Maritime Art. Part 2.

The Sea and the Workers who risk their lives for others.

In this look at Maritime or Marine Art I want to showcase those paintings which feature the people who have dedicated their lives to saving seafarers and those working the seas in a continual search for food to put on our tables. 

For the first of my forays into the depiction of fisherman I want to delve into the work of the great Skagen painters.  These were a group of Scandinavian artists who had come together in the small coastal village of Skagen, which is situated in the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. One of the Skagen painters was Peder Severin Krøyer.  He was born in Stavanger, Norway on July 23rd 1851 but moved to Denmark as a child. At the age of fourteen, he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Even at that young age he was a proficient portrait painter and was esteemed for his artwork and received many commissions.

Fishermen hauling nets, North Beach, Skagen by Peder Severin Krøyer (1883)

Krøyer depictions of fishermen were often in more serene situations rather than those showing the fishermen and their boats battling the elements.   His painting entitled Fishermen Hauling a Net at the North Beach, Late afternoon, was one of his first works painted on the beaches of Skagen and he wrote to his patron the tobacco manufacturer Heinrich Hirschsprung that for this painting he wanted to be close to the fishermen who had been hauling a net at the North Beach one late afternoon sundown when the sun appears flat and the weather is clear.  He had made many small preliminary sketches before taking the large canvas to the beach to complete the work en plein air.  He wrote to his patron:

“…I was on Nordstrand for the first time with my large picture this afternoon, driving with all my goods and chattels. It was a huge treat. It was calm and clear, really important for me…”

Fishermen on Skagen Beach by Peder Severin Krøyer (1883)

In his painting, Fishermen on Skagen Beach, several fishermen are shown relaxing on the beach, two of them are catching up on some sleep. The sense of tranquility of this scene is reinforced by a calm sea. This is one of those depictions which invites the viewer to mull over what is going on. Have they had a successful day or had it been a day to forget? Whatever happened they seem to now be exhausted.

Fishermen on the Beach on a Peaceful Summer´s night by Michael Ancher (1881)

Michael Ancher was the first of the Skagen painters to settle in Skagen during the summer of 1881. In his work entitled Fishermen on the Beach on a Peaceful Summer´s night Michael Ancher depicts a group of fishermen from Skagen talking on the beach on a sunny summer evening. What are they chatting about? Perhaps they are exchanging news from Skagen, or simply planning tomorrow’s next fishing expedition. Ancher was a realist who always used living models, preferably fishermen and he knew their individual names and through his depiction they have come to life.  They have had a hard life battling the elements which can be seen by their heavily lined faces.  This painting which is owned by the National Gallery of Denmark, is currently  exhibited in the Danish Parliament.

Fisherman Coming to Shore by Michael Ancher

Michael Ancher has depicted a completely different portrayal of a fisherman than the previous paintings. This is not a relaxed study of a fisherman, quite the opposite. Observe the fiercly determined look on the face of the fisherman in Ancher’s painting entitled Fisherman Coming to Shore. He is trying to steer the boat to the safety of the shore whilst battling against a mighty following sea which makes steering almost impossible.

On the Quay, Newlyn by Walter Langley

Between the Tides by Walter Langley (1901)

Walter Langley, the son of a journeyman tailor, was born on June 8th 1852.  At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a lithographer and six years later he won a scholarship to South Kensington School where he studied design for two years. He returned to Birmingham but took up painting full-time, and in 1881 was elected an Associate of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA). In that year, aged twenty-nine, he received a £500 commission for a year’s work by the Birmingham-based photographer Robert White Thrupp, a wealthy patron, to spend twelve months in the Cornish town of Newlyn, and pictorially record the lives of the fisherfolk.  Having been brought up in a poor working-class family environment Langley could empathise with the hardship faced by the fishing community and his paintings often depicted stories of family tragedies and loss of loved ones.

Among the Missing by Walter Langley

Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break by Walter Langley (1894)

The painting, Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break, was completed by the English artist Walter Langley in 1894.  The painting today, as was the painting before, is about loss.  The title of the painting emanates from Canto VI of Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam, which reads:

That loss is common would not make
My own less bitter, rather more:
Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break

The painting, Never morning wore to evening, but some heart did break depicts a young woman being comforted on the quayside at Newlyn harbour by Grace Kelynack, the elderly widow of a Newlyn fisherman.

Old Grace by Walter Langley (1894)

Langley had also completed a portrait of Grace Kelynack entitled Old Grace.

The Ninth Wave by Ivan Aivazovsky (1850)

One of my favourite seascape paintings by Aviazovsky is his 1850 work entitled The Ninth Wave. It is also probably his best-known work. The title refers to a popular sailing legend that the ninth wave is the most terrible, powerful, destructive wave that comes after a succession of incrementally larger waves. In his painting, set at night, he depicts a raging sea, which has been whipped up by a storm. In the foreground we see people clinging to the mast of a vessel which had sunk during the night. Note how the artist has depicted the debris the people are clinging to in the shape of a cross and this element can be looked upon as a metaphor for salvation from the earthly sin.  One wants to believe that the desperate will to survive will triumph over the raging ocean.  The people clinging to the debris are lit by the warmth of breaking sunlight and this gives one to believe that they may yet be saved.  For a life-or-death depiction the painting is not a gloomy one. In fact, it is full of light and air and thoroughly transfused by the rays of the sun which endows it with a feeling of optimism. The painting was originally acquired for the State Russian Museum of St Petersburg and was one of the first paintings in the collection of the Emperor Alexander III Russian Museum in 1897.

The Rainbow by Aviazovsky (1873)

Another of Aivazovsky’s works which is part of the Tretyakov Museum collection in Moscow is his painting entitled The Rainbow which features a sailing ship foundering on rocks while two lifeboats full of sailors from the doomed vessel are battling against the fierce seas as they try to manoeuvre their boats ashore. It is a truly remarkable work in which Aviazovsky created a scene of a storm as if seen from inside the raging sea.  In the foreground, we see the sailors who have taken to a lifeboat and abandoned their sinking ship which had foundered on the rocky shoreline. They had spent the whole night in the boat. Suddenly they see a rainbow and feel that all is not lost. The reflection of the rainbow can just be seen to the left of the painting.  Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Russian novelist, was an admirer of Aivazovsky’s art and The Rainbow was his favourite work.  Of the painting, Dostoevsky wrote:

“…This storm by Aivazovsky is fabulous, like all of his storm pictures, and here he is the master who has no competition. In his storms there is the trill, the eternal beauty that startles a spectator in a real-life storm…”

The Shipwreck by J.M.W Turner (c.1805)

Storms and shipwrecks were a popular theme for paintings during J.M.W.Turner’s life.   He completed his painting The Shipwreck around 1805.  It depicts fishermen battling the huge waves as they attempt the rescue of an overcrowded lifeboat.   In the painting, we see a ship foundering and about to capsize and sink in the dark seas. Turner was fascinated by this dramatic theme which conveyed the danger of life at sea. To get us to better appreciate the peril the seafarers had to endure he places us close to the drama and with no sight of land it is as if we are part of the rescuing crews as they battle the ferocity of the sea,

It is thought that Turner was inspired by the re-publication in 1804 of the fourth edition of William Falconer’s poem, The Shipwreck, which was illustrated by another marine painter Nicholas Pocock, part of which (3rd Canto, lines 640-645) is below:

Again she plunges! Hark! A second shock

Tears her strong bottom on the marble rock! 

Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries,

The fated victims shuddering roll their eyes, 

In wild despair; while yet another stroke,

With deep convulsion, rends the solid oak. 

The fourth edition of William Falconer’s The Shipwreck was published in 1772. This poem in three cantos of more than 900 lines each, recounts the final voyage of the merchant ship Britannia and her crew. This fourth edition of The Shipwreck is the first edition of the poem to be published after Falconer’s death, ironically due to a shipwreck. Falconer had been appointed purser onboard the frigate Aurora in 1769 when it was lost after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. An introduction to a 1798 edition of Falconer’s works supposes the loss was caused by the Aurora catching fire after rounding the Cape.

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt (1633)

A marine painting with a biblical connotation is the one by Rembrandt von Rijn entitled The Storm on the Sea of Galilee which he completed in 1633. It was one of his earliest large format works.  It depicts a close-up view of Christ’s disciples as they grapple  to gain control of their fishing boat.  A large wave has crashed into the side of the boat, swamped the deck and ripped the mainsail.  The vessel lurches dramatically in the rough sea.  We see one of the disciples leaning over the side of the boat being sick.  A man faces us as he clings hold of the rigging.  This is a self-portrait of the artist.  All the people on board the vessel are panic-stricken, except for one, Christ, who can be seen on the right, calmly looking ahead.  The depiction is based on a passage from the bible (Luke  8: 22-25):

22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.

In the third and final part of these blogs featuring marine art I will be looking at paintings that extoll the joys of the sea and shoreline.

Maritime Art. Part 1.

The Sea and the Ships

Storm at Sea by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1569)

Maritime painting is an art genre that depicts ships and the sea.  Early examples of this genre were found in Greek vase paintings and the wall paintings of Pompeii.   Storm at Sea is one of earliest specific seascapes and was painted around 1569 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s and thought to be one of his last paintings. It is unfinished and, like so many of his works, defies unambiguous interpretation. On the one hand, we see ships threatened by a storm reminding us that man is not master of Nature, in fact man is often its victim. To try and save themselves from the stormy sea the sailors have poured oil onto the water.  They have also sacrificed a barrel from their cargo to distract the mighty whale who is attacking their vessel.

The Battle of Terheide (1657), commemorating the Battle of Scheveningen on 10 August 1653 by Willem van de Velde the Elder.

The greatest marine artists of the 17th century were Willem van de Velde the Elder and his son, Willem van de Velde the Younger.  They were best known for their spectacular depictions of storms at sea, and of nautical life, as well as their painstakingly drawn depictions of ships and naval battles. To commemorate the Dutch naval commander Maerten Harpertsz Tromp, his family commissioned a series of pen paintings of Tromp’s best-known battles from Willem van de Velde the Elder. The artist used pen and ink on canvas for these works, which which bear a resemblance to meticulous, accurate engravings. Van de Velde witnessed the Battle of Terheide in 1653 and he used the sketches that he produced on board as studies for this pen painting.

Men O’ War in Action by Willem van de Velde the Elder

Willem van de Velde the Elder was born in Leiden in 1611.  He was the son of the captain of a merchant vessel, Willem Willemsz van de Velde. When he was young, he would often accompany his father on sea voyages and this probably shaped his career as a marine artist.   Van de Velde married Judith van Leeuwen in Leiden in 1631 and the couple went on to have three children, a daughter, Magdalena, and two sons who would become renowned painters, Willem van de Velde the Younger, a marine artist and Adriaen van de Velde, a landscape painter.

Ships in a Stormy Sea by Willem van de Velde the Younger (c.1672)

The painting entitled Ships in a Stormy Sea by Willem van de Velde the Younger depicts the drama and the excitement of those who braved the seas in the 17th century.  Willie van de Velde the Younger had first-hand knowledge of sailing, and his marine paintings were appreciated for their realistic depictions of ships and sailing tactics. In this work the ship in the foreground is a kaag, a light fishing vessel.  The artist has depicted it as sailing close-hauled in the strong breeze, which is one of the most difficult sailing manoeuvres, in which the vessel sails into the wind as directly as it can without causing the sails to flap uselessly.

States Yacht and other vessels in a very light air by Willem van de Velde the Younger.

Whereas his father specialised in drawings and pen paintings, Van de Velde the Younger was best known for his oil paintings, which depicted life at sea in full colour.  He was born in Amsterdam in 1633 and trained as a painter with the Dutch artist Simon de Vlieger, who was known for his marine paintings, beach scenes, landscapes and genre work.  Unlike his father, Willem de Velde the Younger was a trained artist, unlike his father who was self-taught.  Van de Velde the Younger worked closely with his father and the pair brought their artistic visions to life. Often, he would use his father’s drawings as a guide to create his own masterpieces. The father was a master of detail whereas his son was a master of light.  It was this combination of artistic talents that was to lead to the success of their studio business.

The Home Fleet Saluting the State Barge by Jan van der Capelle (1650)

Shipping in a Calm at Flushing with a States General Yacht Firing a Salute by Jan van de Cappelle (1649)

Jan van de Cappelle was a Dutch Golden Age painter of seascapes and winter landscapes, also notable as an industrialist and art collector. He is now considered the outstanding marine painter of 17th century Holland. Jan van de Cappelle was wealthy and was occupied full-time running his father’s dyeing business. Though he painted some beach scenes and winter landscapes, most of his paintings represent the mouths of wide rivers or quiet inner harbours, where groups of ships at anchor were depicted in glassy calm waters. Many of his marine art works depict full cloud formations which hover over these tranquil waters and are mirrored in colourful reflections, often set in early morning or evening. When he died, aged fifty-three, in 1679, his estate was worth more than 90,000 guilders.

The Ships “Winged Arrow” and “Southern Cross” in Boston Harbour by Fitz Henry Lane (1853)

Fitz Henry Lane was born on December 19, 1804, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Lane and was christened Nathaniel Rogers Lane three months later and would remain known as such until he was twenty-seven.  In March 1832, Lane requested that his name be changed to Fitz Henry Lane.  The reasons behind Lane’s decision to change his name, and for choosing the name he did, are still very unclear. Lane and his family lived on the outskirts of Gloucester close to the harbour’s working waterfront and so, growing up, Lane had contact with all the elements of maritime life.  Lane’s father, Jonathan Lane was a sailmaker and it was thought that his son would follow him into the business or become a seafarer.  Unfortunately, when only eighteen months of age he became ill and suffered a form of paralysis of the legs.  Growing up he was unable to join his friends in games and became withdrawn and stayed at home where, for amusement, he began to draw.  This developed into an amazing talent and living close to the sea and the harbour he began to sketch the ships and the harbour.

