Charles Henry Sims (28 January 1873,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

–13 April 1928, St. Boswells) was a British figurative painter known for his portraits and landscapes. He initially became renowned as a leading

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

painter, but following the death of his son in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, his work became increasingly idiosyncratic, surreal and controversial. In 1920, he was appointed Keeper, or head, of the Royal Academy Schools, a post he was eventually forced to resign in 1926. At the same time, he became estranged from his wife and children. Sims' final paintings, the ''Spiritual Ideas'', were to some viewers his "most beautiful works,"Rutter. but to others highly disturbing. He died by suicide in 1928.

Education and early career

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Sims was the son of a costume manufacturer. An injury in infancy threatened his life and resulted in lifelong lameness in one leg. His earliest memories were of painful

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patie ...

, and as a child he was unable to fully participate in physical activities. This disability was to have a profound influence on his work as an artist. As his son and biographer Alan Sims writes, "His lameness…remained always a considerable burden," and "had much to do with the peculiar direction of his art towards playful subjects and athletic technique," so that "the most notable characteristics" included "a prepossession with the swift movement of flawless bodies bathed in sunlight and air" and "a determination to escape from the actual confines of physical life into a region of his own fancy.…The charm of his happiest pictures is heightened by this pathos." Initially apprenticed in the drapery business, at age 14 he was sent to Paris, where he learned French. Turning his back on a mercantile career, he decided to study art, and in 1890 enrolled at the

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

College of Art before moving back to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

for two years at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

. In the need of bursaries to support himself, he moved back to London and enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools in 1893, but "his Parisian insolence and cavalier ways alienated the authorities, and in 1895 he was unceremoniously expelled."Reynolds, p. 721. Despite the expulsion, Sims "had gained the confidence to start painting bacchanalian scenes of revelry, executed with astonishing flair," including ''The Vine'' in 1896, his first painting to be exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1897 he exhibited ''Childhood'', which "established his mastery of the effects of sunlight"; it was shown at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial ar ...

of 1900 and purchased by the French State (it is now at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

). He specialized in neo-classical fantasies, typically idealized scenes of women and children (and sometimes fairies and fauns) in outdoor settings. He also found success as a painter of society portraits. In 1897, he married Agnes, a daughter of the painter

John MacWhirter John MacWhirter (27 March 1839 in Slateford, Edinburgh - 28 January 1911 in London) was a Scottish landscape painter. Biography John was the third of four children. One of his elder sisters, Agnes Eliza MacWhirter, Agnes MacWhirter was also ...

. She and their children, sometimes captured in photographs, would become frequent models and subjects in his paintings. In 1906, a one-man show at the

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...

brought him critical and financial success, allowing him to relocate to rural

Fittleworth Fittleworth is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located seven kilometres (3 miles) west from Pulborough on the A283 road and three miles (5 km) south east from Petworth. The village has ...

and then Lodsworth, both villages near

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east–west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twe ...

, West Sussex. In 1907 he painted ''An Island Festival'', "possibly his masterpiece." In 1910, ''The Art Journal'' declared him "The very Ariel of the Academy…This is the art which

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

imagined in his '

Ode on a Grecian Urn "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a poem written by the English Romantic poet John Keats in May 1819, first published anonymously in ''Annals of the Fine Arts for 1819'' (see 1820 in poetry)''.'' The poem is one of the " Great Odes of 1819", which als ...

,' 'For ever panting and for ever young.'" In 1910 he was elected a fellow of the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

, and in 1915 to the

Royal Academy 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 pur ...

. The "breezy, sunny, outdoor subjects" for which he became known were partly inspired by holidays in Arran in Scotland and later at

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

in Belgium and at Étaples in France, where there was an international artists' colony. In 1921, art critic

P.G. Konody Paul George Konody (30 July 1872 – 30 November 1933) was a Hungary, Hungarian-born, London-based art critic and historian, who wrote for several London newspapers, as well as writing numerous books and articles on noted artists and collections, ...

reflected on Sims' body of joyous paintings: ''The New York Times'' found in Sims' works "an individuality incapable of dullness or heaviness," and "an unquenchable sprit." File:Charles Sims--What are these to me and you who deeply drink of wine--1895.jpg, ''"What are these to me and you who deeply drink of wine?"'' (1895) File:Charles Sims--Childhood--1897--Musée d'Orsay.jpg, ''Childhood'' (1897) File:Charles Sims, A Fairy Wooing, 1898.tif, ''A Fairy Wooing'' (1898) File:Lilian Braithwaite by Charles Sims.jpg, '' Dame Lilian Braithwaite'' () File:Charles Sims--The Little Faun--version of 1905-1906.jpg, ''The Little Faun'' (version of 1905–1906) File:Sims--An Island Festival--1907.jpg, ''An Island Festival'' (1907) File:Charles Sims01.jpg, ''The Fountain'' (1907/8) File:Charles Sims--Sir Kenneth Clark when he was a boy circa 1911.jpg, ''

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

'' () File:Charles Sims00.jpg, ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1913) File:Charles Sims - and the fairies ran away.jpg, ''"...and the fairies ran away with their clothes"'' (n.d.)

