James Bostock (11 June 1917 – 26 May 2006) was a British
painter. His work was part of the
painting event in the
art competition at the
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
.
Life
James Bostock (Hanley, Staffs 11June 1917 - Margate, Kent 26 May 2006) was a British wood-engraver and artist. He was born in Hanley, Staffs, the son of William George Bostock (d.1948) pottery and glass-worker, and Amy (née Titley, d.1976). He was brought up in Kent and attended
Borden Grammar School
Borden Grammar School is a grammar school with academy status in Sittingbourne, Kent, England, which educates boys aged 11–18. A small number of girls have also been admitted to the Sixth Form. The school holds specialist status in sports.
H ...
, Sittingbourne, and later, Medway School of Art in Rochester. From 1936 to 1939 he undertook post-graduate study at the Royal College of Art where his tutors included
Edward Bawden
Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...
,
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsc ...
,
Paul Nash and
John Nash. It was there that he first became attracted to printmaking, and especially wood engraving. He was awarded RCA certificates in etching, wood engraving and lithography, and the ARCA diploma.
![Vine_Lane](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Vine_Lane.jpg)
After distinguished war service he began to produce wood engravings which were soon recognised for their fine craftsmanship and artistic individuality. By 1950 he had been elected a member of both the
Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers
The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...
(later the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers) and the
Society of Wood Engravers
The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...
. He exhibited regularly at the annual exhibitions of these societies and his work was often included in the
Royal Academy summer shows. Museums and international institutions acquired his wood engravings and Bostock quietly secured his position within the print world.
For over thirty years James Bostock combined an artistic career with that of a full-time teacher and administrator. Notwithstanding his academic commitments, as well as the inevitable demands of bringing up a family of three boys, Bostock produced a remarkable oeuvre of paintings and prints. However, it was not until retirement in 1978, and a resultant flurry of artistic activity, that James Bostock's work came before a wider audience. His work is to be found in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, the
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
collection, the
Hunt Botanical Library
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, Pittsburgh and many private collections
Exhibitions of his paintings and prints occurred regularly and the wood engravings were shown at the exhibitions of the Society of Wood Engravers. Sadly, by 1988, deteriorating eyesight and the onset of arthritis caused him to cease wood engraving - although, even then, he still painted and drew with vigour. The wood engravings continued to be shown at exhibitions and, in 1996, Bostock was one of nineteen major artists to be included in an exhibition arranged by
Hilary Paynter (Chairman of the Society of Wood Engravers) at the
Bankside Gallery
Bankside Gallery is a public art gallery in Bankside, London, England. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1980, Bankside is an educational charity, situated on the Thames Path just along from Tate Modern.
The gallery is home to the Royal Watercolo ...
, London. This exhibition featured artists who were members of both The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and the Society of Wood Engravers. In 1997, Bostock's work was included in Hal Bishop's landmark exhibition at Exeter Museum, Twentieth-Century British Wood Engraving: A Celebration... and a Dissenting Voice. This exhibition received an Arts Council award and is possibly the most important display of British wood engraving to occur during this period.
Printmaking and illustration
Bostock is a wood engraver, an artist and a craftsman in technique. His engraving of cacti shows classical form interpretations of pure engraving. "Bostock’s eye and burin can sharpen a form and make it too easy to see, beautiful to read and a memorable encounter. He has the ability to compress the form to square inches."
elf Portraitof Bostock is painted with a burin, achieving the volumetric egg from rendering a light beam hitting a solid object. The main interest shown in the portrait of the author is the pure volumetric expression with the minimum number of lines, conveying a taut, wire-like quality. Bostock’s portrait is plastic fluidity...the volume-tric bird caught in a cage. Engravers have experimented with materials other than boxwood. Bostock has produced engravings on Perspex, vulcanite and xylonite.
![A_wood_engraving_of_Azaleas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/A_wood_engraving_of_Azaleas.jpg)
Bostock begins a sort of ‘apostolic succession’, for he taught Kenneth Lindley, who re-directed blackline engraving and taught Ray Hedger. In 1936, he went up to 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 o ...
where he was officially doing mural decoration, with etching, wood engraving and lithograph. "Paul Nash was at the college every Thursday and available to any student who took the trouble to take a folio to his room. Once I visited him and in a tutorial of about 1½ hours I think learned more about Art than from anyone else. He made such a vivid impression that I could relate in some detail what he told me all those years ago".
Bostock chose to print small editions by hand burnishing, normally about 30 or 40 impressions. Some blocks that were experimental, or to be used commercially, were not editioned. About five to ten proofs were printed from these blocks, they were usually signed. In some cases where demand was high, Bostock printed a further 10 to 30 impressions from the block as a second, and sometimes a third, edition. However, the editions rarely amount to more than 60 impressions in total. Bostock was often experimental in his approach to technique. Economic as well as innovative considerations led him to use a variety of materials as a matrix as well as the usual boxwood, endgrain block. During the I950s and 1960s Bostock experimented with colour on a few blocks, usually by overprinting with linoblocks. Although achieving some remarkable results Bostock considered that a black and white image was always more powerful.
In 1988 Bostock provided twelve small wood engraved prints to illustrate a reprint of poems by the poet,
Edward Thomas.
References
External links
James Bostock website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bostock, James
1917 births
2006 deaths
20th-century British painters
British male painters
British wood engravers
Olympic competitors in art competitions
People from Hanley, Staffordshire
20th-century British male artists
20th-century engravers