Salem Harbor by Fritz Henry Lane (1853)

For fifteen years, Lane was employed at Pendleton’s Lithography shop in Boston and during those years as a lithographer Lane honed his artistic skills.  He produced many works of marine art and was listed as a marine painter in the 1840 edition of the Boston Almanac.  His works became extremely popular and were in great demand.  Then despite living in Boston, it never prevented him returning on a number of occasions to his birthplace, Gloucester.  Aged forty-eight Lane left Boston and moved back to Gloucester where in 1849 he designed and had constructed his own granite house with seven gables and a studio on Duncan’s Point.  This house would remain his primary residence to the end of his life. Fitz Henry Lane died on August 14th, 1865, aged 60.

Rainbow at Sea with some cruising Ships by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1836)

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, a Dutch painter, was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig on January 2nd 1783.  He was at the forefront of the Golden Age of Danish Painting, a period from 1800 to around 1850 and is often referred to as the “Father of Danish painting”.  After 1821 seascapes had become Eckersberg’s favourite subject.

The Russian Ship of the Line “Asow” and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1828)

Eckersberg’s best loved maritime painting is his 1828 work entitled The Russian Ship of the Line “Asow” and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore. This majestic work is not a true rendition of the scene but an idealised version as the setting of the scene is not Copenhagen where he had studied Russian ships of the line on two occasions.  We also know from his diaries that he had also studied the ship’s design from technical drawings he had borrowed from the naval dockyard.   However the backdrop is not Copenhagen but Elsinore where we can see Kronborg Castle in the background.  Kronborg is the castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark, which was immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.  The depiction is what the ship, Asow, would have looked like if viewed from a vantage point on the Øresund.

The Corvette Galathea in a Storm in the North Sea by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1839)

Although he was known for his portraiture and historical paintings, marine paintings was another genre he developed.  Eckersberg developed a passion for ships, and, at the age of fifty-six, sailed around the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, the North Sea, and as far as the English Channel.  These sailing trips on the open seas brought home to Eckersberg that sea could be quite threatening and whereas many of his early work focused on cam seas, later works often depicted the ferocity of the sea.

If you would like to read more about the art of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg then have a look at the five blogs I did focusing on his life life and paintings.

Northeaster by Wilmslow Homer (1895)

Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and illustrator and is renowned for his marine subjects.  By many, he is considered one of the leading painters of 19th-century America.  His 1895 painting entitled Northeaster can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City.   It depicts a wave crashing aggressively against a rocky Maine shoreline.  Homer loved the East coast of America around Maine and eventually settled down there in 1883, moving from New York to Prouts Neck, Maine where he lived at his family’s estate in the remodelled carriage house seventy-five feet from the ocean.  The title of the painting, Northeaster, does not refer to a location in America, but is a name given to a specific type of wind that occurs within the western North Atlantic Ocean. The painting depicts just a small section of rock seen in the lower left corner whilst, in the background, a spectacular section of sea is seen riding relentlessly towards the shore.

Early Morning, After A Storm At Sea By Winslow Homer (1900-1903)

Whilst living at Prouts Neck, Winslow Homer looked out upon the sea and once commented to a friend that painting was all about timing:

“…You must not paint everything you see. You must wait, and wait patiently until the exceptional, the wonderful effect or aspect comes. Then, if you have sense enough to see it—well . . . that is all there is to that…”

Homer began this seascape in 1900 and based it on a watercolour he had completed in 1883. He was proud of the finished work in oils stating that it was the best picture of the sea that he had painted but was totally dismayed when it was poorly received by the critics.   He just said of this dismissive reception that no one understood the work and besides that, the people never see the early morning effect. They don’t get up early enough.

View of Lac Léman by Gustave Courbet (1874)

Threatening grey clouds move across the sky above the calm Swiss lake but the cloud formation threatens an oncoming storm.  The depiction is set in the evening and on the horizon against the vivid orange and gold of the setting sun we can just barely make out a tiny boat.   Soft red reflections streak the surface of the water.   Courbet had left France in 1873  for political reasons and settled on the shores of Lac Léman in Switzerland where he painted a number of scenes featuring the lake at sunset.

Marine by Gustave Courbet

Four years earlier during the late summer of 1869 Courbet travelled to Étretat, a small fishing village which was famous for its towering coastal cliffs with their rock arches carved out by the relentless sea. Courbet was fascinated by the sea and completed twenty-nine works during his stay at Étretat.  His depictions of the sea would vary from the quiet tranquillity of the calm sea to the violence of crashing waves upon the rocks.  In the above work Courbet shows us the power of the sea with white-capped waves with foam fringes as they approaches us.  The painting has captured the feel of motion and the immense power of the relentless waves.

In Part 2, I will be looking at Marine paintings which feature those who enjoy relaxing by the sea and those whose living is connected with the sea.

Cyril & Renske Mann. Part 5.

Letters of love

“…I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close…”

― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

In April 1960, four months after Renske met Cyril, he was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital to have an operation on his perforated stomach ulcer. Renske wrote Cyril a letter to say that she was missing him and expressing her love for him. Note that even after being with him since January that year she still addressed him as “Mr Mann”.

Dear Mr Mann

How dreadful that I can’t come to see you tonight. You don’t like the evenings in hospital, do you? Well, I don’t like the evenings in Bevin Court. Why? Because 108 Bevin Court is not complete when you are not here. You are so much my man in body and soul that I simply cannot do without you.

When I am writing to you, and from time to time, I am looking at your paintings, I feel you are so near to me. I love you Mr Mann. I want to tell you over and over again I love you and I pray that i will be your woman for all your life. I realize that I have not much to offer you; no beauty, no money, only my love and I hope one day to prove to you that my love is worth more than beauty or money. You have everything I always wanted: you are an artist, you are my husband, you are my friend, my love, everything. When you leave hospital I will ask for a day off. I will stuff the flat with flowers for you.…..

Cyril and Renske (c.1962)

Life in the 60s was all about Cyril and Renske themselves and they were almost oblivious to what was going on around them. They were aware of their limited finances and spending on food was minimal. Cyril cooked and managed the menus. Renske went out to work. If there was a positive to Cyril’s stomach ulcers it was that they prevented him consuming large amounts of alcohol. Once he had recovered from his stomach operation he was once again able to consume alcohol and sadly, after excessive imbibing his mood would often blacken and change to one of being boorish and confrontational. If this alcohol consumption also coincided with his decision to miss taking his anti-psychotic pills then often hell broke loose.

Allotments with Stormy Sky, Walthamstow by Cyril Mann (1967)

Their small cramped council flat accommodation at 108 Bevin Court was not conducive to painting especially when using large canvases and so, after four years, in 1966, they moved. Renske had always wanted to live in a house and so with great determination and frugality they managed to save enough money for a deposit on a small house at 97 Lynmouth Road in Walthamstow, a town in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, around seven and a half miles (12 km) northeast of Central London. It was a semi-derelict Victorian cottage which cost £2,750.

Cyril and Renske’s home at 97 Lynmouth Road in Walthamstow.

Their savings for the house was boosted by money given to them by Cyril’s long term sponsor, Erica Marx. The house cost £2700 and they had to find a deposit of £700 which was their maximum budget. They struggled to get a mortgage as in those days the income of a wife was not looked upon as viable long-term earnings. However, Cyril was managing to sell his work and had a good credit score and they were finally given a mortgage. Finally, they managed to buy the small house and with it the luxury of having their own small bedroom.  The house came with two bedrooms but the larger second bedroom was designated as one were Cyril could store all his painting paraphernalia.   Renske said that the fact that we could exit the house into the small garden was something she had previously only dreamed about after having to suffer living in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a top-floor flat in Bevin Court.

Gas Cooling Towers

Gas Cooling Towers by Cyril Mann

A new location gave Cyril new opportunities to paint local scenes. Cyril was mesmerised by the massive wooden gas cooling towers which towered above the modern skyline and he would go out in all weather conditions to capture the iconic building.

The Boiling Fowl by Cyril Mann (1963)

One of the first visitors to their Lynmouth Road house was a Canadian actor and TV-game host, Ronan O’Casey and his British actress wife, Louie Ramsey.  They had come to see Cyril’s paintings. He fell in love with Cyril’s semi-abstract rendition of a boiling fowl. Renske recounted how they could not believe their luck when he bought it and the couple took it home with them.  Cyril liked to recount the story about how months later he and Renske were invited to a dinner party in O’Casey’s smart and chic flat in Hampstead. O’Casey pointed to the painting he had bought from them and hilariously announced that he now has Cyril’s cock on his wall.  Renske remembered thinking that it would have been better if O’Casey had purchased one of Cyril’s flower painting !!

Daffodils in a Brown Jug by Cyril Mann (1958)

The problem that arose from the purchase of the Lynmouth Road house in Walthamstow was that it was not quite habitable and so they had to also retain the Bevin Court flat and, so for a time, were paying rent on Bevin Court and a mortgage on the Walthamstow house. Cyril and Renske were given a grant to refurbish their new home and he and one of his ex-students set about renovating the property. They installed a canary-coloured bathroom suite, built units for the kitchen and laid quarry tiles on the floor. Cyril set about the tasks with great gusto and Renske said that her husband’s skills as a carpenter, bricklayer and decorator were amazing. Cyril was a great handyman, like his builder father and grandfather.

Christ Church Spitalfields seen across bombsites from Scrutton St by Cyril Mann

Renske loved her new home as it had a small garden with an apple tree and raspberry canes. To make ends meet, Renske began to work full-time. She had completed twelve months of temping at the advertising agency in their PR department and now became an assistant with a proper permanent job.  More importantly, Cyril began to boost her self-confidence and told her that she could achieve anything she put her mind to. Renske basked in Cyril’s confidence in her and deep down began to believe in herself. Although Dutch, she could write in English and began to put together articles on art which she submitted to art magazines and had them accepted. Soon she was getting paid for her submissions. This was indeed a happy time in Renske’s life. Cyril continued to stay at home and paint whilst Renske went out to work. He always had a meal waiting for her after she returned home from work. 

Sunlit Daffodils in a Blue Jug by Cyril Mann (1966)

On November 5th 1968 Amanda Mann was born.  She was Cyril Mann’s second child but the first born to Renske.  Cyril had been faithful to the promise he made to Renske that he would give her a baby whenever she felt the time was right.  The decision to have the baby was a maternal versus financial one as Renske knew that as the breadwinner it would mean a great financial sacrifice even though their finances had improved.  For Cyril it would also be a sacrifice as he was fifty-seven years old and had already brought up one child, Sylvia. 

Baby Amanda

However once Amanda was born, she was lavished with kindness and love by both her mother and father.  Cyril would walk the streets of Walthamstow and the local market with baby Amanda in her second-hand pram, all the time being admired by the stallholders.  Renske recalled that once when he returned home with Amanda, on lifting her out of her pram, he found a hoard of silver coins which the stallholders had surreptitiously slid under the blankets of the pram.  They later told Cyril that it was lucky to touch a baby’s head with silver.  Cyril could not believe such generosity existed and was moved to tears.   Having just given birth to their baby, Renske had very little bed rest as there was no such thing as maternity leave in those days and so for financial reasons, she had to return to work.

Cyril Mann with his daughter, Amanda.

Although the Walthamstow house was much roomier than Bevin Court it still just had one large bedroom and one small bedroom and Cyril had taken over the larger one for his art studio, leaving him and Renske to sleep in the smaller bedroom while Amanda slept on the landing in her pram.  Renske’s career in PR had rapidly progressed and she was beginning to earn a substantial wage and this upward turn in the family finances meant that late in 1969, Cyril, Renske and one-year-old Amanda moved a few miles down the road from their Walthamstow house and went to live in their newly purchased house in Leyton. 

Trolley Bus, Finsbury Park by Cyril Mann (c.1948)

This new residence at 23 Goldsmith Road, Leyton was a five-bedroom house with a 100ft garden and had all the studio space Cyril could dream of. Cyril would spend hours walking through the nearby Walthamstow Forest.

Walking through the forest

It was coming up to Cyril and Renske’s twentieth anniversary of their first meeting but relations between them had reached an all-time low.  Eventually things between Cyril and Renske got to a point when she could no longer bear the sadness of this total breakdown of their relationship and she knew she had to leave him.  Amanda, who was eleven years old had been safeguarded from this parental breakdown as she was at boarding school in Eastbourne having achieved an open scholarship.

Tubby Isaacs Shellfish Stall by Cyril Mann (c.1955)

One night in early December 1979, after a particularly heated and nasty argument Renske became physically scared of Cyril and made the momentous decision to leave him and, whilst he slept, she slipped out of the house and away, like his first wife, Mary had done some twenty-nine years earlier.  Renske went to stay with friends, who were horrified to see Renske in such a fragile mental and physical state.  She returned to Cyril for a visit just before Christmas but knew she would not remain with him.  She was shocked to see how he had deteriorated both physically and mentally.  At the short meeting she promised Cyril that she would continue to support him financially and that he could see Amanda whenever he wanted, providing his mental state was conducive to such a father/young daughter meeting. He pleaded with Renske to stay with him and was devastated when she refused.

