Gyrth Russell (30 April 1892 - 8 December 1970) was an Anglo-Canadian artist best known for his marine paintings and work as a war artist during the First World War.
Early life
Russell was born in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes, after the larg ...
, the youngest son of the politician and jurist Benjamin Russell. He studied at Halifax School of Art and at Boston, before studying in Paris 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 a ...
and the
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...
.
First World War
Russell was commissioned as a Canadian official war artist and a range of his paintings and drawings, produced in northern France, are now in the collection of the Canadian War Museum. Russell painted views of Vimy Ridge, Arras and St Nazaire as shattered and devastated landscapes. Russell's works were exhibited at the Canadian War Memorial Exhibition in London in 1919.
Interwar
Russell remained in Britain after the war. He joined the
Langham Sketch Club
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The London Sketch Club is a private members' club for artists working in the field of commercial graphic art, mainly for newspapers, periodicals, and books.
History
The club was founded in 1898 by a breakaway group of members from t ...
and was elected to membership of the
Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.
History
The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
and the
Royal Society of Marine Artists
The Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) is an association of artists in London, England, that promotes contemporary marine art. This includes painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture.Lawrence du Garde Peach's book, ''Forgotten Devon''.
Doncaster School of Art
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, living in Yorkshire before moving to Wales in the 1950s. Russell produced a series of posters for the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
and
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways, including views of Scarborough, Whitby and Fountains Abbey. He wrote two instructional books on painting, ''See and Paint'' (1957) and ''An introduction to oil painting'' (1959).