Thomas Armstrong (1832–1911) was an English artist and arts administrator.
Early life
Born at
Fallowfield
Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, on 19 October 1832, he was eldest son of Thomas Armstrong. Educated at a private school at
Tarvin
Tarvin is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It had a population of 2,693 people at the 2001 UK census, rising to 2,728 at the 2011 Census, and the ward covers about .
...
, near
Chester, he learned drawing under
Robert Crozier
Robert Crozier (October 13, 1827October 2, 1895) was an attorney, judge and politician from Kansas. A Republican, he was most notable for his service as Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court (1864–1867) and United States Senator from Kan ...
, of the
Manchester Fine Art Academy. Deciding to adopt painting as a profession, he went to Paris in 1853, at the same period as the "Paris Gang" of
George du Maurier
George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald ...
,
Edward John Poynter, and
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
. They formed the basis for du Maurier's novel ''
Trilby
A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...
''.
Artist
At first Armstrong worked in the
Académie Suisse
The Académie Suisse was a very popular, informal, art school founded by Martin François Suisse (1781–1859)From Filae.com, 23 juin 2021
Source: Registres journaliers d'inhumation des cimetières parisiens
Les documents d'origine sont consult ...
, and then in the atelier of
Ary Scheffer, who was a major influence. In the summer he joined
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism ...
,
Karl Bodmer
Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Swiss-French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, illustrator and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and paintings, as a Swiss and French c ...
, and
Charles Jacque
Charles-Émile Jacque (23 May 1813 – 7 May 1894) was a French painter of Pastoralism and engraver who was, with Jean-François Millet, part of the Barbizon School. He first learned to engrave maps when he spent seven years in the French Army.
...
at
Barbizon
Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest.
Demographics
The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''.
Art history
The Barbizon school of painters is nam ...
. He studied in
Academie Royale, Antwerp under Theodore van Lerius (1855-6), and in 1860 he was joined by du Maurier at the
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...
, where
Eduard Bendemann
Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann (3 December 1811, Berlin – 27 December 1889, Düsseldorf) was a German-Jewish painter.
Biography
Bendemann was born in Berlin. His father, Anton Heinrich Bendemann, was a Jewish banker. His mother, Fanny El ...
was professor.
On his return to England, Armstrong worked on decorative painting in houses in the north, sometimes with his friend
Randolph Caldecott
Randolph Caldecott (; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pro ...
. In 1864 he settled in London, exhibited regularly at the
Royal Academy from 1865 to 1877, and subsequently up to 1881 at the
Grosvenor Gallery
The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it prov ...
. He helped
Gertrude Jekyll found the
School of Art Needlework.
Administrator
In 1881 Armstrong was appointed director for art at the
South Kensington Museum in succession to
Edward Poynter
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.
Life
Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, F ...
, and had an immediate impact on its teaching, with his concept that craft and design required separate instruction. He supported the efforts of
Walter Copland Perry
Walter Copland Perry (1814 – December 1911) was a noted British author and barrister-at-law.
Life
Perry was the only son of Rev. Isaac Perry, of Liverpool. During the 1830s, he was a doctoral student of the University of Göttingen. Later a stu ...
to supply art students with models of antique sculpture, and implemented plans for a museum of casts. He supported an initiative on
enamelling
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...
, under Pierre Adrien Dalpeyrat in 1886, and with
Sir John Donnelly the School of Art Wood-carving.
But one of his significant innovations was to invite
Walter Crane
Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...
to lecture in the
National Art Training Schools. In this way the
Arts and Crafts Movement found its way into public institutions.
Later life
Armstrong retired from the South Kensington Museum in 1898, and was made
C.B. He took up painting again, and made a mural tablet in plaster and copper for the church at
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and was ...
, to the memory of his only child.
Armstrong died suddenly at Abbots Langley on 24 April 1911, and was buried there.
Family
On 22 April 1881 Armstrong married Mary Alice, daughter of Colonel Brine of
Shaldon
Shaldon is a village and civil parish in South Devon, England, on the south bank of the estuary of the River Teign, opposite Teignmouth. The village is a popular bathing place and is characterised by Georgian architecture.
At the United Kin ...
, Devon.
Notes
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Thomas
1832 births
1911 deaths
19th-century English painters
English male painters
20th-century English painters
Artists from Manchester
20th-century English male artists
19th-century English male artists