Roses with Books by Cyril Mann (c.1971)

Renske along with Amanda travelled to the Netherlands to see her parents and returned early in the New Year.  On arriving back in London, Renske contacted one of Cyril’s neighbours in Leyton to find out how he was coping.  She was told that he had suffered a second and more serious heart attack and had been rushed to the local Whipps Cross hospital where he had been lying in a week-long coma.  Renske rushed to his bedside but he was still unconscious.  She held his hand as he took his last breath and quietly passed away peacefully, aged 68.  It was January 7th 1980, almost twenty years to the day that the middle-aged English artist met the beautiful young Dutch East Indies woman.

Railway Bridge over the Culvert, Walthamstow by Cyril Mann (c.1967)

I have spent many many hours putting together these five blogs on Cyril and Renske Mann. It has not simply been a look at the many paintings Cyril Mann completed during his lifetime.  It has been a long literary voyage looking at the lives of the middle-aged English painter and the beautiful young woman who remarkably dedicated her life to him.  It was not smooth sailing for either of them and I found myself wondering how they remained together for so long.  Why did Renske put up with a man who on many occasions had treated her badly. How did she manage to live with this middle-aged man who had suffered mentally for most of his life?  What made her fall passionately in love with an irritable, short-tempered impecunious artist who was thirty years her senior?  So many questions. 

Cyril and Renske during a visit to her family in Dordrecht. Her mother, Nina van Slooten on the far left along with an uncle and aunt.

Another question is why did Cyril continually crave recognition for his art and yet abuse those who could have given him such acknowledgement?  One of Cyril Mann’s favourite artists was Vincent van Gogh and he drew parallels with his life with that of the Dutch painter.  Both had great belief in their art, both in a way believed their skill as a painter was at genius level.  Neither received recognition during their lifetimes and both were embittered at their treatment.  As years passed and without the recognition, he believed he deserved, Cyril became unstable, frequently volatile and increasingly disillusioned by the unpardonable mistreatment he received from the artistic world.

Renske, who is alive and well, knows the answers to these conundrums and maybe she lets us into the secrets in her book, Girl in the Green Jumper, which I urge you to read.  What struck me most was the comment she made to Cyril at the start of their relationship that she would make him famous.  She had seen the talent and beauty of this middle-aged man and in a way, she was confident of her ability to mould him into the man she believed would be successful and with such success he would lead a much happier life.  After reading the account of her life, we know that she never quite succeeded in her aim.

Cyril and Renske in the 1960s.

What did Cyril take from his intense relationship with Renske?  I think the answer lies in a letter which Renske found in their house in Leyton shortly after his death.  Cyril had written:

My Dear Love,

I received your letter this morning and was afraid to open it for I was so filled with foreboding, which was justified on reading its contents.  When I saw the word solicitor, I knew my last bit of hope was gone.  I am not going to get upset for it won’t do me any good – harm in fact.

This in a way will be my last letter to you.  I do love you, Renske (oh Sweetheart) and always shall.  You can cease to love but you will never get rid of mine.  In all my pictures the evidence is there and will remain for people to see and realize.  You have been a dear and wonderful wife, giving me all and putting me first always.  I have been aware of it and have never taken it for granted.  Thank you for everything and all the happiness that went with it.  I shall always been grateful.  I am not bitter or angry even though you have truly broken my heart.

Every day I realize more the reason for taking the step you have.  It couldn’t have been easy of you but I now see that it was necessary and that you were really unhappy at home with me and had to take the final step.  So, love, don’t please feel guilty or self-reproachful for there is no need.  In all things I want is for you to be happy and to realize yourself and live fully.  You’ve done your twenty years chores on me.  Now think of yourself.  You’ve earned it.  So I say God Bless, take care of yourself.  Remember my heart and any help you may need is yours to call upon at any time…

There can be no doubt that Renske gained a lot of solace from his last words.  It gave her the will and the courage to live and continually bring his works to the attention of the public. 

Marion Matthews and Renske Mann (September 2022)

Renske, with Cyril’s encouragement, cleared her educational gaps by passing A-levels and then taking an Open University degree. Her PR career blossomed going from strength to strength.  She took on the role of director of Scholl, the international footcare-to-footwear company.  After Cyril’s death, Renske and her current partner, journalist Marion Mathews, converted a derelict dairy in Holland Park into an art gallery. They operated the venture as a charity, and she and Marion ran the Gallery on a charitable basis for 10 years, until 1993.  Their aim was to help unknown, but gifted artists like Cyril so as to reach that first difficult step on the exhibition ladder.  Now aged 84, Renske Mann continues to write articles and give talks on her late husband, Cyril, and his paintings, using skills acquired during her time as a PR executive. Her writings on social media attract thousands of followers and admirers.

Renske, you should be very proud of what you achieved.

It would not have been possible for me to put together all five blogs about the artist, Cyril Mann, without information gleaned from a number of sources:

The comprehensive biography of Cyril Mann, The Sun is God by John Russell Taylor

At the presentation of the Islington People’s Green Plaque in September 2013 : Renske Mann,her daughter Amanda next to her along with (far left) Islington Borough Counsellor Catherine West, elected Labour MP in 2015 and on the far right John Russell Taylor, art critic for The Times, who wrote Cyril’s monograph, The Sun is God.

The intimate autobiography of her and Cyril Mann’s life by his second wife Renske, entitled The Girl in the Green Jumper.

This autobiography has now been turned into a play which receives its World Premiere on Wednesday March 13th 2024 at the Playground Theatre, London, 8 Latimer Rd, London W10 6RQ.

Finally, and most importantly I owe many thanks to Renske Mann herself who provided me with information and photographs appertaining to her and her late husband Cyril.

Piano Nobile Gallery London for information and pictures.

Cyril and Renske Mann. Part 4.

The great portrait artist and his beautiful muse and model

“…When I first got undressed to pose for him, he looked me up and down with a critical eye. ‘ Perfect breasts. Not too big, not too small. You can thank your Indonesian forebears for those’. We’d known each other for about a month, and already we were perfectly at ease with each other, as if we’d known each other all our lives…”

Renske Mann from her book, The Girl in the Green Jumper

Renske was overjoyed by Cyril’s words. Although she didn’t believe his words were utterances of flattery and just simple facts, nevertheless the words made her happy and made her love him even more.

Cyril Mann (1960). Photograph by Edward Hutton.

Throughout his career Cyril painted many portraits, self-portraits and in the 1960s Cyril Mann completed a number of nude depictions using Renske as his model. 

Ecstasy by Cyril Mann (1963)

One such nude portrait, using her as a model, was completed in 1963 and entitled Ecstasy.  Renske remembers the morning he began this work. In her book, The Girl in the Green Jumper, she describes the setting:

“…Cyril mostly painted in the morning.  The minute he drew the curtains he knew when the weather was set to last.  As the sun rose, it cast shadows from the Crittall windows [steel framed windows] across my nude body on our single bed.  He stared at me, grunting and squinting ‘Stay put and take a comfortable pose’ he ordered.  I knew by then that there was no such thing: every pose would turn into agony in time…”

It was not just about her body or pose it was also about the sunlight streaming through the window. It was of the utmost importance to Cyril to capture the dynamic effects of the rays of the sun as they bounced off every surface, from walls on to Renske’s body and back.  He was like a man possessed.  Tables and chairs had to be moved out to make a working space.  He would shuffle around the tight spaces never lifting the gaze from Renske’s body.  She moved to get comfortable on the bed and started to doze off only to be woken abruptly by Cyril who rudely told her “not to go fucking asleep”.  Throughout painting Renske said he would not stop talking, all the while explaining what he was doing.  He was adamant that he had to block in the light areas first as they were more important, not the mid-tones or darks.  Cyril compared Renske to the RA models he had once used saying:

“…Models at the RA haven’t a clue.  They just sit on a chair.  Students have to group around a podium.  If you are in the wrong spot, you’re fucked.  At least you know how to make your body look interesting…”

Cyril had been introduced to the famous English television personality, Denis Norden, who on seeing the painting told Cyril that he should give it the title Ecstasy. Cyril and Renske had hoped that Norden would buy the painting but he didn’t but their mutual friend, Peter Davis, who had introduced Denis Norden to them suggested they just give Norden the painting for nothing as the celebrity owning one of Cyril’s paintings would be added kudos. However Cyril was appalled by the suggestion and simply said ‘to hell with that’.

Modern Venus (c.1963)

One morning Cyril Mann came into the bedroom where is wife, naked, had just risen from bed.. He flings back the curtains and the sunlight streams in, illuminating her. He screamed at her not to move and at the same time drags into the room a large canvas and starts to paint her portrait.  She remembers that her shadow was cast against the wall as she rose from the vey messy jumble of bedclothes strewn on the bed. She is standing facing him with her left arm above her head which in that posture soon becomes numb. She balanced by standing one foot in front. Their blue alarm clock on their round bedside table glistens in the sun. He told her that she was a Modern Venus. Not rising from a seashell but from the sheets and blankets. The painting Modern Venus is complete.

Reclining Nude in Sunlight by Cyril Mann (1962)

In Reclining Nude in Sunlight, Cyril Mann omits detail as he just wants to depict and render light as a dynamic force. He used large hog’s-hair paintbrushes so that he could rapidly cover the canvas, and so focus on the light and how the sunlight fell and reflected on Renske’s nude body as it swiftly crossed their room.

Golden Torso by Cyril Mann (1961)

Golden Torso was completed in 1961 and when the author and art critic John Berger saw it he immediately recommended it for the Granada TV Art Collection which was recognised as probably having the third best corporate collection in Britain. Unfortunately for Berger the painting had already been snapped up by another collector and Berger reluctantly chooses another picture for his sponsor.

Self portrait with Double Nude by Cyril Mann (1965)

Probably the best-known portraits Cyril completed of Renske was The Girl in the Green Jumper, one with her fully clothed.  His self-portrait can be seen in the background, hanging on the wall.

The Girl in the Green Jumper by Cyril Mann (1963)

In the painting, The Girl in the Green Jumper, we see Renske perched on the narrow wooden armrest of their red chair, which she recalled made sitting still very difficult and painful, much to Cyril’s annoyance. She said that posing for Cyril required a good deal of concentration and willpower. The depiction came about when Cyril was admiring the green of her jumper which he commented looked so much more intense, seen against the red upholstery of their newly-purchased G-Plan suite. Renske, like many, queried whether it is a portrait or a study of sunlight blazing on to her through the window, striking her face and bouncing all over the room. She commented to her husband that her hands were just fingerless smears of paint but he replied that that was true abstraction. Abstraction he said was “to leave out” and abstract art is not actually abstract at all and should be better termed as “non-figurative”.

Amanda Mann has followed in her father Cyril Mann’s footsteps and is now also a talented artist. Here Amanda is seen with the painting that inspired her mother Renske Mann’s memoir “The Girl In The Green Jumper: My life with Cyril Mann”.

Cyril Mann, besides the nude depictions of his wife and self-portraits, completed many portraits of his family and friends which highlight what, he as a talented portrait artist, could produce. There is no doubt that he could have been a wealthy portrait painter. Alas he only rarely painted portraits of people outside the family as he said he could not accept portraiture commissions where he was supposed to flatter his sitter, which he believed was often the prerequisite for being given the commission.

Portrait of Sylvia, aged 3, tearfully clutching her doll, by Cyril Mann (1943)

Sylvia, Cyril’s first daughter, would recount on a number of occasion the memory of sitting for her father for the portrait. She said the agony and boredom of sitting still for hours, clutching the doll still haunted her.

Portrait of Sylvia, by Cyril Mann (c.1957)                  Collection Gideon Dewhirst (Sylvia’s son and Cyril’s grandson)

Cyril Mann with his portrait of Sylvia Mann.

It is hard to judge the mood of the sitter. Sylvia was then aged seventeen and it was the time prior to her attending Keele University. It seems she is somewhat lost in her own thoughts. The depiction shows her holding a book, signifying her love of literature. After university she would go on to become a published author, poet and playwright. Sylvia died in 2006.

Amanda, aged 4, with Doll by Cyril Mann (1973)

Cyril and Renske’s four year old daughter, Amanda, was posed sitting on a chair holding her doll. It was a similar depiction to Cyril’s portrait of his first-born daughter, Sylvia, which he completed in 1943, also with a doll.

Portrait of David Hardisty by Cyril Mann (1966)

David Hardisty was a young lawyer working as a patent agent. He had seen and fell in love with one of Cyril’s floral paintings which were on display at the Rawinski Gallery in London. Hardisty, who had recently married, could not afford the £300 price tag. Not to be deterred he went to Bevin Court to ask Cyril if he could buy the painting in fifteen £20 instalments. Cyril agreed and during the following years David bought more of Cyril’s paintings. In the portrait, sunlight once again takes precedence over form in Cyril’s rendering. It plays across David’s features and on his suit, tie and hands. Time must have been at a premium for Cyril as the portrait was completed in only six two-hour sittings.

My Student, Vic Singh by Cyril Mann (1962)

When Renske went to the art class in December 1959 and met Cyril Mann for the frst time, one of his students that evening was Vic Singh. whom Renske remembered as being an extremely handsome young man,. His mother was Austrian and his father was an Indian politician. Singh went on to become a photographer. One day he called around to Bevin Court and Cyril persuaded him to pose for a portrait. He agreed and posed, one foot raised with his elbow resting across his knee while stretching one arm towards the bookcase in order to maintain his balance. He was exhausted by the time Cyril had completed the portrait.

