George Vernon Meredith Frampton (17 March 1894 – 16 September 1984) was a British painter and
etcher
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 ...
, successful as a
portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
ist in the 1920s–1940s. His artistic career was short and his output limited because his eyesight began to fail in the 1950s, but his work is on display at the
National Portrait Gallery,
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 ...
and
Imperial War Museum.
Biography
Early life
Frampton was born in the
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...
area of London and was the only child of the sculptor Sir
George Frampton
Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combinin ...
and his wife, the painter
Christabel Cockerell. Frampton was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and after some months learning to speak French in
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
he enrolled at the
St John's Wood School of Art.
He went on to attend the
Royal Academy Schools
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 purpo ...
between 1912 and 1915, where he won both a first prize and a silver medal.
World War I
During the First World War, Frampton served in the British Army on the
Western Front with a field survey unit, sketching enemy trenches, and also worked on the interpretation of aerial photographs.
After the war Frampton resumed his artistic career and established himself as among the most highly regarded of British painters during the period. Between 1920 and 1945 he exhibited at the Royal Academy nearly every year, showing a total of thirty-two paintings there.
Frampton was an early member of the
Society of Graphic Art and exhibited there in 1921. In 1925 he was elected a member of the
Art Workers Guild
The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...
.
In 1934 he was elected an Associate of the
Royal Academy and in 1942 became a full member of the Academy. Frampton painted portraits of the Duke of York, who was to become
King George VI, academics and scientists, and a series of full length portraits of women from fashionable society. He would often spend an entire year working on a single painting.
Frampton painted in smooth colours without visible brushstrokes, achieving a look of almost photographic realism.
Most of his paintings were commissions, but a notable exception was ''Portrait of A Young Woman'', which Frampton showed at the Royal Academy in 1935 and which was purchased for the
Tate
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 ...
. Frampton had several of the objects in the painting made specially for the painting and his mother made the dress worn by the model, Margaret Austin-Jones. She modelled for him again in one of his most famous works, ''A Game of Patience'' (1937), now hanging in the
Ferens Art Gallery in
Hull.
World War II and later life
During World War Two, Frampton received two commissions from 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 ...
, WAAC. One was intended for the Admiralty, but a suitable subject was not found and the painting was never made. Frampton's other WAAC commission was for a portrait of Sir
Ernest Gowers
Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers (2 June 1880 – 16 April 1966) is best remembered for his book '' Plain Words,'' first published in 1948, and his revision of Fowler's classic '' Modern English Usage''. Before making his name as an author, he had a lon ...
, which became a triple portrait of Gowers and his colleagues in their underground control room in Kensington.
In 1953 Frampton requested that the Royal Academy place him on its list of retired members. His eyesight had begun to worsen, convincing him that he could no longer paint to his previous high standard and with such meticulous detail. With his wife he moved to a hilltop house overlooking
Monkton Deverill in Wiltshire.
Frampton had designed the property in the 1930s and for the rest of his life he worked on improving and maintaining this house, which included his own furniture and clock designs.
For many years Frampton's art was rarely shown in public and he was largely forgotten. However, he lived to see his retrospective at the Tate in 1982.
It was his first one-man show and greatly restored his standing.
Posthumous usage
In 2016
Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the West ...
began employing a series of Frampton's paintings for new editions of the complete works of Russian writer
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...
.
References
Further reading
* Richard Morphet, ''Meredith Frampton,''
xhibition catalogueThe Tate Gallery, London, 1982. .
External links
*
May 2011 Entry on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Blogspot PageNational Portrait Gallery Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frampton, Meredith
1894 births
1984 deaths
20th-century English painters
20th-century English male artists
Alumni of St John's Wood Art School
Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools
British Army personnel of World War I
British war artists
English male painters
English portrait painters
Painters from London
People educated at Westminster School, London
Royal Academicians
World War II artists