New English Art Club was founded in London in 1885 as an alternate venue to the Royal Academy.-History:Young English artists returning from studying art in Paris mounted the first exhibition of the New English Art Club in April 1886...
, with whom he continued to exhibit regularly.
Between 1893 and 1930 he taught painting at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, London. He lived in Chelsea, but in the summers painted in Yorkshire, the Cotswolds and the West Country and on the south and east coasts of Britain.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he was recruited by Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Information, to paint pictures of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
In 1931 he was awarded the Order of Merit.
He died in London, 18 March 1942.
Steer is best known for his landscapes, such as 'The Beach at Walberswick
Walberswick
Walberswick is a village on the Suffolk coast in England, across the River Blyth from Southwold. Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century...
' (1890; Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London), and 'Girls Running: Walberswick Pier' (1894,Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London). With Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
he became a leading British Impressionist. Besides the French Impressinists he was influenced by Whistler and also by such old masters as Boucher, Gainsborough, Constable and Turner. He also painted a number of portraits and figure studies (e.g. 'Portrait of Mrs. Raynes' (1922, Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London)).
His self-portrait is in the collection in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
He also taught such artists as Anna Airy
Anna Airy
Anna Airy was an oil painter, pastel artist and etcher, working in Britain.She was born in Greenwich, London, daughter of engineer Wilfrid Airy and Anna née Listing, and granddaughter of Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy....
, an etcher.
Further reading
- J. Rothenstein, 'Philip Wilson Steer 1860-1942', in J. Rothenstein, Modern English Painters Sickert To Smith (1952), p.59-74.