W. H. Allen
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
watercolour artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
whose career spanned more than 50 years from the 1880s to the 1940s. He was invariably referred to as "WH" rather than by his given name. Born 14 September 1863 in West Brompton
West Brompton
West Brompton is an area of South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.-History:The name refers to the older locality of Brompton to the east, although the areas of South Kensington and Earl's Court separate West Brompton from its namesake...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, of parents from Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Allen was for many years Director of the Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
School of Art in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. He produced several thousand watercolours, chalk and pencil sketches mainly of the landscapes, traditions and people of West Surrey and North-east Hampshire. In addition, he produced scenes of other parts of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and various parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. These works included commissions in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, Dublin, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Preston museums. He was made a member of the Royal Watercolour Society
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
in 1903 and the Royal Society of British Artists
Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...
in 1904 and his work was exhibited at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
in 1927. He moved from Surrey to Wylye, Wiltshire in 1932 and is buried at St Nicholas's Church, Fisherton de la Mere
St Nicholas's Church, Fisherton de la Mere
St Nicholas's Church in Fisherton Delamere, Wiltshire, England was built in the 14th century. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...
. Many of W. H. Allen's paintings are regularly displayed at the Allen Gallery, Church Street, Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
. These include landscapes of the local East Hampshire countryside at the beginning of the 20th century.
Style and Influences
Many of his paintings were produced "in the field" and are bold in their depiction of light and shadows, or of changing weather conditions. His studio works are generally larger and of greater detail. Very few were sold on the open market, but he did exhibit regularly at the major galleries and annual exhibitions.Allen embraced many styles and techniques from vivid, almost abstract, watercolours to more traditional oils and watercolours. His field sketches and studies are considered to be particularly successful and were painted in all weathers and conditions.
He was a private and modest man who changed peoples' perception of their surroundings. In this he was helped by fellow Farnham resident and friend George Sturt
George Sturt
George Sturt , who also wrote under the pseudonym George Bourne, was an English writer on rural crafts and affairs. He was born and grew up in Farnham, Surrey....
, whose writings reflect Allen's approach to the recording of rural life and change. Thanks to their work, urban and rural landscapes began to be preserved at a time when "progress" was causing sweeping changes.
In the 1880s, the depiction of life and work in the countryside was subject to two very different approaches, the traditional rural romanticism/sentimentality - thatched cottages with roses around the door and contented happy harvest scenes (e.g. Myles Birkett Foster), and that of social realism - recording child labour and exploitation, agricultural depression, bad weather, hard work and hard labour (e.g. Sir George Clausen). By the time Allen started recording the countryside around Farnham in the 1890s, Britain was in the grip of a severe agricultural depression which continued until the late 1930s, mirroring his artistic output.
Royal College of Art and early study tours
W. H. Allen entered the Royal College of ArtRoyal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
in 1884, where he came under the influence of its Director, Thomas Armstrong
Thomas Armstrong
Sir Thomas Armstrong was an English organist, conductor, educationalist and adjudicator. He had a substantial influence on British music for well over half a century. From 1955 to 1968 he was principal of the Royal Academy of Music...
(1835-1911), a disciple of William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
and the Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
. This was to remain his predominant influence throughout his working life as an artist and teacher. In 1888 he was awarded a silver medal and a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
of £50, enabling him to travel to Europe, the first of many continental trips which resulted in some of his finest work.
Teaching
He was still a student at the Royal College of Art when he became an evening lecturer in Design, being awarded the college's Diploma of Associateship at the same time. He then became master of the SydenhamSydenham
Sydenham is an area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham; although some streets towards Crystal Palace Park, Forest Hill and Penge are outside the ward and in the London Borough of Bromley, and some streets off Sydenham Hill are in the London Borough of Southwark. Sydenham was in...
Art Class, after receiving a reference from his college principal, who considered him "the most successful lecturer and instructor I have known".
In November 1889 Allen was appointed Master of Farnham Art School where his abilities were soon recognised by Farnham Urban District Council and later Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....
, as he was made Director of the Art School, a post he retained until his retirement in December 1927. Allen gave private wood carving lessons to Harold Falkner
Harold Falkner
Harold Falkner FRIBA was a notable British architect in the early 20th Century and is now considered a leading exponent of the vernacular and the Arts & Crafts in architecture...
who later became an architect and leading light in the preservation of Georgian Farnham.
Stranger's Corner
By 1897 Allen was sufficiently settled in the Farnham area to commission Harold Falkner to design a house for him. Situated on the TilfordTilford
Tilford is a small village about two miles south of Farnham in Surrey, England. It lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty- History :The name "Tilford" is probably derived from "Tila's ford" or "Tilla's ford"....
Road, "Strangers Corner" was to remain Allen's home until 1932, and is the subject of one of his best-known paintings, now in the Museum of Farnham. Falkner later paid tribute to Allen's contribution to the early building conservation movement in an article published in Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
in July 1942: "Allen transformed our outlook, which thought nothing of our Georgian past and relegated its furniture to the attics if it were not sawn up".
The Allen Gallery, Alton
This gallery, whilst dedicated to the memory of Allen, shows works by a wide variety of artists and has frequently changing exhibitions, including occasional large exhibitions of Allen's work. Allen's work permanently on display here comprises the following watercolours:- The Juice Girl
- Building the hayrick, King's Farm, BinstedBinstedBinsted is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. The village is about four miles east of Alton. The nearest railway station is 1.8 miles northeast of the village, at Bentley....
- The rick yard, King's Farm, Binsted
- King's Farm and hop kilns, Binsted (1)
- King's Farm and hop kilns, Binsted (2)
- Going Home - Waverley WoodsWaverley AbbeyWaverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. It is situated about one mile south of Farnham, Surrey, in a bend of the River Wey.-History:...
- Happy Seclusion - Boulogne-sur-MerBoulogne-sur-Mer-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, France - Feeding the chickens
A large exhibition of Allen's work is planned for January to March 2009.
Further reading
- W. H. Allen 1863-1943 Landscape artist by Alastair Penfold & John Gillett (published 1989 by Hampshire County CouncilHampshire County CouncilHampshire County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...
) - A Modest Genius - the life and paintings of William Herbert Allen by Alastair Penfold & Tony Cross (published 2005 by Hampshire County Council)
- William Herbert Allen by Alice Munro-Faure (published 1992 by WSCAD)
External links
- Hantsweb biography
- http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/allen-gallery.htmThe Allen Gallery, AltonAlton, HampshireAlton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
] - W. H. Allen on Artnet