Robin Craig Guthrie, (15 June 1902 – 27 January 1971) was a British artist. He painted portraits, landscapes and murals and was also a draughtsman and book illustrator.

Biography

Guthrie was born in

Harting Harting is a civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is situated on the northern flank of the South Downs, around southeast of Petersfield in Hampshire. It comprises the village of South Harting and the hamlets of ...

to the artist James Joshua Guthrie (1874-1952) who was the founder of the Pear Tree Press. Robin Guthrie attended the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

between 1918 and 1922. At the Slade, he won a number of prizes including the 1920 composition prize for his painting ''Pastoral Scene with Figures''. On leaving the Slade, Guthrie took a studio with his fellow Slade student Rodney Joseph Burn in Hampstead. There Guthrie painted the ''Sermon on the Mount'' which is now in 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 ...

. In the painting the Christ figure is believed to be a self-portrait of Guthrie, while other figures include his friend, Thomas Monnington. At the same Hampstead studio in Parkhill Road, Guthrie painted a second large religious canvas, ''Christ Healing the Sick'', which he exhibited at the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

in 1929. Guthrie’s smaller gouache model for this is also known. Guthrie began exhibiting with the

in 1922 and became a full member of the group in 1928. In 1926 he had a group exhibition at the Goupil Gallery, sharing the space with Stephen Bone and with Rodney Burn, and in 1931 he exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time. In 1927, he married the artist Kathleen Guthrie and the couple moved to America in 1931 when he became a director of the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

, alongside Burn. In 1933 the Guthrie's returned to England and settled in Sussex but divorced in 1937. Guthrie later married Deborah Dering. During

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 opposing ...

, Guthrie was given a short-term commission 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 record the work of the Army cookery school and activities at

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

training bases. After the War, Guthrie worked as an instructor 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 o ...

between 1950 and 1952 and also at the

City and Guilds of London Art School Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...

and at St Martins School of Art. Guthrie illustrated a number of books, including ''All the Way to Alfriston'' by

Eleanor Farjeon Eleanor Farjeon (13 February 1881 – 5 June 1965) was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been ...

and ''A Wild Garden'' by James Guthrie, his father.

References

External links

*
Works by Robin Guthrie
in the Imperial War Museum collection.
Works by Guthrie
in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Robin 1902 births 1971 deaths 20th-century English artists 20th-century English painters Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British war artists English male painters People from Harting World War II artists 20th-century English male artists