The St John's Wood Art School ( The Wood or Calderon's Art School) was an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

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 ...

, north London, England. The Art School was established in 1878 and was located on Elm Tree Road. It was founded by two art teachers, Elíseo Abelardo Alvarez Calderón (1847-1911) and

Bernard Evans Ward Bernard Evans Ward RBSA RSA RA RBA (1857Wood. – August 3, 1933New York Times, August 5, 1933.American Art Directory, 1933.) was a British painter who emigrated to the United States. Life and creative work Born in London, Ward was a re ...

Lewis Baumer Lewis Christopher Edward Baumer (8 August 1870 – 25 October 1963) was best known as an English cartoonist who worked for more than fifty years for the British magazine ''Punch'', from 1897. He was also a portrait and still life painter, pastell ...

and

Byam Shaw John Byam Liston Shaw (13 November 1872 – 26 January 1919), commonly known as Byam Shaw, was a British painter, illustrator, designer and teacher. He is not to be confused with his sons, Glen Byam Shaw, actor and theatre director, and James B ...

were early students. Later students included

Mina Loy Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...

, John Armstrong,

Michael Ayrton Michael Ayrton (20 February 1921 – 16 November 1975)T. G. Rosenthal, "Ayrton , Michael (1921–1975)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008accessed 24 Jan 2015/ref> was a British arti ...

, Gladys Baker, Gladys Barron,

Eileen Bell Eileen Bell CBE (born 15 August 1943) is an Alliance Party politician from Dromara, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2007, and is a former deputy leader of the Alliance ...

Enid Bell Enid Bell Palanchian (December 4, 1904 – 1994), known professionally as Enid Bell, was an American sculptor, illustrator and teacher born in London, England. Early life Bell studied at the Glasgow School of Art, then at the St John's Wood Art S ...

Frank Beresford Frank Ernest Beresford (30 August 1881 – 25 May 1967) was a British painter from Derby, England. He is best known for his painting, ''The Princes' Vigil''. Biography Beresford was born in Derby in 1881 and had a long artistic education. He f ...

Alice May Cook Alice May Cook née Barnett (1876–1960) was a British artist, notable as a miniature painter and book illustrator. Biography Cook was born in the Paddington area of London to Alice and John Francis Barnett, a pianist and member of the Royal ...

Marcia Lane Foster Nellie Marcia Lane Foster later Marcia Jarrett, (1897–1983), was a British artist notable as a printmaker, portrait painter and book illustrator. Biography Foster was born at Seaton in Devon but raised in Manchester before she moved to Londo ...

Meredith Frampton George Vernon Meredith Frampton (17 March 1894 – 16 September 1984) was a British painter and etcher, successful as a portraitist in the 1920s–1940s. His artistic career was short and his output limited because his eyesight began to f ...

, Kenneth Martin,

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

, John Minton, Olive Mudie-Cooke, Edward Tennyson Reed, Ursula Wood,

Ivan Peries Ivan Peries (31 July 1921 – 13 February 1988) was a founder member of the Colombo '43 Group of Sri Lankan artists, and became one of its leading painters. Born near Colombo, he spent more than half his life in self-imposed exile in London ...

Herbert James Draper Herbert James Draper ( (baptism record) – ) was an English Classicism, Classicist painter whose career began in the Victorian era and extended through the first two decades of the 20th century. Life Born in London, the son of a fruit mercha ...

Flora Lion Flora Marguerite Lion (3 December 1878 – 15 May 1958) was an English portrait painter. Lion had a long and successful career and was known for her portraits of society figures, landscapes and murals. Early life Flora Lion was born in Lon ...

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...

Leonard Walker Leonard Walker (1877 – 13 June 1964) was a British painter and stained glass designer. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Biography Walker was a student at St John's Wood Art Scho ...

and

Christopher R. W. Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...

Aina Onabolu Aina Onabolu (1882 – 1963) was a pioneering Nigerian modern arts teacher and painter who was an important figure in the introduction of arts into the curriculum of secondary schools in the country. He promoted the drawing of environmental form ...

, the first African to study art in England was a student at the School from 1920 to 1922. Teachers at the School included

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

, John Piper, Leonard Walker and

John Skeaping John Rattenbury Skeaping, RA (9 June 1901 – 5 March 1980) was an English sculptor and equine painter and sculptor. He designed animal figures for Wedgwood, and his life-size statue of Secretariat is exhibited at the National Museum of R ...

. The School subsequently became the

Anglo-French Art Centre The Anglo-French Art Centre (or Anglo-French Art School, previously the St John's Wood Art School, was an art school at 29 Elm Tree Road in St John's Wood, north London, England. The centre was founded in 1946 by Alfred Rozelaar Green, who studie ...

, which was founded in 1946 by

Alfred Rozelaar Green Alfred Rozelaar-Green, RWA (14 July 1917 – 7 July 2013) was a British artist and founder of the Anglo-French Art Centre in St. John's Wood. Biography Rozelaar-Green was the only child of Leon Rozelaar and his wife Stella Mosely. He spent two ...

, who studied in Paris at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and Atelier Gromaire.

References

1878 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1878 Art schools in London Defunct art schools Education in the City of Westminster History of the City of Westminster St John's Wood Arts organizations established in 1878 {{London-stub