These two above are 'Artist's Model' Billie Despard, and her new husband, the Sculptor Hilary Stratton, on their wedding day at Chelsea Old Church in 1937.
Billie's aunt was a well-known Suffragette, and Hilary was an excellent sculptor, who also worked with/for Eric Gill.
Before applying for my Foundation course, I did evening classes at Chelsea, then enrolled at the tiny Horsham School of Art; just to get some work in my portfolio. I needn't really have bothered as I had no problem being accepted onto my course.
However, Hilary Stratton had been a part time sculpture tutor at Horsham, and during my time there I was just about his only serious student. He was an extremely pleasant man, and we got on very well together; he even invited me back to his home on a couple of occasions where I met the lovely Billie.
The web is very short on information about both Hilary and Billie; he was quite an influence on my early college life. The web is filled with tales of Eric Gill, mostly on account of his bizarre philandering, but his sidekick, Stratton, hardly gets a mention.
This, below, is the only work of his of which I can find a picture. It's a war memorial near Chichester in Sussex, and is attributed to Gill; even though Stratton actually carved it.
Well, Hilary, I'm doing my bit to have you better known. What a nice man you were; a real goodun!
It could be St Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's a black snake in their wedding photo too; goodness knows where that came from. A naughty child I imagine.
DeleteCredit where credit is due.Well done
ReplyDeleteThe majority of tutors at Art College are useless; he taught me a lot in little time.
DeleteYou learn most from those employed as technicians in the workshops.
DeleteQuite right!
DeleteNice story and nice memories xx
ReplyDeleteNice man; a gentle soul.
DeleteI think my mother and father were the second people to get married in Chelsea New Church after it was rebuilt after the war.
ReplyDeleteVery bad year for beans though. My mother was at the Slade just after the war but did not pass on her artistic genes, I am very happy in a gallery but restrict my creative urges to the vegetable plot.
At some point we should swap notes on the art world, you can do the critique and I will provide the financial shenanigans. It is a very respectable front for some pretty dubious practices.
Your mother must have been at the Slade with some interesting people. The post war period was awash with talent.
DeleteI used to manage an Art Gallery in Devonshire St, W1, so I know all about the shenanigans!!!
Without the oil companies' backing there would be no lavish exhibitions, and without the Slave Trade there would be no Tate. Without British colonialism there would be no British Museum, but I think we would manage without arms dealers and weapons system software designers.
DeleteYou could correct the lack of coverage on Stratton via Wikipedia, Cro.
I have enough difficulty managing my Email, blog, and Facebook pages, without trying to set-up a Wiki page for Stratton; as much as I'd like to.
DeleteI am not fond of religious art but it's ok sculpting. A nice little tribute. I should write my own about people who have strongly influenced my life.
ReplyDeleteI find religious art to be some of the best. It was usually very well sponsored, they used the best artists, and the work has survived the ages. But I don't think the same about religion.
DeleteI think a lot of us have an influence from our early days which stays with us. Mine was my English teacher, Miss Ryder, who was the one who persuaded me to do an English degree eventually.
ReplyDeleteMy first husband, who was a painter after his war years, was heavily influenced by his tutor, Toni Bartl, a Czech who settled here after the war. I have several of his paintings and drawings and I look at them every day.
My
As I said above, learning anything from most tutors is practically impossible, so when one comes across one as good as Stratton, it makes a huge difference. Most of my tutors might well have not bothered turning up; in fact most of them didn't.
DeleteA good teacher can influence our entire life. Stratton might not have found great fame in his lifetime, but he lives in you and the other students he educated.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely; which is why I wrote the above. He was a true craftsman, not concerned by fame or fortune, but just by doing his best at all times; even when teaching me!
DeleteI would love to tell you of my wonderful caring neighbours, but we've had yet another amazing example of their total disregard for others today. Sometimes I can hardly believe their appalling behaviour. Pomposity at its worst!
ReplyDeleteSounds like the House of Commons.
DeleteJust another day..... it's been going on for years. They think only of themselves.
Delete