John Byam Liston Shaw (13 November 1872 – 26 January 1919), commonly known as Byam Shaw, was a British painter, illustrator, designer and teacher. He is not to be confused with his sons,
Glen Byam Shaw
Glencairn Alexander "Glen" Byam Shaw, CBE (13 December 1904 – 29 April 1986) was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later.
In the 1920s and 1930 ...
, actor and theatre director, and James Byam Shaw, art historian and director of
Colnaghi's
Colnaghi is an art dealership in St James's, central London, England, which is the oldest art museum, commercial art gallery in the world, having been established in 1760.
Foundation
The business that became the Colnaghi gallery was establis ...
, who both used "Byam Shaw" as a surname.
Family
John Byam Liston Shaw was the son of John Shaw and his wife, Sophia Alicia Byam Gunthorpe. In 1899 Byam Shaw married the artist Evelyn Caroline Eunice Pyke-Nott, later known as Evelyn CE Shaw (1870–1959).
[.] Evelyn's sister was
Isabel Codrington
Isabel Codrington Pyke-Nott, later Isabel Konody then Isabel Mayer (1874-1943), was a British artist. She painted figures in watercolour and oils and also produced miniatures.
Biography
Codrington was born in Bydown in Devon and in 1889, aged ...
, another early twentieth century artist. Byam Shaw came from an Ayrshire family of lawyers and clerics. The Ayrshire Shaws were a cadet branch of the Shaws of Tordarroch, chiefs of the
Clan Shaw
Clan Shaw is a Highland Scottish clan and is a member of the Chattan Confederation.Way, George and Squire, Romily. (1994). ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Cou ...
. Byam Shaw's forebears included the two reverend Shaws (father and son) referred to in
Burns' "Twa Herds". Evelyn's family, the Pyke-Notts, were gentry from
Swimbridge
Swimbridge (historical spelling: ''Swymbridge'') is a village, parish and former manor in Devon, England. It is situated south-east of Barnstaple and twinned with the town of St.Honorine Du Fay in Normandy, France. It was the home of the Rev. ...
and
Parracombe
Parracombe is a rural settlement south-west of Lynton, in Devon, England. It is situated in the Heddon Valley, on Exmoor. The population at the 2011 census was 293.
A number Bronze Age barrows exist nearby, along with several other small ear ...
in North Devon.
The couple had five children including the actor and theatre director
Glen Byam Shaw
Glencairn Alexander "Glen" Byam Shaw, CBE (13 December 1904 – 29 April 1986) was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later.
In the 1920s and 1930 ...
and the art historian James 'Jim' Byam Shaw.
[.] Their only daughter, Barbara, married
Rear-Admiral A.F. Pugsley. Another son, David, a naval officer and destroyer captain, awarded the OBE, was killed at sea during World War II whilst in command of
HMS Stanley, and George, a major in the
Royal Scots
The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regime ...
, was killed at
Dunkirk in 1940 whilst second-in-command of the 1st Battalion. The family is depicted in the artist's semi-autobiographical
pastel painting ''My Wife, My Bairns and My Wee Dog John'' (1903).
[
]
Life and work
Byam Shaw was born in Madras; his father, John, was the registrar of the High Court at Madras.[The Art and Life of Byam Shaw by Rex Vicat Cole, Seeley Service and Co. Ltd, London, 1932] The family returned to England in 1878 where they settled in Kensington, living at 103 Holland Row.[Tim Barringer (2000)]
'Not a "modern" as the word is now understood'? Byam Shaw, imperialism and the poetics of professional society
in: David Peters Corbett, Lara Perry (eds.) ''English Art, 1860–1914: Modern Artists and Identity''. Manchester University Press. . He showed early artistic promise, and in 1887 his work was shown to John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
, who recommended that the 15-year-old should enter the St John's Wood Art School
The St John's Wood Art School ( The Wood or Calderon's Art School) was an art school in St John's Wood, north London, England.
The Art School was established in 1878 and was located on Elm Tree Road. It was founded by two art teachers, Elíseo Ab ...
.[.] There, he first met fellow artists Gerald Fenwick Metcalfe (also born in India) and Rex Vicat Cole
Reginald ("Rex") George Vicat Cole (1870–1940) was an English landscape painter.
Life
Vicat Cole was the son of the artist George Vicat Cole and Mary Ann Chignell. He was educated at Eton and began to exhibit in London in 1890. In 1900 he wa ...