Portrait of Ernest Groome (1971)

In 1960, Renske, like her husband, began to worry about the lack of sales of his paintings and suggested he took some of his work to Hyde Park Corner where many artists hung their work on the railings. Cyril was horrified with this idea saying that serious artists would not dream of hawking their wares in such a way. Renske, however, said that if he wouldn’t do it, she would. She arrived at Hyde Park Corner and found some spaces on the railings where she could hang Cyril’s artwork but she had forgotten to bring string or hooks to complete her task. She was rescued by a young Irishman, Ernest Groome, an aspiring young artist who had been working as a touring pub entertainer. He managed to find hooks and string and he and Renske hung Cyril’s paintings on the railings. 

Cyril first painted Ernest Groome’s portrait in 1961 shortly after the Hyde Park Corner meeting and ten years later completed another portrait of Groome. In this portrait Groome is in Renske and Cyril’s home. The red shade of the standard lamp picks up the colour of his shirt, casting a strong solid shadow against the wall behind him.

Self portrait by Cyril Mann

Cyril left behind many self-portraits which capture his many moods.

Self-Portrait with Hat by Cyril Mann (c.1968)

It is a very worried-looking Cyril Man who stares out at us in his 1968 Self-Portrait with Hat. He seems to have the cares of the world on his shoulders. It is 1968 and Renske is pregnant with her daughter Amanda, Renske, whose job was bringing financial stability to the household, was having to give up her job to have the baby. How were they going to cope? Could Cyril sell more of his work? All of these and many more questions were probably racing around Cyril’s head at the time of the self-portrait.

Self-Portrait with a Brush by Cyril Mann (1966)

The most controversial self-portrait came in 1978 under the title Ecce Homo. Ecce homo, meaning “behold the man” are, according to the Gospel of St John, the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate when he presented a scourged Jesus, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion. 

Ecce Homo by Cyril Mann (1978)

Ecce Homo was one of last self-portraits painted by Cyril Mann. He died a year later. His state of mind, at the time he painted his own portrait, was unstable but there was also a sense of defiance about this depiction. A sense that he was master of his own destiny. It is in a way a mirror of his great creative energy which throughout his life shone brightly and was never dimmed by his detractors.  Having given up smoking on doctor’s orders he had reverted to that habit and the portrait shows him defiantly holding a cigarette. It was another way of showing that he, and he alone, would make decisions about himself.  His rebellious posture and the title he gave the work was his way of reasoning that he, like Christ, had been persecuted and in a way crucified by art critics and gallery owners. He adamantly believed that the reason he never achieved the success he deserved during his life was due to others and not himself.   In the background, we see flanking him two earlier self-portraits and their positioning symbolises the thieves crucified on either side of Christ.

……. to be continued.

It would not have been possible for me to put together this and following blogs about the artist, Cyril Mann, without information gleaned from a number of sources:

The comprehensive biography of Cyril Mann, The Sun is God by John Russell Taylor

Renske Mann with her book The Girl in the Green Jumper, My life with the artist Cyril Mann

The intimate autobiography of Cyril Mann’s life by his second wife Renske, entitled The Girl in the Green Jumper.

Renske Mann and Natalie Ava Nasr, the lady playing the role of Renske in the play.

Peter Tate who plays Cyril Mann, Christian Holder, director of the play and Natalie Ava Nasr, who plays Renske in the play The Girl in the Green Jumper.

This autobiography has now been turned into a play which receives its World Premiere on Wednesday March 13th at the Playground Theatre, London, 8 Latimer Rd, London W10 6RQ. It runs until March 24th.

Finally, and most importantly I owe many thanks to Renske Mann herself who provided me with information and photographs appertaining to her late husband Cyril.

Piano Nobile Gallery London for information and pictures.

Cyril and Renske Mann. Part 3.

Love at first sight.

“…The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone…”

– Jane Austen

Bread and Knife by Cyril Mann (c.1955)

Still Life of Bottle and Jug by Cyril Mann (c.1955)

In the mid-1950s Cyril Mann’s painting style changed and he entered what was known as his solid shadow period.  This was a complete change of style for him in comparison to his earlier works which had concentrated on the effects of direct sunlight and yet light came into play with these “shadow” works. They concentrated on shadows that were seen below objects when viewed under an overhead light source. In 2018 the Piano Nobile Gallery in London put on an exhibition of Cyril Mann’s work entitled The Solid Shadow Paintings.  The gallery wrote about the works on display:

“…Undertaken between 1951 and 1957, Mann’s solid shadow paintings were a dazzling interjection in the subdued art world of fifties Britain. This was his most original period and it stands as his lasting contribution to the history of twentieth-century painting.  It is an explosive programme of work, representing ordinary objects with boldly outlined shadows and bright, sometimes luminous colour. A dazzling interjection in the subdued art world of fifties Britain, these works have never been displayed together and the exhibition offers an exciting insight into the artist’s radiant formal language…”

After Mary walked out on Cyril in the middle of the night with her their daughter Sylvia, he had to fend for himself.  Fortunately for Cyril, his daughter maintained contact with him and visited him regularly.  Sylvia, who was a year younger than Renske, won a scholarship to the City of London School for Girls . After successfully completed her schooling she left London, aged eighteen, and went to Keele University to read English Literature and French.  Whilst there, Sylvia also took on some temping work to supplement her student grant.  Cyril was very proud of his daughter and what she had achieved although he had to admit they had, at times, a tempestuous relationship and he found her quite difficult at times.  On occasions, it would appear that Sylvia also found her relationship with her father equally problematic.  Renske got to know Sylvia and often said that she was everything she should have loved to have been herself: tall, a head taller than Cyril and Renske, blonde and beautiful. She also had Cyril’s violet-blue eyes and sensitive mouth and in some ways, Renske often felt pangs of jealousy.

Self portrait by Cyril Mann (1956)

Cyril struggled to survive financially as the sale of his paintings were not going well although this could have been more down to his obstinacy and the cantankerous ways he treated dealers and galleries, rather than the quality of his paintings. 

Ma, Just before she died by Cyril Mann

The years 1958 and 1959 proved to be a distressing time for Cyril Mann.  He had been suffering a great deal of pain and was seriously ill with stomach ulcers.  The discomfort had made him stop painting and teaching and the final straw to this misery was the death of his mother whom he had visited whilst she was in a Nottingham nursing home.  He had made a number of facial sketches of his mother in 1959 during her last days. She had outlived her husband, her daughter and two of her three sons.

Cyril and Renske

Things changed for Cyril at the end of 1959 when on the evening of December 18th Renske van Slooten came into his life.  Renske first met Cyril Mann at the Kingsway Day College in Holborn, London, where he was teaching students.  Her “boyfriend” and dancing partner at the time, who knew she was interested in art, took her to meet his former art teacher.  Renske remembers the moment well and, in her book, The Girl in the Green Jumper, she recalls that first sight of the artist:

“…As I stood on tiptoe peering through the window, I could see Cyril with his back to me, slumped at his desk in front of his students with their easels and drawing boards.  His hair, what there was of it was long and unkempt.  He wore a crumpled tweed jacket with leather elbow patches.  He wasn’t tall a bit over five foot at most.  To me, barely out of my teens and recently arrived from Holland, he looked old, at least fifty.  Yet before I’d even seen his face, I felt drawn to him…”

She also distinctly remembered the park warden’s prediction of meeting and marrying an “old” artist. At that first sighting of Cyril in his art class she was totally captivated by him.  Renske says of her first impression of Cyril:

“…A strange feeling came over me. This was it! I remembered the park warden’s prediction. I was mesmerised. I saw his hair was too long, his tweed jacket with leather elbow patches was tatty, he looked worn out, depressed. Didn’t take any notice of me.  I couldn’t care less what he looked like and how scruffy he was. I was attracted to him, not because he was older, but because I’m always attracted to people who are unusually gifted. And I sensed that he was…”

Cyril Mann painting in a small room in Bevin Court

After that first meeting, Cyril and Renske set up a date for the following evening. She was buoyed by the thought of being in the company of a professional artist.  Cyril was almost half an hour late at the rendezvous admitting he had fallen asleep whilst reading a book.  Fortunately for him Renske had waited patiently for him.  Cyril invited her back to his flat to look at some of his artwork.  At this time, he was renting a top-floor flat in a council housing block at Bevin Court in Islington.  Totally captivated by both Cyril and his painting, Renske admits she paid little attention to the flat itself, which was overflowing with his paintings, books and sculptures.  Renske remembers the artwork as being quite small, dark and gloomy and yet she says that they were among the most beautiful she had ever seen.  She told him that some reminded her of works by Turner.  He was delighted at that assertion as he looked upon the English artists as one of his great heroes.

St Paul’s from Bankside by Cyril Mann (c.1952)

One of the paintings which she really liked was his work entitled St Paul’s from Bankside.  It depicted the dome of St Paul’s looming above the rooftops from across the River Thames.  Nowadays at this point on the Thames, the Millenium Bridge spans the river besides the Tate Modern.  Renske said that at first glance at the work, she thought it was a monochrome depiction but on closer inspection she could see that the greys were shot through with blue, yellow and warm pink.  Cyril told her that the city should be viewed on a grey day. He went on to assert:

“…One day people will recognise my qualities as an artist purely on the strength of my ability to perceive greys in their infinite variety…”

It was this assertion that one day he would be acclaimed a great artist that would haunt him all his life as he never felt recognised as a truly great painter.

St Paul’s by Cyril Mann (1948)

It is interesting to compare the 1952 painting with the one he completed in 1948. The latter was painted in his favoured style at the time that of facing the sun and concentrating on the effect of direct sunlight. The view is from Moor Lane which dominates the foreground in which we see four people walking along the pavement, to the side of which is a low wall. A fifth figure crosses the road. Over the other side of the wall is a vast empty space, the result of heavy wartime bombings. In the midground we see multi storey buildings, churches and to the right, the familiar outline of St Paul’s Cathedral.

St Paul’s from Bevin Court by Cyril Mann (1961)

Another of Cyril Mann’s cityscapes featuring St Paul’s cathedral was his painting entitled St Paul’s from Bevin Court. 

A month had passed since their first meeting and Renske and Cyril were happy about how things were progressing.  Renske, however, was not happy with her communal living at the YWCA and told Cyril she needed another place to live.  He made a few suggestions, including sharing a flat with his ex-girlfriend, but Renske came straight out and asked if she could live with Cyril in his flat !   The problem was that Cyril’s home was a one-bed flat and he slept on a single bed in a room that was full of paintings, easels and other artistic paraphernalia. Renske was not put off by this and said that as they were both small, they could both sleep in the bed.  For Renske, it was nothing to be ashamed of, although her work colleagues at the Dutch-owned company, when they were told, were scandalised,  Scandalised that she was living with a man, scandalised that she was living with a married man twenty-eight years older than her and that his daughter, Sylvia, was only a year younger than her, and scandalised that she was living in a poor and rough council estate. 

Renske and Cyril Mann in the mid 1960s

However, Renske was passionately in love with “her” artist and was not going to listen to subtle and not-so-subtle warnings about what she had done.  News of Renske’s situation of living with a married man got back to her boss who contacted the Dutch embassy in London and asked that her parents be informed about their daughter’s living and romantic situation.  Her father and mother were horrified and she was summoned home.  She was still not twenty-one and therefore, by Dutch law, she remained under their control.  Despite their protestations Renske declared that she would marry Cyril with or without their permission.  One can just imagine the thoughts that were going through the parents’ heads having been told that she intended to marry a man who was a year older than Renske’s own mother.  What her parents failed to realise that it was not the older man who was grooming their young daughter, it was their young daughter who was the prime mover in forging this relationship.  Renske returned to London and moved in with Cyril.  She wanted to marry him but could not as he was still married to his first wife, Mary !

Having lived apart for ten years, the marriage between Cyril and his first wife Mary ended in divorce on August 24th 1960 and eight days later, on September 1st, one week after Renske’s twenty-first birthday, Cyril and Renske were married.

Mixed Flowers by Cyril Mann (1961)

Cyril had suffered stomach ulcers for years and had had to endure constant stomach pains after every meal which had weakened him and caused bouts of ill temper.  One day in April 1960, whilst out walking alone, he collapsed in the street and was rushed to the Royal Free Hospital where he underwent an emergency operation for a perforated stomach ulcer.  Following the operation and probably due to the pressures of having to earn a living from his teaching and the need to sell his artwork, both of which he was unable to do due to his physical illness, he suffered a serious mental breakdown.  Renske was upset by Cyril’s physical and mental decline and set about remedying the situation by putting Cyril’s life back on an even keel.  She believed that Cyril was not able to cope with having to teach, which he hated, and paint and so she maintained her job and became the breadwinner.  For Cyril this financial support from Renske liberated him from the drudgery of having to teach and the necessity of providing money to put food on the table.  After release from hospital Cyril went to convalesce at the Artists’ Rest Home in Rickmansworth, a town in south-west Hertfordshire, where he was allocated a comfortable room, painting facilities and three good meals a day.

Studio Corner by Cyril Mann (1961)

His operation had left Cyril pain-free and he went back to his painting with a noted added gusto, but all was not well.  Renske remembers one horrendous evening when a hyped-up Cyril had decided he was going to design, what he termed, “the greatest mural the world had ever seen”.  She had been sleeping badly and was desperate to go to bed but Cyril refused to let her sleep and demanded that she helped him plan this great mural, an extensive paper plan of which had been tacked to the carpeted floor of their bedroom/living room.  He flew into a rage when Renske just wanted to lay down and sleep and demanded she helped him.  It finally got too much for her and she, determined to have an uninterrupted sleep, took some tranquilizers and sleeping pills and collapsed on the bed.  The next thing she remembered was waking up in hospital.  When she had collapsed, Cyril couldn’t shake her awake, and so he called an ambulance. 