The First World War

The

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

was a deeply traumatic experience for Sims. His eldest son, John, serving as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, was killed in November 1914, in the loss of HMS ''Bulwark'', a blow that caused Sims in 1915 to add to his idyllic work ''Clio and the Children'', staining the scroll of the Muse of History with red paint to represent blood. "Sims believed that the War had violated the innocence of future generations. He felt that History could no longer be personified as a beautiful goddess passing on wisdom but that she had more violent lessons to teach."Valentine. In February 1917, Sims exhibited a suite of austere, idiosyncratic, deliberately archaic paintings depicting ''The Seven Sacraments of the Holy Church''. According to his son Alan, "Nobody knew what to make of them." Their present location is unknown, and they are today the least-known of his works. In 1918, he traveled to France as an official war artist, painting a series of devastated landscapes. He also painted works memorializing the war dead, using the imagery of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

. In ''Greater Love Hath No Man'' (1916), his own son appears on a cross, with members of the family below. Another crucifixion on a much larger scale and with panoramic details, with Christ on the cross, became Sims' contribution to the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in ad ...

, ''Sacrifice'' (1919). In 1920 Sims was commissioned to decorate the ceiling of the Institute of Civil Engineers in Great George Street, Westminster, and the result was a more conventional but still "highly inventive" paean to the war effort, wherein "a figure of Victory swoops down, surrounded by a billowing Union Jack and holding the victor's laurels, although it also serves as a wreath for the dead. At the edges people crane their necks to peer upwards…and a biplane, emblem of modernity, crosses the composition." Victory wears a hood and most of her face cannot be seen. File:Charles Sims05.jpg, ''Clio and the Children'' (1913/15) File:Sims--Greater Love--RA 1816-18.tif, ''Greater Love Hath No Man'' (1916) File:Charles Sims - Dawn over the battlefields of Vimy, Loos, Mons, Trones… - Sims-98607.jpg, ''Dawn over the battlefields of Vimy, Loos, Mons, Trones'' () File:The Old German Front Line, Arras, 1916 Art.IWMART2282.jpg, ''The Old German Front Line, Arras, 1916'' (1919) File:Charles Sims-Sacrifice (CWM 19710261-0662).jpg, ''Sacrifice'' (1919) File:Study for ceiling painting for the Great Hall of the Institute of Civil Engineers, London by Charles Sims.JPG, ''Study for Ceiling Painting for the Great Hall of the Institute of Civil Engineers'' ()

Professional controversies, personal upheavals

In the last decade of his life, Sims' work became increasingly controversial. In 2019, a surviving version of the painting, on loan from

The Box, Plymouth The Box is a museum, gallery and archive in Plymouth, Devon, England, opened in 2020 housing a collection of about 2 million items. The core of the building was previously Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery which closed in 2016. The building wa ...

, was put on display in the Member's Dining Room in the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...

to mark the centenary of Astor taking her seat. In 1920, Sims was appointed Keeper, or head, of the Royal Academy Schools, an ironic achievement for a man who had himself been expelled as a student. The position included a residence in

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. To ...

, and "placed him at the very heart of the organisation, as the guardian of future generations of painters rigorously drilled in the traditional methods of drawing and composition."Wilcox. A surviving, smaller version of Sims' portrait of George V is kept at the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

. In 1925, Sims was commissioned to contribute to "The Building of Britain," a series of historical paintings by various artists in St. Stephen's Hall of the

