Sir William Menzies Coldstream,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(28 February 1908 – 18 February 1987) was an English realist

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and a long-standing art teacher.

Biography

Coldstream was born at

Belford, Northumberland Belford is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, about halfway between Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed, a few miles inland from the east coast and just off the Great North Road, the A1. At the 2001 census it had a population of ...

, in northern England, the second son of country doctor George Probyn Coldstream and his wife (Susan Jane) Lilian, daughter of Maj. Robert Mercer-Tod, of the 43rd Regiment. His mother's family were Scottish landed gentry. He grew up in London, where he was privately educated, then studied 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 ...

between 1926 and 1929. In 1931 he joined the London Artists' Association and then, two years later, the

London Group The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was form ...

. In 1934, Coldstream joined the

GPO Film Unit The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films ...

to make documentary films with

John Grierson John Grierson (26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972) was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Fla ...

. During his time with the GPO, Coldstream worked alongside W. H. Auden,

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

and Barnett Freedman but also continued to paint. In 1937, with some financial support from

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

, Coldstream returned to painting on a full-time basis. Later that year he co-founded the Euston Road School with Graham Bell,

Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He ...

and Claude Rogers, having previously been involved in the short-lived Objective Abstraction movement. Notable among his paintings of this period is the portrait of Inez Pearn (at that time married to Stephen Spender), which has been called ‘a masterpiece of analytical realism’ and which was said to have needed some forty sittings. Coldstream's earlier years were characterized by a dedicated engagement with socialist ideals, and by the pursuit of a non-elitist form of art. To this end, he supported the Mass Observation social survey of Britain and participated in their 1938 painting trip to

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th cen ...

. At the start of World War II Coldstream enlisted in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

before transferring to the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the '' Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

. At first he served as a gunner with a training regiment near Dover and then, from 1940 until 1943 was a camouflage officer with Camouflage Command in

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

and later in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. In 1943, 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 artis ...

, WWAC, offered Coldstream a full-time commission which he accepted, having previously declined to work for the Committee. He was stationed in Cairo with an Indian transport unit and painted four portraits of individuals there. From Cairo he travelled to Italy, painting buildings in Capua,

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminus ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. Due to his slow means of working, Coldstream only produced nine pictures during his WAAC commission. He also painted Helen Darbishire in her role as principal of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Iri ...

. In November 1945, he became a visiting teacher at

Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgradu ...

, and later its Professor. In 1949 he returned to lead the Slade School as Principal, and Professor of Fine Art. Under his direction the Slade achieved an international reputation. In 1952 he became a

In the Queen's Birthday Honours 1956 Coldstream was appointed as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

. Between 1958 and 1971 he was Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Art Education, which published its first report in 1960—called the "Coldstream Report"—outlining the requirements for a new Diploma in Art and Design (Dip.A.D.). Coldstream's proposals eventually led to more art school courses being given degree status. Other administrative posts he held were as Vice Chairman of the Arts Council, and as a director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and as a trustee of the National Gallery. He was also Chairman of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

from 1964 to 1971. In 1978 he was awarded the Sir Misha Black award and was added to the College of Medallists. Coldstream retired from the Slade School in 1975, and continued to paint until 1984, when his health was in marked decline. He died in the Royal Homeopathic Hospital in London on 18 February 1987.

Personal life

As a student at the Slade in 1931, Coldstream met and married Nancy Sharp. The marriage lasted until 1939 and produced two daughters. In 1960 he married his model, Monica Hoyer, and together they had three children, a boy and two girls. Coldstream's cousin, Nicolas Coldstream, was a leading archaeologist and academic.

Method and works

Coldstream was committed to painting directly from life; he once remarked, "I lose interest unless I let myself be ruled by what I see".Gowing and Sylvester 1990, p. 21. His type of realism had its basis in careful measurement, carried out by the following method: standing before the subject to be painted, a brush is held upright at arm's length. With one eye closed, the artist can, by sliding a thumb up or down the brush handle, take the measure of an object or interval. This finding is compared against other objects or intervals, with the brush still kept at arm's length. Informed by such measurements, the artist can paint what the eye sees without the use of conventional perspective. The surfaces of Coldstream's paintings carry many small horizontal and vertical markings, where he recorded these coordinates so that they could be verified against reality. As a result of his painstaking methods, Coldstream worked slowly, often taking scores of sittings over several months to complete a work. His subjects include still-life, landscapes (usually centered on architecture), portraits, and the female nude.

References

*Gowing, Lawrence; Sylvester, David (1990). ''The Paintings of William Coldstream 1908–1987''. London:

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 ...

. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coldstream, William 1908 births 1987 deaths Military personnel from Northumberland 20th-century English painters Academics of Camberwell College of Arts Academics of the Slade School of Fine Art Academics of the University of the Arts London Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British Army personnel of World War II Knights Bachelor British Realist painters British war artists Camoufleurs Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English male painters People from Belford, Northumberland Royal Artillery soldiers Royal Engineers officers World War II artists 20th-century English male artists

Biography

Personal life

Method and works

References

Further reading

External links