Cyril with black eye

The ambulance arrived along with some police. Cyril demanded that he should accompany her to the hospital in the ambulance but they refused him.  He was furious and lost control, attacking both the ambulance staff and the police and for his troubles received a black eye but worse still another ambulance was summoned and after consultation with a psychiatric nurse, he ordered him to be sectioned, taken to a mental unit, placed in a straitjacket, and then taken to a padded cell.  His passport photograph taken days after the incident shows Cyril with a black eye after his altercation with the ambulance men.

Interior with Red Chair by Cyril Mann (c.1961)

After a fortnight’s detention at the psychiatric hospital, Cyril was allowed home, heavily sedated, and having had to promise to take his medication every day.  Cyril was unhappy with the terms of his release as he believed the medication would threaten his libido.  Besides doing that, he asserted that the pills would also affect his creative artistic thoughts and to counteract this he unilaterally began to reduce the amount of medication he had been prescribed.  As often is the case, to raise spirits Renske decided to perform a deep-clean of the flat and buy some new furniture, including a garishly bright red upholstered chairs which Cyril loved and said that the new additions inspired him.

………..to be continued.

It would not have been possible for me to put together this and following blogs about the artist, Cyril Mann, without information gleaned from a number of sources:

The comprehensive biography of Cyril Mann, The Sun is God by John Russell Taylor

Renske Mann with her book The Girl in the Green Jumper, My life with the artist Cyril Mann

The intimate autobiography of Cyril Mann’s life by his second wife Renske, entitled The Girl in the Green Jumper.

This autobiography has now been turned into a play which receives its World Premiere on Wednesday March 13th at the Playground Theatre, London, 8 Latimer Rd, London W10 6RQ.

Finally, and most importantly I owe many thanks to Renske Mann herself who provided me with information and photographs appertaining to her late husband Cyril.

Piano Nobile Gallery London for information and pictures.

Cyril and Renske Mann. Part 2.

Paris, Mary and Renske

The previous blog ended in the autumn of 1935 with Cyril Mann entering the Royal Academy Schools where he received thorough academic training and a chance to meet fellow ambitious young artists.  Whilst a student there he remained in contact with Bernard Clarke, the chaplain at the Paddington Toc H.  His initial gratitude with being able to study at the school, and have his tuition paid for by his benefactor, Erica Marx, faded a little over the three years he was there as his appreciation turned to the feeling that he was entitled to what the world had on offer and what he had received was rightfully his just desserts.  It was this sense that the world owed him which would last throughout his lifetime and often upset others.  It was this sense of negativity to anything that had benefited him which would blight his life.  The RA Schools stuck to the doctrine of most leading academies of art throughout Europe to savour and teach traditional academic values and skills and dismiss artistic modernity.  However, Cyril, not agreeing with that premise, did agree that he had received a solid technical foundation in painting and drawing. 

Rainy Skyline, Paris by Cyril Mann (c.1938)

It was during his time at the RA Schools that Cyril decided to call into the nearby tea shop on Piccadilly and was served by a young woman, Mary Jervis-Read.  Besides her work at the café, she was also in a school in Regent Street, studying to become an art teacher.  She was described as being pretty, seemingly fragile and yet had an inherent strength of character which certainly fascinated Cyril.  Nothing seemed to come from this initial meeting although contact details were exchanged.  In 1938, Cyril had completed three years at the RA Schools and decided to leave and follow the example of many young British art students – go to Paris to study art at one of the many ateliers.   Fortunately for him, his sponsor, Erica Marx, was still prepared to fund his studies in France,

Park Scene, Paris by Cyril Mann (c.1938)

Cyril Mann arrived in Paris and took a room at the Hôtel de France in the Rue de la Sorbonne and enrolled part-time at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in the Montparnasse district of the city.  Here he came under the tutelage of the Scottish Colourist, John Duncan (J.D.) Fergusson.  For Cyril, studying art in Paris, was like artistic freedom.  Freedom, he believed, from the numbing academic approach served up by the RA Schools.  One of the few close friends Cyril made at the RA Schools, was Guy Roddon, who came over to Paris to see his friend, stayed at Cyril’s hotel. Cyril gave him a tour of the capital and “taught” him how to survive on a few centimes.  They ate at one of Cyril’s favourite workers’ restaurants in St Germain where he said they could eat a hearty meal for hardly any money.  Alas, he was to regret his choice of venues as he came down with a severe bout of food poisoning.  That debilitating illness made Cyril consider his Paris location and lifestyle and so moved out of the putid centre of the French capital and settle for a more salubrious area near the Porte d’Orléans in the city’s 14th Arrondissement. 

Political Rally, Paris by Cyril Mann (1938)

Another visitor for Cyril was the young waitress who had caught his eye in the London tearoom where she worked.  She too was enamoured with the young artist.  Cyril and Guy would regularly meet with a group of international students and would spend many an evening and into the night discussing art.  At this time Cyril had become almost fixated with the works of Turner and how the English Master had depicted the sun and how the effects of direct sunlight had on the subjects of his paintings. 

Place de la Concorde by Cyril Mann (c.1937)

In his 1937 painting, Place de la Concorde, Cyril Mann has once again completed a depiction whilst facing the sun. People are mere silhouetts seen a against a fountain. This method of painting, facing the sun, was one of Mann’s early favourite styles and can be seen in many of his early works.

Pont Neuf, Paris by Cyril Mann (1937)

Another of Cyril’s paintings, Pont Neuf, Paris, which depicted the famous Parisian bridge against a blazing sun backdrop was one he considered to be his first masterpiece.

Cyril and Guy went on a short holiday to Montbazon, five miles south of Tours, a commune on the River Indre, a tributary of the Loire.  It was a rural area and whereas Guy Roddon favoured the views of the landscape, it was obvious that Cyril preferred urban depictions for his paintings and rural beauty never had an emotional impact on him. On occasions when Cyril had depicted trees in his paintings they would be overshadowed by urban elements.   However, although the bustling city of Paris offered Cyril a plentiful opportunity for his depictions, he seemed to be more interested in depicting the effect of the sunlight on the buildings and yet it was maybe more than this.  It appeared to be that Cyril was more interested in the sun itself.

Cyril Mann, on leave from the army,his wife Mary and their daughter Sylvia (1941)

In the early months of 1939, war brewing in Europe and Cyril decided to return to London where Mary Jervis-Read was waiting for him.   By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 Cyril, once again out of work, and Mary, were living together in what could be termed a loving but hand-to-mouth existence but despite all the financial hardship and future uncertainty, the couple married and the next year their daughter Sylvia was born..

The Red Letter Box by Cyril Mann (c.1949)

Before the birth of his dauhter Cyril received his call-up papers and assigned to the Royal Engineers but was turned down for overseas active service due to him suffering from “hammer-toes”, a deformity of the muscles and ligaments and due to this he was never put on active service but instead served with the Royal Artillery in the anti-aircraft defence on the South Coast of England.  His time in the army affected his relationship with his daughter and wife and it also did not give him time to paint.  His return to painting only came in 1946 when he was demobbed.

All his life Cyril was a difficult man to live with.  He frequently had temper tantrums and people around him were very careful what they said to him so as to avoid such “explosions”.  It was not only his friends that witnessed these outbursts, but his wife Mary was also wary of her husband’s fits of temper.  Cyril’s outbursts often centred around his frustration at not being recognised as a great artist.  One cause for discord was that Mary wanted another child but Cyril did not as she was the family breadwinner and he reckoned that they could not afford a new addition to the family.  Sadly, Mary did become pregnant but suffered a miscarriage.  The relationship between Cyril and Mary came to a head in 1950 when she left him, walking out in the middle of the night and taking with her their ten-year-old daughter, Sylvia.  Mary commented on the inevitable break-up:

“…To live with Cyril you had to love him very much.  I suppose that in the end I didn’t love him enough.  But maybe no one could have done…”

Although Mary’s relationship with Cyril was over, his daughter remained fond of him despite and continued to visit him after he and her mother had gone their separate ways.

Bombsites around Spitalfields, London by Cyril Mann

Bombsite around Paul Street by Cyril Mann

The depictions painted by Cyril after the war were surprising.  Many of his paintings featured the devastation of properties during the Blitz.  For some reason Cyril believed that these would be sort after by the public but he had overestimated people’s desire to be reminded about the hellfire they had lived through often resulting in the death of their relatives.  One example of this was his painting, Bombsites around Spitalfields and another was his gouache on brown paper painting entitled Bombsites around Paul Street, an area which was heavily bombed and where the present Barbican is now situated.

Renske’s parents on their wedding day (June 1937)

Due to the rumblings of war in Europe, Cyril Mann had returned from Paris in the early part of 1939 and he and Mary were reunited. That same year, almost seven and a half thousand miles away from London, another woman, who was to play a major role in Cyril’s life, was born.  She was Renske van Slooten, the daughter of a Jewish-Dutch father, Maximiiaan, a civil engineer and his Dutch-Indonesian wife, Nini, who before raising a family, was a newspaper journalist.  Renske was born in the university town of Bandung, Java on August 24th 1939 and was brought up in a well-to-do family lifestyle in a beautiful house, with servants and luxury cars. 

Renske and Bastiaan with their mother Nini.

She had a older brother Bastiaan who had been born the previous year.  All this good living and happy lifestyle came to a shuddering end on February 28th 1942 when the Japanese forces invaded the island.

Baby Renske

Renske’s father was an officer in the army and was captured and taken prisoner and transported to Burma where he was forced to work on the notorious Burma railway and for three years the family had lost contact with him, fearing the worst.  Renske along with her mother and brother were unceremoniously evicted from their palatial home by the occupying forces and went to stay with their grandmother where they remained until the end of the war in 1945.   Renske’s father eventually returned home.  He was very ill and emaciated, so much so, he was barely recognisable and he too was horrified to see the state my brother and I were in, also emaciated, with swollen stomachs brought on by malnutrition and beriberi.   The family moved from Bandung to Java’s capital Batavia (now Jakarta) to try and start a new life but in 1949 The forces of the Indonesian Liberation Movement fought an independence battle with the Dutch-backed government which eventually led to the Dutch relinquishing the country and eventually Dr Sukrano became the first president.  One of the president’s first edicts was that all Dutch-Indonesians must choose between remaining in the country and giving up their Dutch passports or being expelled from their homeland, taking nothing with them.  Renske’s parents chose the latter.

MS Skipjack

In 1950 Renske, her family including her grandmother, left Java on the Sibajak, which was once a luxury liner that had been converted into a troop ship. Her mother was eight months pregnant with her third child, Adriaan. Between 1945 and 1950 the Netherlands Government required the Sibajak as well as other Dutch Liners to be utilised to evacuate their citizens and other people from their threatened colony and also to transport troops to the various theatres of war on the other side of the globe. It was a horrific voyage and Renske remembers her mother being sick during the whole voyage. The ship was over-full with refugees escaping Sukrano’s regime.

The family landed in Rotterdam and travelled to The Hague where Renske’s father had secured some emergency accommodation. On August 24th 1950, a month after their arrival in The Netherlands and eleven years, to the day, after the birth of Renske, her brother Adriaan was born. 

Cyril Mann painting en plein air

Renske’s father’s Bandung civil engineering degree was not recognised in The Netherlands and so he had to return to university in Delft to gain a second engineering degree.  Renske’s mother was struggling with running the household as she couldn’t cook or organise housekeeping, all of which had been carried out by their servants back in Java.  What was worse for the family was the racism they encountered.  The Netherlands had suffered under the five-year Nazi occupation.  There were food and housing shortages and now five years after the war had ended three hundred thousand “dark-skinned” penniless refugees had been given sanctuary in this country.

Cyril Mann setting up his exhibition at the Park Row Gallery of the Midland Group of Artistsand Designers in 1953

Things did improve for Renske and her family.  Her father was appointed a lecturer in mechanical engineering at the local technical college and the family received a legacy on the sudden death of Renske’s wealthy Jewish grandmother with which her father purchased a semi-detached house in an upmarket suburb.  In October 1953 there was another addition to the family with the birth of Francisca.   After completing a torrid time at primary school where she was bullied, Renske managed, after some private coaching, to gain entrance to an all-girls grammar school where she gained good results in her final exams in maths and four foreign languages.  Then came a dividing of opinions on her future between Renske and her parents.  She wanted to go to art college but they demanded that she took a paying job and contribute to the family finances. This did not please fifteen-year-old Renske who vividly remembers an incident shortly after hearing of her parents’ plans for her:

“…I was walking around a park in my home town of Dordrecht, when the Park warden came up to me and asked why I looked sad. I told him: my parents won’t let me go to art school. I have to learn shorthand typing.’ The park warden replied: ‘I’m psychic, and I tell you that you’ll have all the art in your life you could want. You’ll marry an artist. You’ll know him the minute you see him. In fact, I see him standing behind you.’  A few minutes later, the park warden again: ‘No, that can’t be him… he’s  too old. That must be his father. He’ll look after you for the rest of your life…”

The family Renske left behind in Holland when she went to London.      Mother Nini van Slooten, Francisca born in 1953, Adriaan born in 1950 and Bastiaan her elder brother and father, Max van Slooten.