in London. Unveiled in 1927, ''King John Assents to the Magna Carta, 1215'' attracted criticism from the press, Members of Parliament and other artists for its idiosyncrasy. Added to these professional tribulations and lingering grief for his son was upheaval in Sims' personal life. His biographer H. Cecilia Holmes suggests that Sims took as his mistress Vivienne Jeudwine, whose portrait with her son (possibly by Sims) he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1924. Another portrait of Jeudwine by Sims, undated, is unabashedly intimate. His affair with Jeudwine eventually ended, but Sims was irreconcilably estranged from his wife, Agnes. When he vacated the Keeper's residence at Burlington House in June, 1926, "he did not return to his wife and children—by this stage his marriage was dead in all but name—but embarked upon a series of foreign trips and long-term spells as a guest in the homes of friends." File:Sims--Lady Astor--First Woman MP--1919--The Box Plymouth.jpg, ''Introduction of Lady Astor as the First Woman MP'' () Charles Sims--The Sands at Dymchurch--c1920-2--Tate.jpg, ''The Sands at Dymchurch'' (-2) File:Charles Sims--George V.jpg, ''George V'' (surviving version, c. 1924) File:Charles-sims-painting King John.jpg, ''King John Assents to the Magna Carta, 1215'' (1925-1927) File:Charles Sims--Mrs Jeudwine and son--1924.jpg, ''Mrs. Jeudwine and her son Wynne'' (1924) File:Charles Sims - The Artist's Mistress.jpg, Portrait of Vivienne Jeudwine, undated

The ''Spiritual Ideas'' and subsequent suicide

Abandoning portraiture and representational painting altogether, Sims embarked on the final phase of his creative career, which resulted in a series of paintings that would be termed the ''Spiritual Ideas''. They depict visually smeared and abstracted maelstroms of cosmic energy in which naked and contorted figures are overwhelmed by gigantic, personified forces; their enigmatic content and Sims' apparent turn to a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

style startled and confused the artistic establishment. Critics likened the paintings to the works of

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

, and the Italian

Futurists Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

. In private letters from March 1928, Sims wrote of his "acute mental distress," saying that "something has happened far away, something that I need have no shame in telling you one day"; it is believed he was referring to his estrangement from his wife, which further isolated him as he was grieving the loss of his son. On April 13, 1928, weeks before a Royal Academy exhibition including six of Sims' ''Spiritual Ideas'' was to open on May 7, he committed suicide by drowning in the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

near

St. Boswells St Boswells ( sco, Bosels / Bosells; gd, Cille Bhoisil ) is a large village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, jumping from the

Leaderfoot Viaduct The Leaderfoot Viaduct, also known as the Drygrange Viaduct, is a railway viaduct over the River Tweed near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. History The viaduct was opened on 16 November 1863 to carry the Berwickshire Railway, which connected ...

with stones in his pockets. Contemporary viewers of the exhibition were concerned about the content of the paintings, especially with regard to Sims' mental health and subsequent suicide, and saw critical reception of the exhibition as insensitive. The RA president,

Sir Frank Dicksee Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portra ...

, who had previously overseen the destruction of Sims' portrait of George V, said the paintings were "in marked contrast to all his previous work," indicating "a violent change of mentality." Ultimately, to address the public's curiosity, all six of the exhibited ''Spiritual Ideas'' were illustrated in color in the popular press; a headline in the ''New York Times'' declared "Suicide's Pictures Make London Gasp." Months later, when four of the ''Spiritual Ideas'' were shown in the United States as part of the annual

Carnegie International The Carnegie International is a North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896 in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established th ...

, they "were unquestionably the profound sensation of that exhibition." Sims' state of mind was addressed by

Frank Rutter Francis Vane Phipson Rutter (17 February 1876 – 18 April 1937)"Rutter, Frank V. P.", ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved froukwhoswho8 August 2008. was a British art critic, curat ...

, critic of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'': "A man who has been suffering from continued insomnia may well not be responsible for his actions, but he is not necessarily insane. To suggest that there are traces of mania in these last and most beautiful works from his brush betrays a lamentable lack of understanding, and is an undeserved slight on the memory of a sweet and reasonable painter." Sims himself, in a posthumously published essay, reflected on the ''Spiritual Ideas'': Alan Sims wrote of his father's suicide: "He himself followed out his

Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

to its logical conclusion, and ceased to live when he ceased to believe in future happiness."Sims, p. 94. File:Charles Sims, Saints and Sinners--c1927.jpg, ''Saints and Sinners'' () File:Charles Sims--Crowds of Small Souls in Flame--1927.jpg, ''Crowds of Small Souls in Flame'' (1927) File:Charles Sims--Man's Last Pretence of Consummation in Indifference.jpg, ''Man's Last Pretence of Consummation in Indifference'' () File:Charles Sims03.jpg, ''I Am the Abyss and I Am Light'' (1928) File:Charles Sims--My Pain Beneath Your Sheltering Hand-- c1928.jpg, ''My Pain Beneath Your Sheltering Hand'' ()

Legacy

In 1933, the Royal Academy presented a Commemorative Exhibition of Works by Late Members, which included over 80 works by Sims, a veritable retrospective of his career. The

da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on h ...

