Gerald Spencer Pryse (1882–1956) was a British artist and lithographer.

Biography

Born at Ashton, Pryse studied in London and Paris, and first won a prize at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. In the same year, he joined the Fabian Society, and helped to found ''The Neolith'', a periodical of literature and the fine arts; the journal was printed in lithography. He was a regular exhibitor at the

Senefelder Club The Senefelder Club is an organization formed in London in 1909 to promote the craft of art reproduction by the process of lithography. The club was named in honor of Aloys Senefelder, who in 1796 invented the lithographic process. The process ...

, and contributed works to Punch, the

Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

, and The Graphic.

First World War

During the Great War, Pryse produced a considerable body of lithographic work, some of it in colour under the title ''Autumn Campaign'' (1914). This was based in his time in France and Belgium at the beginning of the war when he drove around in a Mercedes carrying lithographic stones in the back. He served as a dispatch rider for the Belgian government and was present at the Siege of Antwerp. The artist wrote a memoir of this time entitled ''Four Days: an account of a journey in France made between 28 and 31 August 1914'', published by John Lane in 1932. Pryse also saw some of the Battle of the Marne and the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Ostend and the subsequent retirement along the

River Yser The Yser ( , ; nl, IJzer ) is a river that rises in French Flanders (the north of France), enters the Belgian province of West Flanders and flows through the '' Ganzepoot'' and into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort. The source of the Ys ...

. Pryse also worked with the Indian Army in France and several of his lithographs depict scenes of Indian troops. Later, he served as a captain in the Queen Victoria's Rifles,

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

, and was mentioned in dispatches. His main action was in the Third Battle of Ypres where he won the Military Cross, the 1914 Star, the Order of the Crown of Belgium, the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. By the end of 1916, Pryse had made an application to become a war artist, and towards the end of the war, was granted permission to sketch at the front and he was able to record the conditions of trench warfare in numerous water-colour drawings, but many of these were lost in the German offensive of 1918. The remaining drawings were exhibited later in London and were described as having "a freshness and authenticity that were not always apparent in the works of the official war artists." Unfortunately, many of these were destroyed by enemy action during the Second World War. He left the regiment at the end of the war but rejoined it in 1921 when the battalion was stationed at Wormwood Scrubs for three months during a coal strike. During the war, he also designed a number of posters including several published by Frank Pick for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in London, as well as for the Labour Party, The British Red Cross, and for the Empire Marketing Board. One of his most famous posters, entitled ''The Only Road for an Englishman'', shows a regiment of British soldiers marching through a ruined town. Pryse was one of the illustrators selected by Percy Bradshaw for inclusion in his ''The Art of the Illustrator'' (1917–1918).

Post-War

He worked in Hammersmith from 1914 to 1925, but in 1925 travelled to Morocco and observed some of the fighting there against the French. He returned to the country and lived there for some years after 1950. Pryse was commissioned in 1924 to create a series of lithographs for the British Empire Exhibition illustrating the extent and variety of life within the British Empire. His work was part of the

art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics Art competitions were held as part of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes. The ...

and the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

. In 1932 he married Muriel Anstace Theodora, daughter of the Rev. Laurence Farrall, and they had three daughters, one of whom,

Tessa Spencer Pryse Tessa Spencer Pryse, RBA is a British Impressionist artist based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The daughter of Gerald Spencer Pryse, a noted Welsh lithographer, Spencer Pryse had an unusual childhood, attending schools in France, rural Wales and Switzerlan ...

, later a landscape artist, became an art student against her father's wishes. He died at Cranford House, Stourton, Worcestershire on 28 November 1956 aged 74.

Lithographs in ''The Autumn Campaign''

* ''The Fall of Ostend: La Gare Maritime'' * ''The Fall of Ostend: the digue during the embarkation of the Naval Division for Antwerp'' * ''The Third Cavalry in Ghent, 12 December 1914'' * ''Antwerp Grand Place, September 1914'' * ''Fugitives in Soissons'' * ''The Retreat of the Seventh Division and Third Cavalry on Ypres'' * ''Indians and Motor Buses near Poperinghe'' * ''British cavalry bivouac during the battle on the Aisne'' * ''The Stretcher party in Champagne''

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pryse, Gerald Spencer 1882 births 1956 deaths Military personnel from Staffordshire 20th-century English painters English male painters English printmakers English lithographers British war artists World War I artists Recipients of the Military Cross Queen Victoria's Rifles officers British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century British printmakers Olympic competitors in art competitions 20th-century English male artists 20th-century lithographers