COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. i ii REX WHISTLER (1905 – 1944): PATRONAGE AND ARTISTIC IDENTITY by NIKKI FRATER A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Humanities & Performing Arts Faculty of Arts and Humanities September 2014 iii Nikki Frater REX WHISTLER (1905-1944): PATRONAGE AND ARTISTIC IDENTITY Abstract This thesis explores the life and work of Rex Whistler, from his first commissions whilst at the Slade up until the time he enlisted for active service in World War Two. His death in that conflict meant that this was a career that lasted barely twenty years; however it comprised a large range of creative endeavours. Although all these facets of Whistler’s career are touched upon, the main focus is on his work in murals and the fields of advertising and commercial design. The thesis goes beyond the remit of a purely biographical stance and places Whistler’s career in context by looking at the contemporary art world in which he worked, and the private, commercial and public commissions he secured. In doing so, it aims to provide a more comprehensive account of Whistler’s achievement than has been afforded in any of the existing literature or biographies. This deeper examination of the artist’s practice has been made possible by considerable amounts of new factual information derived from the Whistler Archive and other archival sources. Thus the sources of his ideas and influences, the creative stimuli to which Whistler responded have been documented iv extensively and mapped against the iconography to be found in his works, particularly the murals. Further consideration of the art, artists and culture of the time situates the artist amongst his contemporaries, drawing out the themes and inspirations that he shared with them and in so doing questions the idea of Whistler as an idiosyncratic artist working in a partially private ‘bubble’, cut off from wider currents of art practice. The artist’s diaries and accounts books have provided invaluable fresh information on his working practices, social and professional connections and the remuneration he received for different projects. This monographic concentration on Whistler’s life and art practice is seen as the necessary foundation for further analysis of his career and what his career, in turn, tells us about the inter-war British art world. The thesis argues that Whistler’s success as a muralist needs to be considered against the background of the English mural revival, the emergent enthusiasm for Baroque and Rococo style and the rediscovery of the Regency period. Equally, a case is made for Whistler’s understanding of the new area of advertising and design that developed in the 1920s and 30s, in which he played a substantial part. The thesis also argues that Whistler was complicit in the managing of his image during his lifetime, and was particularly astute in his understanding of the power of the press and media. With Whistler’s work in many areas governed by the commissioning process, an attempt is made to understand and assess the implications of patronage in the twentieth century and the concomitant effects upon an artist’s creative vision, voice and identity. v Contents Copyright statement i Title page iii Abstract iv List of contents vi List of illustrations vii List of appendices xvii Acknowledgements xviii Author’s declaration xix Introduction 1 Chapter One: EARLY YEARS AND THE SLADE SCHOOL OF ART 22 Chapter Two: THE TATE GALLERY RESTAURANT MURAL 1926-27 58 Chapter Three: INFLUENCES & INSPIRATIONS 92 Chapter Four: MURALS 143 Chapter Five: A MODERN PATRONAGE 223 Chapter Six: PATRONAGE AND ARTISTIC IDENTITY 276 Conclusion 327 Appendices: Appendix I: REX WHISTLER CAREER CHRONOLOGY 336 Appendix II: REX WHISTLER MURAL SCHEMES 360 Appendix III: PRIOR RESEARCH AND PUBLIC LECTURES 368 Bibliography 369 Volume of Illustrations 408 vi VOLUME OF ILLUSTRATIONS: List of illustrations Fig. Image Details [Please note that some images have been removed in the Volume itself due to Copyright restrictions.] 1.1 TOP: Figure sketch for ‘Tragedy’, for proscenium panel Shadwell mural. 1924-5. dimensions unknown. RWA. BELOW: Possible sketch for putti, Shadwell mural. 1924-5. dimensions unknown. RWA. 1.2 Pages from ‘1925 Sketchbook’, CR 290, dimensions 7 inches x 10.5 inches. RWA. 1.3 Pages from ‘1925 Sketchbook’, CR 290, dimensions 7 inches x 10.5 inches. RWA. 1.4 Top of page of notes from ‘Sketchbook 1923A’ CR 286. RWA. 1.5 Mary Adshead The Picnic 1924, Oil on canvas 94 in. x 47.2 in. Manchester Art Gallery. 1.6 Female Figure Seated 1924, Oil on canvas, 2 ft. 6 in. x 1ft. 8 in. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.7 Sketch of Wilsford Manor (annotated by Laurence Whistler), ‘Sketchbook 1923B’ CR. 287, 6.5 x 3.5 inches, RWA. 1.8 Rustic Scene: Villagers Dancing 1924, oil on canvas, 12 ft. x 7ft. 5 in. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.9 Picnic in the Country with Musicians and Dancers ,1924, oil on canvas. 12 ft. x 7ft. 5 in. The Slade and UCL Art Collections, London. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.10 Whistler’s panel left and Mary Adshead’s (title unknown) right. The Times, Sept 24 1924, p.7. 1.11 Mary Adshead The Joys of the Country 1924 (dimensions unknown). Mural panel for Highway Boys Club Shadwell. University of Liverpool Art Collections. 1.12 Contemporary photograph of the interior of Highway Boys Club Memorial Hall Shadwell, showing Whistler’s two side panels (1924) and proscenium panels (1925), together with one of Mary Adshead’s small panels (1924, unidentified) abutting the stage. RWA. 1.13 Sketch for headpiece of proscenium arch, Shadwell, ‘Sketchbook 1925’ 7 inches x 10.5 inches, RWA. vii 1.14 Proscenium decoration for Highways Memorial Club, Shadwell 1925 TOP: Allegorical Composition: Comedy and Putti Driving away a Heraldic Unicorn Oil on canvas glued to millboard, 52.3 inches x 108.2 inches. BELOW: Allegorical Composition: Tragedy and Putti Driving away a Heraldic Lion Oil on canvas glued to millboard, 52.7 inches x 123.2 inches. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.15 Left panel, adjacent to ‘Comedy’: Rural Scene with Putto Conducting Two Men Playing the Lute and Saxophone and Figures Dancing, 1925, oil on canvas glued to millboard, 129.1 inches x 74.8 inches. Right panel, adjacent to ‘Tragedy’: Allegorical Composition with Nun Holding a Child and a Skeleton Personifying Death Taking the Arm of a Boy Holding a Book 1925, oil on canvas glued to millboard, 130.9 inches x 78.3 inches. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.16 Trial Scene from the Merchant of Venice 1925, oil on canvas, 3 ft. x 4ft. 1in. © UCL Art Museum, University College London. 1.17 Ink and watercolour sketch for Trial Scene from the Merchant of Venice 1925 6.5 inches x 10 inches. Private collection. 1.18 Ink and watercolour sketch for Trial Scene from the Merchant of Venice 1925 6.75 inches x 9 inches. RWA. 2.1 Preliminary sketches for the Tate Gallery Refreshment Room mural, c. April 1925, 7.5 inches x 10.5 inches, in 1925 Sketchbook, RWA. 2.2 Preliminary sketches for the Tate Gallery Refreshment Room mural, c. April 1925, 7.5 inches x 10.5 inches, in 1925 Sketchbook, RWA. 2.3 Scenes from the ‘Tangeree’ section of the Tate Gallery mural. This part of the mural is the most incomplete and the least reproduced of the scheme. Photographs author’s own. 2.4 Sketch of original Chinoiserie design for the columns in the centre of the Refreshment Room (not adopted), 1926, RWA. 2.5 The unfinished figures returning to Epicurania in the final scene of the mural. Photograph author’s own. 2.6 Panel on main wall of the Refreshment Room, showing the thin washes that Whistler employed over the white ground. The use of viridian is distinctive and used throughout the composition. Photograph author’s viii own. 2.7 Squared out sketch for the hunting party’s departure from Epicurania, 1926, RWA. 2.8 The finished scene in the mural. Image © Tate Photography. 2.9 Another view of Epicurania, showing how Whistler fitted the departure scene into the corner of the room. Photograph author’s own. 2.10 Caryatids at the entrance to the Refreshment Room. Image © Tate Photography. 2.11 The final panel of the mural with classical statuary, the Boycott Pavilion and the Corinthian Arch both based on those at Stowe. At the far right is the party returning to Epicurania. Image © Tate Photography. 2.12 Design for scene for main wall of Refreshment Room. RWA. Édouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1863-1868, Oil on canvas, 35.2 x 45.8 in., Courtauld Gallery, London. 2.13 Nan West Summer, 1927, panel from the mural at the Royal National Orthopaedic Outpatients Hall. The murals in situ. Photograph from 2006 before the demolition of the Hospital. Image English Heritage. 2.14 Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, part of the mural scheme at Morley College, 1928-1930. Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection. 3.1 Illustration to Baudelaire’s ‘L’Horloge’, 9 x 7 inches, ink and watercolour, 1924 Sketchbook, RWA. 3.2 View from the villa in Switzerland, 7 x 9 inches, ink and watercolour, 1924 Sketchbook, RWA. 3.3 Ink and watercolour sketches of the Colosseum and the Arch of Septimius, 7 x 9 inches, 1924 Sketchbook, RWA.