expert Edward McCurdy wrote: 1934 saw the posthumous publication of Sims' ''Picture Making: Technique & Inspiration'', a book "rich in insights into the theory and practice of painting."Christian, p. 133. The illustrated volume also included Sims' notes on his own paintings and passages from his private journals, and a lengthy critical survey of his life and work by his son Alan Sims, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and art historians. The early paintings that established his career, like ''Childhood'', "showed a whimsicality fashionable in

London but ultimately detrimental to a late-twentieth-century revival of interest in his work." Nonetheless, many of his most important works remain in museum collections, and whatever the fate of his reputation, the paintings themselves were made to last. Alan Sims asserts that his father, beginning around 1909, painstakingly researched and developed a "method of painting in tempera with an oil finish" that was Since 2005, three doctoral theses have dealt at length with Sims and his paintings. H. Cecilia Holmes' ''"A bright memory to remain": The Life and Works of Charles Sims RA (1873-1928)'', by delving into the archive of Sims' letters, diaries, and photographs at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

, creates a very human portrait of the artist. Holmes was the first scholar to suggest a connection between the remarriage of Vivienne Jeudwine and Sims' decision to commit suicide. Charles Sims--Here Am I

For almost a century, Sims' legacy has been dogged by rumors of insanity. The catalogue for the 1989 exhibit ''The Last Romantics'' at the

Barbican Art Gallery The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhib ...

(which included four works by Sims) repeated the notion that his final paintings were "apparently the product of a seriously disturbed mind." The initial inclusion of Sims' work in the collection of the

Bethlem Museum of the Mind Bethlem Museum of the Mind is a museum focusing on the history of Bethlem Royal Hospital, its programme of care, and its patients. Opened in 2015, the museum is housed in an Art Deco building shared with the Bethlem Gallery, which hosts exhibitio ...

was apparently due to "a belief that Sims was suffering from serious mental disorder." And in the 21st century, one gallery specializing in

Outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

has gone so far as to suggest, with no supporting evidence, that Sims had

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

. Ultimately, as the Bethlem acknowledges, Alan Sims wrote that his father's series of Spiritual Ideas was both "the greatest and last work of his life." In 1929, when the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

acquired Sims' ''Here Am I'', museum curator William Mathewson Milliken wrote: In 1965, the

deaccessioned ''Here Am I''. The present location of the painting is unknown.

In museum collections

Charles Sims--An Interrupted Picnic--1901

London

''Clio and the Children''
1913 and 1915,

Royal Academy of Arts 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 pur ...

''King John Assents to the Magna Carta, 1215''
1925–1927,

''The Fountain''
1907–8
''The Wood Beyond the World''
1913
''The Sands at Dymchurch''
c.1920–2
''I Am the Abyss and I Am Light''
1928,

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

''A Camouflaged Quarry: Between Chérisy and Hendicourt''
1916
''"Sacrifice": Study for the painting in Ottawa''
1918
''The Land of Nod'' (poster)
1917,

Imperial War Museums Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

''Dame Lilian Braithwaite''
c. 1902, The Garrick Club Collections
of a Young Man''; ''Aspiration'', 1927; ''Crowds of Small Souls in Flame'', 1927; ''A Spiritual Idea'', 1927; ''Swing''; ''My Pain Beneath Thy Sheltering Hand'', 1927

United Kingdom

''Two Girls Seated: Diana and Sarah Churchill''
1922,

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Chartwell Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In th ...

.
''The Little Faun''
version of 1905–1906,

The Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

''The Little Faun''
version of 1908,

Royal Cornwall Museum The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral collection of Philip Rashleigh (1729-1811), Philip Rashleigh). The county's artistic her ...

''Introduction of Lady Astor as the First Woman MP''
c. 1919,

''What Are These to Me and You Who Deeply Drink of Wine?''
1895,

Leeds Art Gallery Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance" ...

''An Interrupted Picnic''
1901,

Cartwright Hall Cartwright Hall is the civic art gallery in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated about a mile from the city centre in the Manningham district. It was built on the former site of Manningham Hall using a gift of £40,000 donated by Samuel ...

''Man's Last Pretence of Consummation in Indifference''
1927,

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

''George V''
c. 1924,

''Mrs. MacWhirter''

City Art Centre The City Art Centre is part of the Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, which sits under the Culture directorate of the City of Edinburgh Council. The City Art Centre has a collection which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photograph ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Elsewhere

''L'Enfance (Childhood)''
1897,

''Sacrifice''
c. 1918,

''Child Worship''
c. 1909,

''An Island Festival''
1907,

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

''By Summer Seas'', c. 1904; ''Figure of a Woman'' c. 1905; ''The Death of the Year'', 1910-1912

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring f ...

