Exhibits: Come Back to Erin

Sir Norman Wilkinson, CBE

(1878, Cambridge - May 31, 1971)

Sir Norman Wilkinson was a British artist in oil, watercolour and drypoint, usually of marine subjects. An illustrator and poster artist, he also made an important contribution in both World Wars in the field of camouflage, namely dazzle camouflage.

Educated at Berkhamsted School and St Paul's Cathedral choir school, he had little training in art but largely developed his style through his maritime career.

In 1898 he started contributing to The Illustrated London News and The Illustrated Mail which was the start of a long association. In Paris in 1899 he studied figure painting but was already set upon working on marines. With his love of the sea he travelled extensively including visits to Spain, Germany, Italy, Malta, Greece, Aden, Bahamas, United States, Canada, and Brazil. He was elected R.I. in 1906.

During World War I he served at the Dardanelles, on submarine patrol in the Mediterranean, and on a minesweeper in the English Channel. While never an official war artist, he produced a number of works during this period.

He was elected Hon. Marine Painter to the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1919, P.R.I. in 1937. He was knighted in 1948 and appointed a CBE in 1948. Wilkinson created a painting titled "The Approach to Plymouth Harbour" for the smoking room of the RMS Titanic, which sank with the ship. It can be seen in several photos of the smoking room and is discussed in the DVD commentary of A Night To Remember. One of the finest marine painters of this century, he is well represented in many public collections, including the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

He was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Society of Marine Artists, Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water-colours. As President

Exhibition spaces of note: Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Fine Art Society, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Abbey Gallery, Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham, Beaux Arts Gallery.

Sources: Railway posters, 1923-1947. Beverley Cole and Richard Durack. London: Laurence King, 1992

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