Henry Marvell Carr, , (16 August 1894 – 16 March 1970) was a successful British landscape and portrait painter who served as a war artist during World War II.

Early life

Carr was born in Leeds and trained at

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Scho ...

and the

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 ...

, under

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

. During World War I he served in France with the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

. After the war his work was exhibited at 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 1921, in other British galleries and in Paris. He painted portraits of, among others,

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

and Olivia Davis and landscapes of the English south coast.

World War II

At the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

, Carr was offered commissions by the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

to paint scenes of bomb damage in London, both to landmarks such as

St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

and

St Clement Danes Church St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the curr ...

and to housing in the suburbs. An exhibition of his war paintings was held at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in July 1940. Carr's own home and studio were destroyed in the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

. A trip on a British merchant navy ship resulted in the paintings ''The Merchant Navy:The Chain Locker'' and ''Merchant Seaman Fireman''. In 1943 Carr became a full-time, salaried, War Office Artist and travelled first to North Africa and then to Italy. As well as portraits of Allied soldiers and officers, he painted military actions and landscapes in Algiers, Tunis, Cassino and Sessa in Italy. In 1944, he witnessed, and painted, an eruption of

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of s ...

. Later in 1944 he left Italy after becoming ill.

Post-war career

After the war, Carr resumed his career as a portrait painter. In 1948 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissi ...

and in 1956 he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Paris Salon. In 1952, Carr published the book ''Portrait Painting''.> Between 1957 and 1959 he produced a series of fourteen murals, showing the stages of textile production for the

Salts Mill Salts Mill (sometimes spelled Salt's Mill) is a former textile mill, now an art gallery, shopping centre, and restaurant complex in Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was built by Sir Titus Salt in 1853, and the present-day 1853 ...

. Carr taught at Beckenham Art School for some seventeen years and became Head of the School. Carr was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1957 and a full member in 1966 and continued to exhibit there until his death. Some seventy works by him are held by the

Imperial War Museum 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Henry 1894 births 1970 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English male artists Alumni of Leeds Arts University Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Leeds British Army personnel of World War I British war artists English male painters English portrait painters Royal Academicians Royal Field Artillery soldiers World War II artists