Stephen Bone (13 November 1904 – 15 September 1958)
was an English painter, writer, broadcaster and noted war artist. Bone achieved early success in book illustration using woodcuts before he turned to painting and art criticism.
Early life
Stephen Bone was born in
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...
in west London, the son of Sir
Muirhead Bone
Sir Muirhead Bone (23 March 1876 – 21 October 1953) was a Scottish etcher and watercolourist who became known for his depiction of industrial and architectural subjects and his work as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars.
A fi ...
, an artist, and
Gertrude Helena Dodd
Gertrude Helena Bone, Lady Bone ( Dodd; 1876–1962) was a British writer who published during the Edwardian era. She wrote short stories, three novels, and several illustrated collections.
Life
Gertrude Dodd was the daughter of the Methodis ...
, a writer. After leaving
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 conventio ...
he travelled widely in Europe with his father before enrolling at the
Slade School of Fine 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 ...
in 1922. He became disillusioned with the Slade and left in 1924 to begin illustrating books, with woodcuts, for his mother and other writers.
In 1925 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Wood Engraving at the International Exhibition in Paris.
In 1926 he was the subject of a joint exhibition at the
Goupil Gallery
Goupil & Cie is an international auction house and merchant of contemporary art and collectibles. Jean-Baptiste Adophe Goupil founded Goupil & Cie in 1850. Goupil & Cie became a leading art dealership in 19th-century France, with its headquart ...
, alongside
Rodney Joseph Burn
Rodney Joseph Burn (11 July 1899 – 11 August 1984) was a British artist who painted landscapes, portraits and figures and seascapes. During his long career he also worked in America and painted in the Channel Islands and Venice and was elect ...
and
Robin Guthrie
Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed ...
, and in 1928 he painted a mural for the underground station at
Piccadilly Circus.
[ ]
In 1929 Bone married the artist
Mary Adshead
Mary Adshead (15 February 1904 - 3 September 1995) was an English painter, muralist, illustrator and designer.
Biography
Adshead was born in Bloomsbury, London, the only child of Stanley Davenport Adshead, architect, watercolourist, and Profes ...
, and they were to have two sons and a daughter.
The couple travelled extensively across Britain and Europe, which allowed Bone to paint outdoors in all weathers and to develop a style of bright landscape painting that proved popular and sold well at a number of gallery exhibitions.
During the 1930s, Bone exhibited at the
Fine Art Society
The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...
, at the Leferve Gallery, the
Redfern Gallery
The Redfern Gallery is an exhibition space in the West End of London specialising in contemporary British art. It was founded by Arthur Knyvett-Lee and Anthony Maxtone Graham in 1923 as an artists' cooperative on the top floor of Redfern Hous ...
and in 1936 exhibited a series of 41 paintings of British counties at the Ryman Gallery in Oxford.
During 1936 and 1937 he painted and exhibited in Stockholm.
World War II
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Bone enlisted as an officer in the Civil Defence Camouflage Establishment based in Leamington Spa.
In June 1943 Bone was appointed 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 be a full-time salaried artist to the
Ministry of Information specialising in Admiralty subjects. The post had originally being held by Stephen's father, Muirhead Bone, but following the death of Gavin Bone, Stephen's brother, Muirhead decided not to continue with the commission. Stephen produced a large quantity of works around Great Britain, showing coastal installations and naval craft, including several works painted on-board submarines.
He witnessed and sketched the 1944 Normandy landings, painted scenes in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[Courseulles
Courseulles-sur-Mer (, ), commonly known as ''Courseulles'', is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Until 1957, the town's name was simply ''Courseulles''. It lies 3 km west of Bernières-sur-Mer and 18 ...]
after the invasion, and went on to record the assault on
Walcheren Island in the Netherlands.
Toward the end of 1945 he travelled to Norway and painted the wreck of the
''Tirpitz''.
In Norway, he also recorded captured naval bases and observed a number of mass graves of, mostly, Soviet prisoners of war.
Later life
After the War, Bone found his style of painting somewhat out of fashion and, although he continued to paint, he found it difficult to get his work exhibited. He became an art critic for the ''
Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', wrote humorous pieces for the ''
Glasgow Herald
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
'' and did television and radio work for the BBC. With his wife, he wrote and illustrated children's books. Together they organised a mural painting course at Dartington.
In 1957, Bone was appointed the director of the
Hornsey College of Art
Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...
.
He died of cancer on 15 September 1958 at
St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust.
History
Early history
Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...
, London.
Selected bibliography
* 1921: ''Mr Paul'' (Jonathan Cape), a novel by Gertrude Bone, woodcuts by Stephen Bone,
* 1921: ''The Furrowed Earth'' (Chatto & Windus), by Gertrude Bone with woodcuts by Stephen Bone
* 1922: ''A Farmers' Life'' (Cape), by G. Bourne, illustrated by Stephen Bone
* 1923: ''Selected Poems'' (Cape), by W. H. Davis, illustrated by Stephen Bone
* 1924: ''Oasis'' (Cape), with Gertrude Bone
* 1925: ''Of the Western Isles'' (
T. N. Foulis
T. N. Foulis was a British publisher founded in Edinburgh in 1903. During its first ten years, the firm became well known for producing "highly original, beautifully illustrated books", ), "forty woodcuts by Stephen Bone, with letterpress by Gertrude Bone",
* 1928: ''The Hidden Orchis'' (London: Medici Society), with Gertrude Bone
* 1930: ''The Cope'' (Medici), with Gertrude Bone
* 1936: ''The Little Boy and His House'' (J. M. Dent), children's picture book by Bone and Mary Adshead,
* 1937: ''The West Coast of Scotland, Skye to Oban'' (Batsford); later issued by Faber as a Shell Guide
* 1939: ''Albion: an Artist's Britain'' (A. & C. Black)
* 1942: ''The Silly Snail and Other Stories'' (Dent), Bone and Adshead
* 1946: ''British Weather'', Britain in Pictures no. 97 (Collins)
* 1948: ''The Military Orchid'', (Bodley Head), by J.Brooke, illustrated by Stephen Bone
* 1951: ''The English and Their Country'' (Longmans, Green), Stephen Bone with illustrations by Muirhead Bone,
* 1953: ''The Little Boys and Their Boats'' (Dent), Bone and Adshead,
References
External links
*
Works by Stephen Bonein the
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
collection
* (including "from old catalog")
Gertrude Boneat LC Authorities, 7 records, an
at WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bone, Stephen
1904 births
1958 deaths
20th-century English male artists
20th-century English painters
Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
Artists from London
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
British illustrators
British war artists
Camoufleurs
English male painters
English people of Scottish descent
People educated at Bedales School
People from Chiswick
World War II artists