And so at the age of sixteen she was enrolled at a secretarial college to learn shorthand and on securing her first secretarial job, her mother took half of her take-home pay, which made her aggrieved and, in her mind, poor. Renske intensely disliked living in Dordrecht and was delighted to leave there and travel to London where she arrived in July 1959, a month before her twentieth birthday. She received no opposition from her parents with regard so her travel plans and maybe her departure ended the clashes between her and her mother and father. In her own words Renske explained:

“…I think my parents were relieved to see the back of me, and I don’t blame them in retrospect. I was not the perfect daughter, sulky and bored, frequent boyfriend trouble and never falling for the right prospect. Lacking ambition myself, badly educated with frequent spells without any schooling due to the war and later independence struggles, nobody had any expectations of me (including myself)…”

Renske, aged 19, just before she went to London

On arriving in the English capital, Renske had to secure a secretarial position but she was well qualified as she was competent in Dutch, French and English shorthand as well as being fluent in them.  She soon found work with a salary four times greater than she was receiving in the Netherlands.  She stayed in the local YWCA and soon struck up friendships with the other girls who were from many different countries.  It was not all work and no play for Renske and one day a young Cypriot asked her out to go with him to a dance at the Hammersmith Palais in West London. As he got to know her he realised that she, like him, had a love of art and he offered to take her to one of his art evening classes he used to attend and so meet his former teacher. She agreed, they went and he introduced her to his art teacher – Cyril Mann.

……. to be continued.

It would not have been possible for me to put together this and following blogs about the artist, Cyril Mann, without information gleaned from a number of sources:

The comprehensive biography of Cyril Mann, The Sun is God by John Russell Taylor

Renske Mann with her book The Girl in the Green Jumper, My life with the artist Cyril Mann

The intimate autobiography of Cyril Mann’s life by his second wife Renske, entitled The Girl in the Green Jumper.

This autobiography has now been turned into a play which receives its World Premiere on Wednesday March 13th at the Playground Theatre, London, 8 Latimer Rd, London W10 6RQU

Finally, and most importantly I owe many thanks to Renske Mann herself who provided me with information and photographs appertaining to her late husband Cyril.

Piano Nobile Gallery London for information and pictures.

Cyril and Renske Mann. Part 1.

Cyril Mann – the early years and Canada.

No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.

Harold MacMillan

In many of my blogs I have related the story of a husband and wife who had both been artists but after the marriage and after the birth of the children one has had to give up their career as an artist to look after their spouse and children and that caring role always seems to land at the feet of the wife, who then dedicates her life to her artist husband or partner.  The next few blogs are going to look at the lives of a great British artist and the support and love he received from his young wife which allowed him to become a well-known painter.  This is not simply a tale about an artist, it is about the resilience of his young wife and how she battled his moods and supported him through times of his severe depression. Please settle back and join me as I explore the lives of the English artist Cyril Mann and his beautiful young wife, Renske.

My earliest self-portrait by Cyril Mann (1937)

To start this journey, one must look at Cyril’s upbringing and, as one knows, a person is often affected or moulded by their early life experiences.  Cyril’s father was William Aloysius Mann who was brought up in a reputable middle-class Nottingham family environment.  He was the third child of four, having an elder sister and brother, Annie and Will and a younger brother Austen.  Like most parents Cyril’s grandparents were hopeful that their four children would make good in life.  Their aspirations for Cyril’s father turned to despair when the only job he could secure was one of a bricklayer, which they considered to be a menial profession and somewhat below the family’s social status.  If that was not bad enough, Cyril’s father became romantically entangled with a local working-class woman, Gertrude Nellie Burrows, whom his parents believed was not good enough for their son.  In a pointed slight to her, they would refer to her as Gertie, when she was better known as Nellie.

William and Gertrude Mann’s circumstances became worse when he became unemployed and so, to seek work, the family left Nottingham and moved to London.  Their son Cyril was born in Paddington, London on May 28th 1911.  At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 William Mann was conscripted into the army and was shipped off to fight on the Western Front.  In 1918, after many years of witnessing the horrors of war, he was honourably discharged as “shell shocked”. 

Saxondale Psychiatric Hospital

The war had taken the toll on William’s mental health and he would never be the same again.  On returning to civilian life, the family returned to Nottingham and William was committed to the Saxondale Hospital in Sneiton, the city’s psychiatric hospital.  Cyril’s father would remain there until his death in 1938 but during his twenty years of incarceration he would make a number of escapes !

Times were hard for Gertrude who had to try and survive on her husband’s small war pension and bring up four children.  Unlike her husband who had been lazy, untrustworthy and very often easily distracted, his wife was the total opposite.  She was resilient, down-to-earth and strongminded when it came to bringing up her young family.  One does not know for sure how the children were affected by the family circumstances but going on public transport to collect their father from the asylum for his home leave on public holidays must have affected them psychologically.

The children did survive their early childhood.  Cyril’s brothers Austen and Will proved to be musical with Austen winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Music but never got to go there as he was diagnosed as being partially deaf.  Cyril’s father, before going off to war, was also musical and had been an accomplished violinist.  Cyril’s paternal grandfather had been a talented amateur artist who had had his work exhibited at the Nottingham Castle Art Museum.  Cyril developed his own artistic flair when young and was always top in his art class at school.  He was so talented that at the age of twelve, he won an art scholarship to Nottingham School of Art and his mother had to get special dispensation to take him out of regular school as he was under fourteen years of age. 

One of Constant Troyon’s paintings featuring cattle (Pastoral Scene c.1860)

In later years Cyril talked about his early interest in art and how he had been impressed at seeing one of Constant Troyon’s paintings of cattle.

Dark Satanic Mills by Cyril Mann (1925)

One of Cyril’s early paintings that still exists is entitled Dark Satanic Mills which he completed in 1925, when he was just fourteen years of age. The painting depicts a park in the foreground and a dark threatening-looking factory in the background with thick black smoke issuing from its chimneys.  In the midground we see figures enjoying park life.  It is an extraordinary landscape work for someone so young.  Cyril’s mother needed financial support from her children to supplement her husband’s pension and so she had to withdraw Cyril from the Art College and install him in a paying-job that would bolster the household finances. Cyril must have been upset at being taken away from the art school but took an exam to join Boots the Chemist as a clerk.  He failed and this must have come as a surprise to his mother as her son had always excelled at regular school and one has to wonder whether Cyril had deliberately failed as he hated the thought of a job as a clerk when he wanted to continue with his art.  However, and probably much to his annoyance, he did eventually work as a clerk until he was sixteen.

Sixteen-year-old Cyril Mann prior to moving to Canada (c.1927)

In 1927, aged sixteen, Cyril’s life changed.  His mother Nellie had always been a religious person and had insisted that her children attended the High Anglican Church and Cyril, for a time, was an altar boy.  In a way, and in the mind of his mother, this churchgoing brought to the family an air of respectability and sophistication and, in her mind, it was a way to gain social progression and an elevated status.  Cyril at this time became very friendly with a local priest who offered to accompany him to Canada, all expenses paid, so that he may “enter” the church and become a young missionary. 

Fishermen, Canada by Cyril Mann (1929)

It took little time for young Cyril to acquiesce to the priest’s request.  It was probably a combination of the thought of adventure similar to what he had seen in the Boy’s Own Paper, youthful religious zeal and the thought of freeing himself from his controlling mother.  Having reached Canada, it was not long before Cyril began to question his decision about serving God as a missionary and he and the priest parted company.

Eighteen-year-old Cyril Mann in Canada (Winter 1929)

Cyril then tried out many jobs – a miner, a logger, a travelling salesman and ended up as a printer in British Columbia on the Canadian side of the Alaskan border. 

Cyril Mann, artist at work in Canada (c.1930)

He was now living in the midst of beautifully spectacular landscapes – a landscape artist’s paradise, and soon he began to sketch and paint the breathtaking views. 

Canada- Mountainscape by Cyril Mann (c.1931)

Panning for Gold by Cyril Mann (c.1929)

In Canada at that time, the prevailing influence in Canadian art was the artwork of the Group of Seven.  The Group of Seven also known as the Algonquin School was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933.  The original members were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley.  They believed that a distinct Canadian art could be developed through direct contact with nature, the Group is best known for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape and they initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.  Their artwork was highly colourful and often depicted Autumn and Winter scenes, and they believed that the power of the light from the sun was to be recorded in their work.

Six of the Group of Seven, plus their friend Barker Fairley, in 1920. From left to right: Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Barker Fairley, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and J. E. H. MacDonald. It was taken at The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto.

Cyril Mann was impressed and influenced by the work of the Group of Seven along wth one of their associates, Tom Thomson and in 1932 he visited a Group of Seven exhibition in Vancouver and met one of the group, Arthur Lismer who was then working as a lecturer. 

Old Pine, McGregor Bay by Arthur Lismer (c.1929)

Arthur Lismer had been born in Sheffield, England in 1885 and had emigrated to Canada in 1911.  Lismer advised Cyril that if he wanted to become a professional artist he should return to England and access the best artistic tuition available, Cyril saw the sense in the advice and in early 1933 he returned to his homeland. 

A Mann family outing in Skegness. Cyril on the far right whilst his mother Gertrude is in the middle, Cyril’s older sister Annie is second from the left next to her husband. The other two men are thought to be Gertrude’s brother Austen on her left and Cyril’s younger brother Austen wearing the white clothes. on her right. 

Nottingham Houses by Cyril Mann (c.1933)                  Cyril has depicted his mother tending the garden

After landing in England, he travelled to the family home in Nottingham.  To his surprise he wasn’t greeted with a hearty welcome from his mother, instead she was very critical about his physical appearance.  Cyril was both upset and very annoyed by his mother’s authoritarian manner which he had had to endure through childhood and, there and then, decided his future home would not be with his family in Nottingham but instead he would head south to the English capital. 

Maida Vale Canal by Cyril Mann (c.1934)

Arriving in London in 1933, during the Great Depression, Cyril the young aspiring artist, despite finding it impossible to find a job carried on with his watercolour painting depicting various loacations around Paddington and around the Little Venice canal in Maida Vale, while he he took time off from his paintingnto to join the ever-lengthening dole queues.  He found and rented a cheap apartment in Paddington, close to where he was born, and endured the degradation of poor living standards and little money for sustenance.  With not having employment he had plenty of free time which he partly filled with painting local scenes using watercolours.  Having left school at the age of twelve he realised he had missed a lot and he now developed an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.  He was a regular visitor at the local libraries and was always willing to engage in conversation with those he encountered so that his knowledge of the world would be broadened and because of his current circumstances, he soon gained an interest in left-wing politics. 

Mountain Landscape by Cyril Mann

Having said this, Cyril never joined any official political group but a group he did join was the Toc H Group.  The Toc H Group was an international Christian movement whose name was derived from Talbot House, a soldiers’ rest and recreation centre at Poperinghe, Belgium. Its aim was to promote Christianity and look after young soldiers who were returning to civilian life.  Each branch of the Toc H had a chaplain to look after the spiritual needs of its members.  During the Depression Toc H looked after the many civilians hit by unemployment and, as one of the many people without a job, Cyril came to be one of those who regularly met at the Paddington Toc H in a canal boatmen’s’ club room.  Here he could talk to people, which must have been a Godsend for the young man who was out of work and lived alone.  The new young chaplain who arrived at the Paddington Toc H in 1935 was Oliver Fielding Clarke, known to everybody as “Bernie”.  The chairman of the association asked Clarke to keep a close eye on Cyril, whom he described as “out of work, practically a communist and sometimes pretty blunt with others”.  Shortly after receiving that “task” Clarke met Cyril and was completely captivated by the young aspiring painter.  In Clarke’s 1970 autobiography Unfinished Conflict, he remembers his conversations with Cyril Mann:

“…I have had many friends and a good deal of the first part of my ministry was given to young men, but few if any of them did more for me than Cyril.  We would spend hours and hours together in the evenings and he never spared himself for me.  In the early days he had been a [alter] server so that he was not in the least awed by parsons and he also knew how to challenge, or perhaps blister is a more accurate word, a parson’s conscience.  I used to get back to Liddon House in the small hours of the morning feeling almost as if we had been engaged in physical combat.  Cyril pulverised capitalism and the Church for being its running- dog.  He tore to shreds any suggestions that milk-and-water Christian Socialism was the answer and we argued hotly about the existence of God and the nature of morality…  All this was interspersed by talk about his art, when he would show me what he had been drawing or painting and what he was looking for as an artist….Both of us thoroughly enjoyed those long evenings; but they did not work in the way that had been expected.  Cyril did not move further away from Communism nor nearer to the Church.  Instead, I became more and more critical of the Church and increasingly convinced of the truth contained in the teachings of Karl Marx…”

St Pauls by Cyril Mann

It is quite clear from this description that Cyril Mann was an outspoken person with strongly held views which he stuck to notwithstanding the views of others.  It is also obvious he had a great self-belief but it could be levied against him that he was aggressively antagonistic to those who did not share his views and it was this latter characteristic which would become a problem for him in later life.

Despite their fiery discussions and the intransigence of Cyril, Bernie Clarke did not give up on him and decided to call in favours from friends in order to get Cyril into employment.  The chairman of the Paddington branch of the Toc H arranged for a place at the Royal Academy Schools be made available to Cyril and a friend of Clarke, the twenty-five-year-old daughter of a rich German businessman, Erica Marx, who was a poet, philanthropist and loved art saw the artistic potential of Cyril and set up a trust fund for him to finance his time at the art school.  She would remain a lifelong friend and supporter of his and would often buy his paintings.

Dahlias by Cyril Mann

The first half of the 1930s had been a rollercoaster ride for Cyril Mann.  Out of work unable to feed himself and yet came through it all and entered the Royal Academy Schools in the Autumn of 1935. The lives of his family back in Nottingham had also been a rollercoaster ride caused by tragedy.  Cyril’s elder brother Will died in a lift accident in the Midland hotel in Nottingham where he worked and his younger brother Austen drowned in a river whilst out swimming.  His death was witnessed by his wife and two young children who thought his violent thrashing in the water was him playing.

