Julian Otto Trevelyan (20 February 1910 – 12 July 1988) was an English artist and poet.

Early life

Trevelyan was the only child to survive to adulthood of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and his wife Elizabeth van der Hoeven. His grandfather was the liberal politician Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, and his uncle the historian

George Macaulay Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...

; he is the great-uncle of his namesake,

Julian Trevelyan Julian Otto Trevelyan (20 February 1910 – 12 July 1988) was an English artist and poet. Early life Trevelyan was the only child to survive to adulthood of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and his wife Elizabeth van der Hoeven. His grandfather wa ...

the pianist. Julian Trevelyan was educated at

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conven ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, where he read English Literature.

Artistic career

Durham Wharf and St Peter's Wharf, Hammersmith

He moved to Paris to become an artist, enrolling at Atelier Dix-Sept,

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of ...

's engraving school, where he learned etching. He worked alongside artists including

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense Expressionism, expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the ...

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

. In 1935, Trevelyan bought Durham Wharf, beside the

river Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London. This became his home and studio for the rest of his life and was a source of

artistic inspiration Inspiration (from the Latin ''inspirare'', meaning "to breathe into") is an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or visual art and other artistic endeavours. The concept has origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks ...

to him. He became a confirmed

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

and exhibited at the ''

International Surrealist Exhibition The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries, near Savile Row in London's Mayfair, England. Organisers The exhibition was organised by committees from England, France, Belgium, Sca ...

'', held at the

New Burlington Galleries The New Burlington Galleries was an art gallery at 5 Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London. From 11 June to 4 July 1936, they held the ''International Surrealist Exhibition'', the first full exhibition of surrealist art in the UK. From 7 June to 28 ...

in London. From 1950 to 1955, Trevelyan taught

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

at the

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 ...

. From 1955 to 1963, Trevelyan worked at 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 ...

and became Head of the Etching Department. Because of his enthusiasm in his work and the desire to share it with others, Trevelyan became a highly influential teacher, with students including

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

, Ron Kitaj and

Norman Ackroyd Norman Ackroyd (born 26 March 1938) is an English artist known primarily for his aquatint work. He lives and is based in Bermondsey, London. Background Ackroyd was born on 26 March 1938 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He attended Leeds College of Art fr ...

. He was an important leader of modern print techniques and today is regarded as a silent driving force behind the etching revolution of the 1960s. In 1969, he produced the Thames Suite, a collection of 12 views of the Thames from its upper reaches in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

down to the tidal stretches of London and the Estuary.

Wartime camoufleur

Along with other artists such as

Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World W ...

, during the Second World War, Trevelyan served as a

Camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

Officer. He was a member of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

from 1940 to 1943, serving in North Africa and Palestine. Arriving in the "Western Desert" town of

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

, North Africa, Trevelyan realized that standard British army green and brown splotches were ineffective as desert camouflage. He and the other camoufleurs, working under

Hugh Cott Hugh Bamford Cott (6 July 1900 – 18 April 1987) was a British zoologist, an authority on both natural and military camouflage, and a scientific illustrator and photographer. Many of his field studies took place in Africa, where he was espec ...

and

Geoffrey Barkas Geoffrey Barkas (born Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, 27 August 1896 – 3 September 1979) was an English film maker active between the world wars. Barkas led the British Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate in the Second World War. His larges ...

, became expert at desert camouflage and deception. By 1942, they were able to deceive the German

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

, creating a dummy army which successfully tied down German forces, while real tanks were concealed or disguised as trucks and other equipment.

Awards and distinctions

In July 1986, Trevelyan was awarded a senior fellowship at the Royal College of Art and in September 1987 he was appointed a

Royal Academician 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 ...

Family

He married the potter

Ursula Darwin Ursula Frances Elinor Mommens (née Darwin, formerly Trevelyan; 20 August 1908 – 30 January 2010) was an English potter. Mommens studied at the Royal College of Art, under William Staite Murray, and later worked with Michael Cardew at Winc ...

, daughter of

Bernard Darwin Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP (7 September 1876 − 18 October 1961) a grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Biography ...

and his wife Elinor (née Monsall) on 30 July 1934. She was a great-granddaughter of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

; their marriage was dissolved in 1950. Their son is the film-maker

Philip Trevelyan Philip Erasmus Trevelyan (born 22 August 1943) is a British organic hill farmer, entrepreneur and former film and television director, most noted for the 1971 documentary film '' The Moon and the Sledgehammer''. Early life He is the son of the ar ...

. Trevelyan's second wife was the painter

Mary Fedden Mary Fedden, OBE RA RWA (14 August 1915 – 22 June 2012) was a British artist. Early years Sometimes mistakenly described as the daughter of Roy Fedden (who was in fact her uncle, as was Romilly Fedden), Mary Fedden was born in Bristol ...

; they married in 1951. Trevelyan died on 12 July 1988 in Hammersmith, London.

Works and exhibitions

Trevelyan's first solo exhibition was at the

Lefevre Gallery The Lefevre Gallery (or The Lefevre Galleries) was an art gallery in London, England, operated by Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd. The gallery was opened at 1a, King Street, St James's, in 1926, when rival art dealers Alexander Reid and Ernest Lefe ...

in 1937. His work has been exhibited at Waddington Galleries (commissioned a series of etchings), New Grafton Gallery, Bohun Gallery,

River and Rowing Museum The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international s ...

, the Bloomsbury Gallery, Messum's, the New Burlington Galleries in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, among other places.Bohun Gallery
/ref> In 1998 a major Retrospective "Julian Trevelyan:The Imaginative Impulse" was held at the Royal College of Art which subsequently toured to Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; Laing Gallery Newcastle, and Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate with accompanying catalogue published by Bohun. Catalogue Raisonne of Prints edited by Silvie Turner launched at Royal Academy.. 'Julian Trevelyan Retrospective of Etchings' at Bohun Gallery with opening of River & Rowing Museum mounting 'Julian Trevelyan: River Thames Etchings'. To celebrate the centenary of his birth, an exhibition of his prints was held at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester from 10 May to 13 June 2010. Bohun Gallery handles the artist's estate, and stages regular exhibitions of his paintings and etchings. 105 of his artworks are now held in the collection of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

.Tate Gallery: Julian Trevelyan
Retrieved 27 July 2012. Trevelyan recorded some of his experiences in his book ''Indigo days'', MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1957. Bohun Gallery held a major retrospective of the artist's work 'Julian Trevelyan: Picture Language' 23 April - 1 June 2013, which included previously unseen paintings and etchings. The exhibition launched the new monograph on Julian Trevelyan, written by his son Philip Trevelyan.

References

Julian Trevelyan review in the Spectator, April 2013

External links

*

Pallant House Gallery

Tate Gallery: Julian Trevelyan
(displaying 16 of 105 artworks)
The Estate of Julian Trevelyan is handled by Bohun Gallery

Goldmark Gallery: About Julian Trevelyan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevelyan, Julian 1910 births 1988 deaths Military personnel from Surrey British surrealist artists British surrealist writers Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II English printmakers Modern printmakers People educated at Bedales School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Academics of the Royal College of Art Royal Academicians Surrealist poets Camoufleurs 20th-century poets Macaulay family of Lewis