Alfred Priest (portraitist)

Not to be confused with the Norwich School painter Alfred Priest.

Alfred Priest
Born(1874-08-05)5 August 1874
Harborne
Died25 November 1929(1929-11-25) (aged 55)
15 Trafalgar Studios, Manresa Road, Chelsea, London[1]
Known forPainting (portrait)
Signature

Alfred Priest RP (5 August 1874 – 25 November 1929)[2] was a British portrait painter.[3]

Biography

Priest was born in Harborne in the West Midlands. After graduating from public school at King Edward's in nearby Birmingham, he attended Cope and Nicol's art school in Kensington. In 1897, while a student at the Royal Academy Schools, Priest was awarded the Turner Fund gold medal and scholarship. His primary instructors were John S. Sargent, W. Q. Orchardson, Solomon J. Solomon, John William Waterhouse, and George Clausen. He also studied sketching under Sir Frank Short. Later, Priest took up residence in Paris, occasionally studying in the ateliers at the Académie Julian.[1][4][5][6]

In 1904, Priest was employed by the Daily Chronicle as a celebrity sketch artist. In subsequent years, he visited cities in Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, where he gained inspiration for his landscape paintings. He also visited Australia and India, where his brother was stationed as a major in the Indian Army.[4][7][8]

Priest died nine days after suffering a stroke.[1]

Works

Portrait subjects include Max Pemberton,[5] Nawab of Chhatari,[4] Benjamin Stone,[9] Mabel Askew (sister of Claude Askew),[10] Ann Radcliffe,[11] Henry Mitchell of Mitchell's Brewery,[12] and Arthur Henderson,[13] winner of the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize.

Priest also painted landscapes. Two of his paintings, Mother! Mother! and Got 'im., depict soldiers in action during World War I.

His works have been exhibited at the Salon, Sunderland Art Gallery, Royal Academy, and Grafton Galleries, among others.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Mr. Alfred Priest". The Times. London. 28 November 1929. p. 19.
  2. ^ "Mr. Alfred Priest". The Illustrated London News. Vol. 85. London: Illustrated London News Group. October 1929. p. 996.
  3. ^ Wood, Christopher (2007). Dictionary of British Art Vol. 4, Victorian Painters: 1. Text. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club Art Books. p. 421.
  4. ^ a b c "Priest's Paintings". Sunday Times. Sydney. 25 September 1927. p. 2.
  5. ^ a b Oscar Parker, ed. (October 1907). "Modern Portraiture". The English Illustrated Magazine. Vol. 38. London. p. 8–9.
  6. ^ "Palette and Chisel". Colour. Vol. 7, no. 6. London: Bemrose & Sons. January 1918. p. XIX.
  7. ^ George Galway (13 April 1928). "Skilled Artist: A. Priest's Show". The Evening News. Sydney. p. 10.
  8. ^ "Modern Art...Views of Mr. Alfred Priest". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland Newspapers. 15 October 1927. p. 19.
  9. ^ "Sir Benjamin Stone (1838–1914)". Art UK. Birmingham Central Library.
  10. ^ "Mabel Askew (1861–1941), Second Wife of Brooke Robinson". Art UK. Brooke Robinson Museum.
  11. ^ "Alfred Priest (1874-1929)". Christie's.
  12. ^ "Catalogue: Gallery No. 11". Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Vol. 138–139. Royal Academy. 1906. p. 13.
  13. ^ "Arthur Henderson (1863–1935), Nobel Peace Prize Winner". Art UK. The Mansion House, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  14. ^ "John Senhouse Goldie-Taubman (1838–1898), Speaker of the House of Keys (1867–1898)". Art UK. Tynwald.
  15. ^ "War's Effect on English Art". The Literary Digest. Vol. 55. New York City: Funk & Wagnalls. 14 July 1917. p. 26.
  16. ^ "The Great War as Pictured at the Royal Academy". The Graphic. Vol. 97, no. 2528. London. 11 May 1918. p. 578.
  17. ^ Pamela Fletcher (2018). Mark Hallett; Sarah Victoria Turner; Jessica Feather (eds.). "1919: Virginia Woolf and Cocaine". The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018. London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
  18. ^ Bruce Ingram, ed. (4 May 1921). "Visions and Reality at Burlington House". The Sketch. Vol. 114, no. 1475. p. 157.
  19. ^ 25 Blythe Road: London's Specialist Auctioneers. Olympia Auctions. 25 January 2017. p. 38.