In 1935, now at the Royal Academy Schools, Cyril Mann had taken the first step in becoming a professional artist.

……….to be continued

It would not have been possible for me to put together this and following blogs about the artist, Cyril Mann, without information gleaned from a number of sources:

The comprehensive biography of Cyril Mann, The Sun is God by John Russell Taylor

Renske Mann with her book The Girl in the Green Jumper, My life with the artist Cyril Mann. 

This intimate autobiography of her life with Cyril Mann by his second wife Renske, entitled The Girl in the Green Jumpe was a beautifully written story of her life and love for her husnband.

This autobiography has now been turned into a play which receives its World Premiere on Wednesday March 13th at the Playground Theatre, London, 8 Latimer Rd, London W10 6RQU.

The Piano Nobile, a London art gallery which was established by Dr Robert Travers in 1985. The gallery plays an active role in the market for twentieth-century British and international art and has held exhibitions of Cyril Mann’s art.

Finally, and most importantly, I owe many thanks to Renske Mann herself who provided me with information and photographs appertaining to herself and her late husband Cyril.

Artcatto Gallery Revisited

I have just returned home from a twelve-day holiday in Spain and Portugal and once again when I was in the Algarve I visited the town of Loulé and went to one of my favourite small galleries, Artcatto, one which I featured in September 2022.  There was a new selection of outstanding contemporary art, and in this blog I will concentrate on work by three of  the artists.

Voka

Voka at work in his studio

Voka in his studio

“I’M EVER SEARCHING FOR THE PERFECT PAINTING. BUT ALWAYS HOPING NOT TO FIND IT – BECAUSE IT’S THE SEARCH THAT I REALLY LOVE SO MUCH.”

These are the words of the artist known as Voka.  Voka was born in Austria in 1965 and now lives and works in his studio in Puchberg am Schneeberg, a town in the south-eastern part of Lower Austria. 

Jimi by Voka (2020) Acrylic on wood.

He has described his artistic style as spontaneous realism.  For him, this style is a revival of the significance of contemporary art, which he looks upon as a valued tradition in a new era.  His paintings are distinguished by his use of bright colours which portray subjects of everyday life, portraits, and sports.

Frida by Voka

His paintings exploit texture and his dramatic mark making animate the subjects of his artwork. In his portraiture series simply called Heads, VOKA put his subjects in the centre of his work. His artistic style is easily recognisable, which evolves out of the vitality of a moment in time.   His portraits are not only of important personalities but also often depict unknown characters.  The aim of Voka’s portraiture is not only to capture the facial characteristics of his subjects but he endeavours to ascertain the “true being” behind the presence”.

Andy Warhol by Voka

Voka says that every one of his paintings is a huge challenge for him, but especially with the “heads” series.   He says that he exhaustively analyses every person he depicts. For him, every person is special and exceptional in their own way. The person I depict is unique. He believes that every person who he observes or meets or who hurries past him has their own story to tell. He also reckons that when he paints them, these stories become his. None of his portraits are a mirror image of the real person.  They are always a portrait of his point of view.

Vienna by Voka

Voka’s artwork is not just portraiture. He has completed many cityscapes such as Vienna……

Venezia by Voka

……..and Venice.

The city by Voka

NYC by Voka

Voka also liked to depict the chaotic life in the city such as his many paintings of the streets of New York. He described his love of these vibrant city depictions, saying:

“...I like to go to the busy parts of a city- the pedestrian zones, market halls, usual meeting places. Here, in a short space of time, new pictures are always being created before my eyes without me ever having to change location. Cities are often rigid and unmoving places in spite of their impressive architecture. It is the people who breathe life into them and this life couldn’t be more diverse: the movement of the people, their clothing, mentality and customs, their dealings with one another often differ notably depending on where you are. Every bit of this earth has its own rhythm and I try to capture it…”

Voka’s artwork can be found in collections and museums throughout Europe, Russia and America.

Thomas Bossard

Thomas Bossard

In the gallery there were also a number of paintings by the French artist, Thomas Brossard.

Le Bonhomme de Niege by Thomas Bossard

Thomas Brossard was born in the French town of Poitiers and studied Graphic Arts in Lille from 1987 to 1993 at the Institut Saint Luc à Tournai, Belgium.  His original plan was to go into advertising where his graphic art would be needed.  His future plans were put on hold when he became enamoured with the theatre.  He explains his change of heart:

“…It was at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, as a painter-decorator, that I was able to Begin to express my artistic palette in all its versatility: illustration, painting, scenography, frescoes, photography, decoration, etc. by creating numerous decorations for works of art (Die Meistersinger, Siegfried, Twilight of the Gods, The Magic Flute, The Auberge du Cheval Blanc, etc.). I then worked as a set designer for various directors’ stage, notably Pierre Debauche. I have also directed storyboards for short films and commercials, not to mention sets designed for a TV series produced by Vagabonds Movies. I also made drawings on porcelain for Yves Deshoulières’ factory. Finally, I have created posters for shows, festivals and feature films…”

Balade à Venise by Thomas Bossard

His depictions of the theatre reveal the humour and comical life behind the scenes and his large canvas’s show the insignificance of man.  Prior to becoming a professional artist, he worked with in the theatre, creating and putting together stage sets for plays and opera. 

Les Gagnants by Thomas Bossard

Looking at his work, it is easy to see that Bossard has a very deep understanding of human nature.

La Cuisine Gastronomique by Thomas Bossard

His work has been greatly influenced by artists such as Velasquez, Vermeer, and Rembrandt. Thomas works long hours in his studio with just his music as company; he has a great love of classical music. He exhibits his work in Paris, Toulouse, and throughout France, as well as in British galleries in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Falmouth.

La Petite Balcon by Thomas Bossard

There is a childlike simplicity about Bossard’s work and yet there is a certain something which captures our gaze.  The depictions are often mischievous and naïve and yet are pleasing to the eye.

Mr Brainwash

Mr Brainwash (Thierry Guetta)

My third offering is works of art from Thierry Guetta who uses the psuedonym Mr Brainwash. His contemporary art is best thought as a morphing between pop art and street art and came to the fore after a documentary film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, directed by Banksy. 

The film was Academy nominated and regales the evolutionary passage of the street art movement with Mr Brainwash, like Banksy, bringing art to the masses.

Banksy Thrower by Mr Brainwash

Guetta’s art style has been described as both innovative and fearless. It is a combination of pop art of the past and the raw components of his early street art work. There is such a similarity between the works of Mr Brainwash and Banksy that some believe they are one and the same person.

Not Guilty by Mr Brainwash

His exhibitions are breathtaking in size and his artwork can be seen in the film and TV world , such as Molly’s Game, Billions, Shameless and The Kardashians. 

Madonna’s “CELEBRATION” Album cover by Mr Brainwash

He has designed a number of album covers for the likes of Madonna who approached him to design fifteen different covers for the worldwide release, singles, DVDs and special edition vinyl of her Celebration album.

Pele by Mr Brainwash

Photo of Pele with Mr Brainwash

There is a childlike simplicity about Bossard’s work and yet there is a certain something which captures our gaze.  The depictions are often mischievous and naïve and yet are pleasing to the eye.

Work Well Together by Mr Brainwash

Thierry Guetta was born on January 31st, 1966 in Garges-lès-Gonesse, a commune in the Val-d’Oise department in northern France, He is best known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Brother’s Advice by Mr Brainwash

Mr Brainwash has had his work shown at many exhibitions, both in America and Europe.

Shen Ming Cun

Although I said at the beginning I would be featuring three different artists who had works on show at Artcatto when I visited there a fortnight ago, I cannot end this blog with out mentioning my favourite paintings which still have a small room to themselves and are still on show.

Beautiful Headress by Shen Ming Cun

Shen Ming says that he draws his inspiration from the ancient traditions, crafts and culture of the tribes of the Miao, Yao and Dong of the remote GuangXi region of China. Time does not stop still and there are large changes in China which is causing a massive strain on the ancient way of life in these small village communities and as the young people leave the villages to seek work in the large cities one has to wonder how long these cultures can survive.

Looking at You by Shen Ming Cun

Each of the tribe has a quite unique tradition in dress and adornment from the other. The young girls sew everything entirely by hand and their jewellery is crafted in the village.  Shen’s artwork the inimitable customs, dress and heritage of these minority tribes of Southern China. His painting demonstrate his empathy and admiration of these tribal people as they possess a lyrical beauty, dignity and grace.

Silver Necklace by Shen Ming Cun

Shen’s artwork manages to capture the chromatic vibrancy of the costumes and ornate silver jewellery with a lightness and confidence that has undoubtedly led to his success. Their clothes and adornments are genuine symbols of the wealth, religion, ritual and national consciousness that shape their lives. Shen explains his inspirational art:

“…I have spent a long time researching the richly colourful cultural heritage of the Yao and Miao nationalities and the Dong minority of Southern China. Over the years I have lived amongst them and become friends with these beautiful people who radiate pure goodness and a simple love of life. Cultivating their ancestor’s achievements, they turn life into immortal art…”

Laura Sylvia Gosse

Laura Sylvia Gosse (1881-1968)

For a number of years now, probably for centuries, many female artists have been discounted as hobby-painters or painting because art for many was like playing the piano, a social grace that every young woman should achieve.  It is even more annoying when a man and a woman work side by side and yet it is the reputation of the male artist that is remembered.  An example of this is looking at two Camden Town Group artists, one a founder, the other on the periphary as it was an all-male domain.  I am sure you have heard of Walter Sickert but what about his friend and contemporary, Laura Sylvia Gosse.  Sylvia who ?  Let me set the record straight.

The Artist’s Mother by Laura Sylvia Gosse

Sylvia Gosse was actually born Laura Sylvia Gosse but was always known by her Christian name, Sylvia.  She was born in London on February 14th 1881, the youngest of three children.  She had an elder sister, Teresa Emily and an elder brother, Philip Henry.  

Edmund Gosse by John Singer Sargent

Her father, Edmund Gosse was a poet, literary critic and librarian of the House of Lords.  Her mother was Ellen Gosse (née Epps), an artist in the Pre-Raphaelite circle who had studied under Ford Madox Brown, and whose sister, Laura Theresa, an aspiring artist, had married Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Fountains at Pernes Les Fountaines, Provence by Laura Sylvia Gosse

Sylvia’s family home in Delamere Terrace was in the London borough of Paddington, and was always inundated with people from both the art and literary world with visitors such as the great writers of the time, such as Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling.  In early childhood, Sylvia loved to paint and draw and her favourite subject being her pets. At the age of thirteen, Gosse went to an art school in France, where she stayed for three years and she recounted that it was there that she felt she belonged.  She returned to England and studied at the St John’s Wood School of Art.  In 1906, aged fifteen, she enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools.

The Gossip by Laura Sylvia Gosse

One of the frequent visitors at the Grosse household was the artist Walter Sickert and it was during one of his visits that he began talking to Sylvia and looked at her artwork.  He was captivated by her work and obvious artistic talent and suggested she learn the art of etching.  Sylvia began to attend Sickert’s evening classes at the Westminster School of Art and in 1909 went as a pupil to his new art school, which he ran with Madeline Knox at 209 Hampstead Road, London.  Sickert’s dual role with Knox at the art school ended when Knox resigned following Sickert’s illness, and having had to run the school singlehandedly.  Sickert approached Sylvia Gosse, his pupil, to see if she would accept the position as associate director. 

Rowlandson House – Sunset by Walter Sickert (1911)

Walter Sickert rented Rowlandson House in Camden Town from 1910–14, during his time with the Camden Town Group. This summertime depiction of the building looks north up Hampstead Road from the back garden, the time of day nearing twilight, which Sickert has indicated by daubs of pink and mauve in the pale sky. The trees in the far background form the edge of Mornington Crescent Gardens. 

Walter Sickert by Sylvia Gosse (1923-25)

Sylvia was made co-director of the Rowlandson House School but did this position alongside Sickert put them on an equal footing?  As a woman in an artistic world which did not always value them, it became clear during her time at Rowlandson House, that her relationship with the Camden Town Group which she was ineligible to join, being a female, despite Sickert being its leader, was not even-handed.  According to Kathleen Fisher, Gosse’s biographer and friend, who wrote Conversations with Sylvia. Sylvia Gosse – Painter, 1881-1968, Sylvia Gosse taught the less-able students at Rowlandson House, as Sickert would grow bored and impatient and dismiss them. The School became known as the Sickert and Gosse School of Painting and Etching.  Silvia served as co-principal from 1910 until it closed in 1914 and during that period, she taught some of the classes and took over responsibility for the practical organisation and finances.  Sylvia Gosse had an independent income, and without her financial backing the school would have closed much sooner.

The school which Gosse and Sickert jointly ran until 1914 when it closed. During those years, Gosse’s own painting career also began to progress. Sylvia Gosse could be described as being slightly introverted (or was she just shy?) and was not known as a very sociable person.  One of her pupils, Marjorie Lilly recalled Sylvia, saying:

“…she might appear at Number 15 [Fitzroy Street] on At Home days, but rarely; being very shy, she always chose the most inconspicuous corner she could find, looking harassed and hunted, and hardly spoke…”

Despite this she was always very supportive of her fellow artists and completely dedicated to Sickert.

Chateau Dieppe by Layra Sylvia Gosse (c.1925)

La Place Saint Jacques by Laura Sylvia Gosse (c.1920)

Grande patisserie, Place Nationale, Dieppe, France by Laura Sylvia Gosse (1930)

Walter Sickert had always loved visiting France and would regularly travel to the Normandy coastal town of Dieppe.  Sylvia often accompanied Sickert on his travels, notably when he stayed in Dieppe, and she had a small cottage near his home.  Many of her paintings featured the French town.