''Bacchanalia''
n.d.,

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the larges ...

Cultural references

A reference to Charles Sims and his work is made in Robert Aickman's story "Ravissante," where his paintings are described: "apparently confused on the surface, even demented, they made one doubt while one continued to gaze, whether the painter had not in truth broken through to a deep and terrible order."

At auction

An auction record for a work by Charles Sims was set by ''In Elysium'', auctioned for £36,000 at Sotheby's London in 2006.

References

Sources

"A Fairy Wooing"
the 1898 painting by Charles Sims reproduced in color with a brief essay, p. 47, ''Great Pictures in Private Galleries'', London: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1905. * Baldry, A. Lys
"The Paintings of Mr. Charles Sims"
(includes one color and ten black and white reproductions) in ''The International Studio,'' issue 41, 1907, pp. 88–98. * Bromwell, Thomas (2019)
''Visions of the End in Interwar British Art''
Doctoral Thesis, University of York. * Carter, A.C.R. (1898)
"The Royal Academy, 1898"
''The Art Journal'', 1898, pp. 161–184
Sims reviewed, p. 183
. * Carter, A.C.R. (1910)
"The Royal Academy, a General Survey"
''The Art Journal'', 1910, pp. 162–170.

''The New York Times'', December 18, 1926, p. 4. * Colbourne, Jane Florence (2011)
''A Critical Survey of the Materials and Techniques of Charles Henry Sims RA (1873-1928) with Special Reference to Egg Tempera Media and Works of Art on Paper''
Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. * "Charles Sims—Decorative, Mystical: Works in the Winter Exhibition at the Royal Academy" (full page with seven reproductions), ''The Illustrated London News'', January 14, 1933, p. 56. * Christian, John, editor. ''The Last Romantics: The Romantic Tradition in British art, Burne-Jones to Stanley Spencer'', London: Lund Humphries in association with Barbican Art Gallery, 1989.

''The New York Times'', April 17, 1928, p. 29.
Grimsditch, H.B. "Sims, Charles (1873–1928)"
in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 1937 (online as "archive edition"). * Hall, Susan, editor. ''The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires'', National Gallery of Australia, 2004. * Holmes, H. Cecilia (2005)
''"A bright memory to remain": The Life and Works of Charles Sims RA (1873-1928)''
Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. * Konody, P.G. "The Art of Charles Sims. R.A." in ''Art in Australia'', no. 11, December, 1921. * McCurdy, Edward. "Painters of Yesterday" in ''The Quarterly Review'', Vol. 260, No. 516, April, 1933, pp. 258–259. * Milliken, William Mathewson
''"Lo, Here Am I"''
''The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art'', vol. 16, no. 3, 1929, pp. 47, 52–54.
Reynolds, Simon. "Sims, Charles Henry (1873–1928)"
in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 (online as "current edition"). * Royal Academy of Arts (1933)
''Commemorative Exhibition of Works by Late Members''
Winter Exhibition, Fifty-Second Year, 1933. * Rutter, Frank. "The Academy," ''The Sunday Times'', May 8, 1928. *Seel, Graham
"The Artist and the King"
''History Today'', vol. 65, issue 7, July 2015, pp. 39–44. * Sims, Charles. ''Picture Making: Technique & Inspiration'' (with a critical survey of his life & work by Alan Sims), The New Art Library (Second Series), London: Seeley Service & Co., 1934. * Speed, Harold. "Charles Sims, R.A." in ''The Old Water-Colour Society's Club'', Vol. 6 (1928-1929), London, 1929, pp. 45–64; a self-portrait of Sims faces p. 46.

''The New York Times'', May 5, 1928, p. 5. * Valentine. Helen
"1916: Altered States"
in ''The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018'', edited by Mark Hallett, Sarah Victoria Turner and Jessica Feather, London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2018. * Wilcox, Timothy
"1928: The Agony and Ecstasy of Charles Sims"
in ''The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018'', edited by Mark Hallett, Sarah Victoria Turner and Jessica Feather, London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2018.

''The New York Times'', October 4, 1925, Section SM, pp. 14–15.

External links

*
Charles Sims
at the

Charles Sims RA (1873-1928)
at Royal Academy of Arts
Artist in Focus: Charles Sims
an
6 works by Sims
at

Brief biography
at Liss Llewellyn gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Charles 1873 births 1928 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters Outsider artists Académie Julian alumni People from Islington (district) Painters from London People with mental disorders Royal Academicians 19th-century English male artists World War I artists People from Fittleworth 20th-century English male artists Artists who committed suicide 1928 suicides Suicides by drowning in England