Edward Middleditch (1923–1987) was an English artist. He was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. In the 1930s his family moved to Nottingham, where he attended th
Mundella Grammar School
from 1934 to 1939. He then served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving overseas in France, Germany, Burma and West Africa, and being awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

(MC) in 1945. From 1949 to 1952 he attended

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, where his teachers were Ruskin Spear,

Carel Weight Carel Victor Morlais Weight, (10 September 1908 – 13 August 1997) was an English painter. Biography Weight was born in Paddington in 1908. His father was a bank cashier and his mother, who was of Swedish and German descent, was a chirop ...

and John Minton. His fellow students included Derrick Greaves and Jack Smith. Middleditch associated early on with the so-called 'Kitchen Sink' school of

realist painter Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding speculative and supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeably with naturalism, although these terms are not ...

s in the 1950s. He held teaching posts at

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

, St Martins School of Art, and

Norwich School of Art Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) is a public university in Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom that specialises in art, design and media. It was founded as Norwich School of Design in 1845 and has a long history of arts education. It gained ful ...

(where he became head of fine art). He was elected a member of 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 ...

in 1973, later as Keeper of the Royal Academy (in charge of the schools). Middleditch exhibited widely and is represented in major and regional collections in UK, US, Canada, and Australia.

Style

Middleditch was a painter,

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

. He drew his motifs from the natural world: grasses, water, feathers, opening petals, reflections etc. Gradually shifting observed patterns became fleeting abstracted movements often caught from water currents and light effects. His later work became much more abstracted, concerned with repeating patterns as if seen from above and filling the picture-frame; drawing influence from

kilim A kilim ( az, Kilim کیلیم; tr, Kilim; tm, Kilim; fa, گلیم ''Gilīm'') is a flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, including Iran, the Balkans and the Turkic countries. Kili ...

s and Persian carpets. Middleditch died in 1987 in Chelmsford, Essex.

References

External links

Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleditch, Edward Royal Academicians 1923 births 1987 deaths 20th-century English painters English male painters British Realist painters Keepers of the Royal Academy People associated with Norwich University of the Arts People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 20th-century English male artists Military personnel from Chelmsford Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II British Army officers