Gerald Spencer Pryse - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Biography

Born at Ashton, he studied in London and Paris, and first won success at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. In the same year, he joined the Fabian Society

Fabian Society

The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...

, and helped to found The Neolith, a periodical of literature and the fine arts; the journal was printed in lithography. He was a regular exhibitor at the Senefelder Club

Senefelder Club

The Senefelder Club is an organisation formed in London in 1909 to promote the craft of art reproduction by the process of lithography.The club was named in honour of Aloys Senefelder, who in 1798 invented the lithographic process....

, and contributed works to Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

, the Strand Magazine

Strand Magazine

The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...

, and The Graphic

The Graphic

The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....

First World War

During the Great War, Pryse produced a considerable body of lithographic work, some of it in color under the title Autumn Campaign (1914). This was based in his time in France and Belgium at the beginning of the war when he drove around in a Mercedes carrying lithographic stones in the back. He served as a dispatch rider for the Belgian government and was present at the Siege of Antwerp

Siege of Antwerp

The Siege of Antwerp was an engagement between the German and the Belgian armies during World War I. A small number of British and Austrian troops took part as well.-Strategic Context:...

. The artist wrote a memoir of this time entitled Four Days: an account of a journey in France made between August 28 and 31, 1914, published by John Lane in 1932. Pryse also saw some of the battles of the Marne

Battle of the Marne

There were two Battles of the Marne, taking place near the Marne River in Marne, France during World War I:* First Battle of the Marne * Second Battle of the Marne...

and the Aisne

Battle of the Aisne

The Battle of the Aisne is the name of three battles fought along the Aisne River in northern France during the First World War.*First Battle of the Aisne - Anglo-French counter-offensive following the First Battle of the Marne....

but was back in Belgium to record the fall of Ostend

Ostend

Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

and the subsequent retirement along the River Yser. Pryse also worked with the Indian Army in France and several of his lithographs depict scenes of Indian troops.

Later, he served as a captain in the Queen Victoria's Rifles, King's Royal Rifle Corps

King's Royal Rifle Corps

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...

, and was mentioned in dispatches. His main action was in the Third Battle of Ypres where he won the Military Cross

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

, the 1914 Star, the Order of the Crown of Belgium, the Croix de Guerre

Croix de guerre

The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...

.

By the end of 1916, Pryse had made an application to become a war artist, and towards the end of the war, was granted permission to sketch at the front and he was able to record the conditions of trench warfare in numerous water-color drawings, but many of these were lost in the German offensive of 1918. The remaining drawings were exhibited later in London and were described as having "a freshness and authenticity that were not always apparent in the works of the official war artists." Unfortunately, many of these were destroyed by enemy action during the second World War He later the regiment at the end of the war but returned in 1921 when the battalion was on Wormwood Scrubbs for three months during a coal strike.

During the war, he also designed a number of posters including several published by Frank Pick for the Underground Electric Railway in London, as well as for the Labour Party, The British Red Cross, and for the Empire Marketing Board. One of his most famous posters, entitled The Only Road for an Englishman shows a regiment of British soldiers marching through a ruined town.

Post-War

He worked in Hammersmith from 1914–1925, but in 1925 traveled to Morocco and observed some of the fighting there against the French. He returned to the country and lived there for some years after 1950. Pryse was commissioned in 1924 to create a series of lithographs for the British Empire Exhibition illustrating the extent and variety of life with the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. In 1932, he married Murial Anstace Theodore, the daughter of the Rev. Laurence Farrall, and had three daughters. He died at Cranford House, Stourton, Worcestershire on November 28, 1956 aged 74. He had married Muriel Anstace Theodora, daughter of the Rev. Laurence Farrall, in 1932, and they had three daughters, one of whom, Tessa Spencer Pryse

Tessa Spencer Pryse

Tessa Spencer Pryse, RBA is a British Impressionist artist based in Wivenhoe, Essex.The daughter of Gerald, a noted Welsh lithographer, Spencer Pryse had an unusual childhood, attending schools in France, rural Wales and Switzerland. She gained a scholarship to Byam Shaw Art School aged 17, where...

, a landscape artist, became an art student against her father's wishes.

Lithographs in The Autumn Campaign

The Fall of Ostend: La Gare Maritime
The Fall of Ostend: the digue during the embarkation of the Naval Division for Antwerp
The Third Cavalry in Ghent, December 12, 1914
Antwerp Grand Place, September 1914
Fugitives in Soissons
The Retreat of the Seventh Division and Third Cavalry on Ypres
Indians and Motor Buses near Poperinghe
British cavalry bivouac during the battle on the Aisne
The Stretcher party in Champagne

Biography

First World War

Post-War

Lithographs in The Autumn Campaign

Further reading