. He also met Evelyn Pyke-Nott, his future wife, there. From 1890, Shaw studied at the Royal Academy Schools
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
[ where he won the ]Armitage
Armitage is a village in Staffordshire, England on the south side of the Trent and Mersey Canal south just outside of the market town of Rugeley and north of the city of Lichfield, and noteworthy for the Armitage Shanks sanitary porcelain factor ...
Prize in 1892 for his work ''The Judgement of Solomon''.[
Throughout his career Byam Shaw worked competently in a wide variety of media including oils, watercolour, pastels, pen and ink and deployed techniques such as ]dyeing
Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular c ...
and gilding. He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and took many of his subjects from the poems of Rossetti. He exhibited frequently at Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell's gallery in New Bond Street, where he had at least five solo exhibitions between 1896 and 1916.[
Later in his life his popularity as an artist waned, and he turned to teaching for his living. He taught at the Women's Department of King's College London from 1904][ and in 1910, with ]Rex Vicat Cole
Reginald ("Rex") George Vicat Cole (1870–1940) was an English landscape painter.
Life
Vicat Cole was the son of the artist George Vicat Cole and Mary Ann Chignell. He was educated at Eton and began to exhibit in London in 1890. In 1900 he wa ...
, he founded the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art later renamed simply the "Byam Shaw School of Art
The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and ...
".[.] Evelyn Shaw had an active role in the new school, teaching the miniatures class, her area of expertise.[ Shaw had had a long association with the artist and illustrator Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, who taught at the new school.
]
At the outbreak of the First World War Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole enlisted in the Artists Rifles although Shaw soon transferred to the Special Constabulary
The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of statutory police forces in the United Kingdom and some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as special constables.
Every United Kingdom territorial police force has a specia ...
. He produced war cartoons that were published in many newspapers and also found work with memorial commissions.[ Not long after the war ended, Shaw collapsed and died at age 46 in the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic and was interred at ]Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...
.[ His funeral was held at St Barnabas', Addison Road. Years before, he had designed two yellow-hued stained glass windows for this church, depicting Saints Cecilia and Margaret.][.] An ornate red, green and gilt monument to his life, in a 15th-century style, still stands there.[.]
Notable works
File:John Liston Byam Shaw 003.jpg, ''Jezebel''
File:John Liston Byam Shaw Boer War.jpg, ''The Boer War''
File:John Byam Liston Shaw - The Greatest of All Heroes is One.jpg, ''The Greatest of All Heroes is One''
File:John Liston Byam Shaw The Woman The Man the Serpent.jpg, ''The Woman, the Man and the Serpent''
Paintings
* ''Jezebel'' (1896 – Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
The Russell-Cotes Museum (formally, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum) is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East Cliff, next ...
, Bournemouth). The painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1896, originally depicted nude, flanked by her hand-maidens. The model was Rachel Lee, a close friend of Byam Shaw. Unable to sell the painting, he later reworked it so that the central figure was shown clothed.[
* ''Love the Conqueror'' (1899). Now lost, but documented in a series of photographs taken during its creation, Byam Shaw considered this his masterpiece. The work contains over 200 figures. Widely lauded at the time of its exhibition, it is now recognised as somewhat flawed.][
* ''The Boer War'' (1901, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). The subtitle for this painting referring to the ]Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
(1899–1902) is 'Last summer green things were greener, brambles fewer, the blue sky bluer', a Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Bri ...
quote.[
* ''The Greatest of All Heroes is One'' (1905); inspired by a ]Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
quote, the painting reinterprets Carlyle's ' Great Man' with a more imperialistic ideal. Another lost work, it included amongst its large cast colonial military heroes of the Victorian era such as General Gordon and General Nicholson standing alongside historical icons like Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
.[
* ''The Woman, the Man and the Serpent'' (1911).][
]
Book illustrations
* .[.]
* .
* – 500 plates.
* – these illustrations form some of Byam Shaw’s more famous ones.
*
* – commissioned to produce 34 illustrations.
* [Visual Haggard: The Illustration Archive]
*
*
Other works
* Designed costumes for Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Beerbohm Tree's ''Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
'' at His Majesty's Theatre (1904).
* Assisted Edwin Austin Abbey in the scheme to decorate one of the corridors in the Palace of Westminster with murals.
* ''Act Drop for the London Coliseum'' (1914). No longer in existence, the curtain Byam Shaw designed for the Coliseum
The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...
featured Shakespeare presiding over a court of 101 diverse figures including Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...
and Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
.
* Stained glass for St Barnabas Church, Kensington.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Byam
British artists
1872 births
1919 deaths
Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in England
Academics of King's College London
Artists' Rifles soldiers
Academics of the Byam Shaw School of Art
Alumni of St John's Wood Art School
British Army personnel of World War I