Envermeu, France by Laura Sylvia Gosse (c.1920s)

The small town of Envermeu which lies ten kilometres east of Dieppe also featured in many of Sylvia’s paintings.

The Seamstress by Laura Sylvia Gosse

Many of the paintings of the Camden Town group focused on the subject of ordinary life, which often concentrated on the life of the poor and dispossessed, and how their life was one of boredom and squalor.  Gosse tended to focus more on the hard-working women, such as the seamstress and the printer.

The Printer by Laura Sylvia Gosse (c.1915)

Sylvia’s painting, The Printer, which she completed around 1915 shows a woman labouring at a press.

The Nurse by Laura Sylvia Gosse

In her painting, The Nurse, we see her approaching her patient.  In this depiction, we see her as she is reflected in a mirror above the sickbed.  This is not a depiction that beautifies the nursing profession it is simply one that shows us an unglamorous workaday appearance of a nurse tending the sick.

Mrs Alexandra Russell by Laura Sylvia Gosse

During the 1920s and 1930s Sylvia’s paintings were on display at many of best-known commercial galleries. She was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1930 and continued to support Sickert loyally until his death in 1942.

In 1951 Sylvia bought a bungalow in Ore, a large village in the urban area of Hastings, in the county of East Sussex.  It was here that she planned to spend her last days painting, but alas, she suffered from cataracts, which made painting and sketching increasingly problematic.  However, it was her belief that every painter should die with a brush in their hand, so despite her severely reduced vision, she still managed to visit exhibitions and help inspire young artists. She died in the Buchanan Hospital, Hastings on June 6th 1968 at the age of 87.

Jasper Francis Cropsey

Among the most vibrant and spectacular works of the nineteenth century, were the sweeping landscape depictions of the Hudson River School which managed to capture the rugged beauty of the American countryside and wildernesses.  The name Hudson River School was first used disparagingly by trendy Europhile critics who preferred the dignified depictions of the realism of L’École de Barbizon.  The beautiful paintings of the Hudson River School compellingly convey the natural grandeur, not just of the Hudson River Valley, as the name would imply, but also the Catskills, Adirondacks, White Mountains, the Maritimes, the American West and South America.  My guest artist was one of the great painters of that School.

Jasper Francis Cropsey

Jasper Francis Cropsey was born at Rossville, Staten Island on February 18th 1823.  He was the eldest of eight children and his ancestors were of Dutch and Huguenot ancestry. His father was Jacob Rezeau Cropsey who had a farm in Rossville and his mother was Elizabeth Hilyer Cropsey (née Cortelyeu).  During his early years, Cropsley suffered many bouts of ill health which resulted in him missing school and forced him to rest up at home.  During those frequent periods of inactivity, he taught himself to draw. Many of his sketches featured architectural drawings and landscapes.  Whilst attending the local country school he would help is father on the farm but in his pre-teen and teenage years he developed his main love, sketching and painting.  Much to the chagrin of his teachers he would often be found doodling on his school books.  In his 1846 unpublished biography, Reminiscences of My Own Time he wrote:

“…I was so disposed to adorn my writing book, on the margin, wherever there was a blank space, with fancy letters, boats, houses, trees, etc., and paint, or color the pictures in my books that I would undergo the reprimand of the teacher, rather than desist from it…”

The Valley of Wyoming, by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1865)

Cropsey as a young teenager was fascinated with architecture and this led him to assemble an elaborate model of a country house which he submitted to the 1837 fair of the Mechanics’ Institute of the City of New York and it won him a diploma.  The model was well received and Joseph Trench, a New York architect who saw it, offered fifteen-year-old Cropsey a five-year apprenticeship in his architectural office. After eighteen months, Cropsey’s proficiency in drawing had earned him the responsibility for nearly all the office’s finished renderings.   Cropsey prospered at the firm and during his penultimate year at the company he began painting the backgrounds of the architectural designs. To improve that skill, Joseph Trench persuaded his young apprentice to study watercolour painting with English-born watercolourist, Edward Maury.  The firm even provided him with paints, canvas, and a space in which to study and hone his artistic skills.

The Narrows from Staten Island, by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1868)

Cropsey left the Trench’s office in 1842 and in 1843 he first exhibited a painting, which was quite well-received.  It was a landscape entitled Italian Composition, probably based on a print he had seen at the National Academy of Design. Jasper Cropsey was elected an associate member of the Academy the following year and became a full member in 1851.

Sunset on Greenwood Lake by Jaasper Francis Cropsey (1877)

Having left the Trench architectural company Cropsey managed to support himself for the next two years by accepting commissions to provide architectural designs.  Although that brought him financial support, his main love was sketching and painting landscapes and he would often take painting trips to New Jersey and Greenwood Lake, which straddles the border of New York and New Jersey.  After one such trip, Cropsey had put together a number of sketches of the area, which on his return home he converted them into two paintings of Greenwood Lake that were accepted at an 1843 exhibition at the American Art Union.

Autumn Foliage in the White Mountains (Mount Chocorua) by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1862)

During one of his trips to Greenwood Lake, Cropsey met Maria Cooley, whom he later married in May 1847. They went on to have two children, Mary Cortelyou Cropsey in 1850 and Lilly Frances Cropsey born in 1859. He and his wife crossed the Atlantic for a two-year European honeymoon and visited England during the summer of 1847, travelled throough France and Switzerland and reached Italy wheree the Cropseys spent a year among the colony of American artists who had settled in Rome. During that lengthy stay in Rome, Cropsey worked out of the former studio of Thomas Cole, the founding father of the Hudson River School. Cropsey became familiar with the works of the Nazarenes and other German artists in Rome and it was their influence which may have reinforced his own liking of detail in his paintings. Like many other American artists who visited Italy, Cropsey made frequent sketching trips to the Roman Campagna and other regions of Italy, such as Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, and Paestum.

Maria Cooley Cropsy by Daniel Huntingdon (c.1850)

Cropsey and his wife returned to America in 1849 and he made his first trip to the White Mountains, a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine.  Cropsey rented studio space in New York which he shared with Edwin White, the Massachusetts-born artist, at 114 White Street in New York City. Here he taught and worked up his European sketches into finished oil paintings. Cropsey and his wife made their base in New York and from there in the summers they would make exploratory trips through New York State, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and he would continually sketch what they saw. Cropsey specialized in autumnal landscape paintings of the northeastern United States. He would convert sketches into finished paintings and sell them but also to supplement the family income he would teach.  

 Bayside, New Rochelle, New York by David Johnson (1886)

One of his pupils was the landscape painter David Johnson, who became a member of the second generation of Hudson River School painters.

Lord Byron’s Dream, by Charles Lock Eastlake (1827)

Cropsey and his wife made a second trip to England in 1856 and rented a studio in London at Kensington Gate.  It was an ideal place to host parties and make friends such as the art critic John Ruskin, John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, who was a British lawyer and politician and was three times Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Sir Charles Lock Eastlake who was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. He became the first director of the National Gallery and from 1850 to 1865 he served as President of the Royal Academy.    

Walton on Thames by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1860)

It was with friends such as these that ensured many English and American landscape painting commissions came Cropsey’s way from both English and American patrons. When Cropsey arrived in England he brought with him many commissions from his American patrons who wanted paintings depicting English castles and abbey ruins. He also found that there was a great interest amongst English clients for his American landscapes. The London printer Gambert and Company commissioned thirty-six views from Cropsey for publication in the American Scenery journal.

Autumn—On the Hudson River , 1860 by Jasper Francis Cropsey

In 1860 Cropsey completed one of his most famous paintings entitled Autumn—On the Hudson River of 1860. This monumental view of the Hudson River Valley was painted from memory and in-situ sketches he had made, in his London studio. Cropsey adopted a high vantage point, looking southeast toward the distant Hudson River and the flank of Storm King Mountain. It is an autumnal scene which would soon become Cropsey’s trademark.  The work was praised by critics and the public alike, including Queen Victoria.  The painting depicts a sweeping panoramic view of the river under a sun-streaked sky in this long, horizontal landscape painting (60 x 108 inches).  The leaves on the trees are fiery autumnal oranges and reds.  In the background we catch a glimpse of the mountains through the haze.  At the bottom of the painting we can see vine-covered, fallen tree trunks and mossy grey boulders.  At the bottom left we can just make out a trickling waterfall and small pool. 

Although not easy to spot, on the bank of the pool, three men and their dogs sit and recline around a blanket and a picnic basket, their rifles leaning against a tree nearby. From our viewpoint, the land stretches down to a grassy meadow which is crossed by a meandering stream at the heart of the painting. 

In the right foreground we see cattle on the riverbank drinking the water close to a wooden bridge. 

Artist’s signature on flat rock

Cropsey signed the painting as if he had carved it into the flat top of a rock at the centre foreground of the landscape with his name, the title of the painting, and date: “Autumn – on the Hudson River, J.F Cropsey, London 1860.”

Summer, Lake Ontario by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1857)

Besides earning money from the sale of his landscape paintings he also provided illustrations for books of poetry by Edgar Allan Poe and Thomas Moore and did a series of views of American scenery published by Gambert and Company, London.  Cropsy was acclaimed not only for his beautiful autumnal landscapes such as Autumn—On the Hudson River, 1860 which is now part of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. collection, but for bringing to the untravelled British people the exquisite scenery of the great Western continent.   Queen Victoria was so impressed by Cropsey’s works of art that she appointed him to the American Commission of the 1862 International Exposition in London, and he subsequently received a medal for his services.

Coast of Genoa by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1854)

Cropsey and his wife returned to America in 1863. The 1860s were the most successful time for Cropsey as far as the sales of his work and his ever increasing bank balance. Shortly after their arrival home to America they visited Gettysburg to record the battlefield’s topography in a painting. Cropsey also began to accept architectural commissions once again and produced his best-known designs, such as the ornate cast and wrought iron Queen Anne-style passenger stations of the Gilbert Elevated Railway along New York’s Sixth Avenue.

High Torne Mountain, Rockland County, New York by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1851)

Cropsey’s father-in-law, Isaac P. Cooley was a justice of the peace from 1837 to 1839 and became a judge over the New Jersey Court of Common Pleas in 1840.    Cooley later became a member of New Jersey State House of Assembly from 1860 to 1861.   Cooley offered to build his daughter and son-in-law a studio on his estate but Cropsey declined the  offer and instead, purchased forty-five acres of land near Greenwood Lake in Warwick, New York, where he designed and built a 29-room Gothic Revival mansion with its own studio which he called Aladdin. The family then divided their time between living in New York City, and spending time in Warwick.

The Old Mill by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1876)

Unfortunately for Cropsey, the art of the Hudson River School began to lose its popularity and by the early 1870’s would be completely out of favour in the art world. In 1876 Cropsey completed his last major work, The Old Mill, which is now part of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA. Collection.  The painting is a depiction of the Sanford gristmill, which stood on the banks of the Wawayanda Creek near Warwick, New York, and close to where Cropsey had built his palatial estate, Aladdin. The rural water mill was at the heart of the American pre-­industrial economy, but time moved on and in the 1870s, the water mills were quickly being replaced by more efficient steam-powered mills and factories.  This loss of such bygone icons concerned Cropsey.  For him, it was symbolic of the loss of the simple past.  It was a sentimental bereavement.  The depiction was typical of Cropsey’s past output – autumn landscapes that beautifully captured the sunlit atmosphere of autumn in New York and New England.  Cropsey exhibited it at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where he was awarded a medal for “excellence” in oils.

Wickham Pond and Sugar Loaf Mountain, Orange County by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1876)

The Hudson River School artwork began to lose its popularity by the mid 1870’s and by the end of the decade would be completely out of favour in the art world. In the early 1880’s the sale of Cropsey’s landscape paintings was dwindling eclipsed in popularity by the smaller scale works which were, softer, mood-evoking landscapes of Barbizon-inspired painters such as George Inness. As a result the Cropsy family’s financial situation became dire and the family was perilously close to having their home, Aladdin, in Warwick, NY, taken from them.   Fortunately, they managed to sell their lavish estate and at the same time, auctioned off many paintings, furniture, and household possessions in preparation to move to a smaller property.

Ever Rest,  49 Washington Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson

In 1885 the Cropsey family moved from Warwick to Hastings-on-Hudson, a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York.  He firstly rented a property then later bought a house at 49 Washington Avenue, which they named Ever Rest. Cropsey and his family lived there for the rest of their lives.  They were content to live a quiet existence there at Ever Rest and did very little travelling.  As far as painting was concerned Cropsey concentrated in depicting local views or views based on the hundreds of sketches he had completed through the years, including studies he did in the two year period spent in Rome. .

Jasper Francis Cropsey by Edward Mooney (1850)

Jasper Francis Cropsey suffered a stroke in 1893 and died at Ever Rest on June 20th 1900 at the age of 77,  and Maria, his wife of 54 years, passed away in 1906.

The Cropsey home, known as Ever Rest,  was built in 1835 and purchased by Jasper F. Cropsey in 1885. Cropsey extended Ever Rest by adding an  artist’s studio to it in 1885. The Homestead is located at 49 Washington Avenue, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.   On May 17, 1973, both the New York and National Historical Societies declared the Homestead an historical site. The Homestead is listed in the “National Register of Historic Places in New York”.

A great deal of information I needed cam fro some excellent websites:

Newington-Cropsey Foundation

Welcome Autumn with Jasper Cropsey’s Colorful Landscape Paintings

National Gallery of Art

Mark Murray Fine Paintings

Spellman Gallery