DOI article:
West, W. K.: Cecil King, R.B.A.: a painter of cities
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43455#0054
Cecil King, R.B.A.
“by the steps of st. peter’s, some”
WATER-COLOUR BY CECIL KING, R.B.A.
a year or two with the idea of adopting engineering
as his profession and became a student member of
the Institute of Civil Engineers. But during this
period he was acquiring also some knowledge of
art practice by attending the evening classes in
■drawing at the Goldsmiths’ Institute, New Cross.
In 1903 he finally abandoned his engineering
studies and went instead to the Westminster School
of Art, where he worked in the life class under Mr.
Mouat Loudan, and shortly after he joined the
Artists’ Society and the Langham Sketching Club for
the evening practice in drawing and composition
which has proved a boon to many young artists.
A visit to Holland followed in 1904, where his
study of the pictures of the Dutch marine painters
revived in him one of - the ambitions of his child-
hood—to become a painter of the sea—and in
1906, in which year he exhibited his first picture,
in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters
in Water Colours, he went to Paris to work for a
year at Julian’s under Jean Paul Laurens. While
in Paris he attended also a class for composition,
illustration, and . similar subjects, directed by
Steinlen; and he spent much of his spare time in
sketching people and things in the highways and
by-ways of the city.
When he returned to England, having gained
greatly in knowledge and understanding of his craft
by the judicious use of the opportunities which
Paris offered to him, he began to make a name as
an illustrator. His drawings were accepted by the
“ Sphere,” the “ Illustrated London News,” and
other papers; and by the “ Illustrated London
News” he was sent to Paris to make drawings of
the flood scenes and to Portugal to illustrate
episodes in the revolution of 1910. At this time,
too, he was busy with poster-work for various
shipping firms, with designs in which he was able to
satisfy some of his earlier aspirations towards
marine painting.
But although all these varieties of occupation
have played a very important part in the formation
of his artistic character, the influence that has,
perhaps, counted for most in his development and
in making him the artist he is to-day has been his
love of travel. Ever since he left Paris he has
seized every opportunity of seeing the world and of
working in as many places as possible abroad.
Already his wranderings have taken him to France,
Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, a>nd
Morocco, and he has ambitions, which he hopes
before long to satisfy, to visit India, China, and
other parts of the East, and to cross the Atlantic
and paint the cities of America.
39
“by the steps of st. peter’s, some”
WATER-COLOUR BY CECIL KING, R.B.A.
a year or two with the idea of adopting engineering
as his profession and became a student member of
the Institute of Civil Engineers. But during this
period he was acquiring also some knowledge of
art practice by attending the evening classes in
■drawing at the Goldsmiths’ Institute, New Cross.
In 1903 he finally abandoned his engineering
studies and went instead to the Westminster School
of Art, where he worked in the life class under Mr.
Mouat Loudan, and shortly after he joined the
Artists’ Society and the Langham Sketching Club for
the evening practice in drawing and composition
which has proved a boon to many young artists.
A visit to Holland followed in 1904, where his
study of the pictures of the Dutch marine painters
revived in him one of - the ambitions of his child-
hood—to become a painter of the sea—and in
1906, in which year he exhibited his first picture,
in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters
in Water Colours, he went to Paris to work for a
year at Julian’s under Jean Paul Laurens. While
in Paris he attended also a class for composition,
illustration, and . similar subjects, directed by
Steinlen; and he spent much of his spare time in
sketching people and things in the highways and
by-ways of the city.
When he returned to England, having gained
greatly in knowledge and understanding of his craft
by the judicious use of the opportunities which
Paris offered to him, he began to make a name as
an illustrator. His drawings were accepted by the
“ Sphere,” the “ Illustrated London News,” and
other papers; and by the “ Illustrated London
News” he was sent to Paris to make drawings of
the flood scenes and to Portugal to illustrate
episodes in the revolution of 1910. At this time,
too, he was busy with poster-work for various
shipping firms, with designs in which he was able to
satisfy some of his earlier aspirations towards
marine painting.
But although all these varieties of occupation
have played a very important part in the formation
of his artistic character, the influence that has,
perhaps, counted for most in his development and
in making him the artist he is to-day has been his
love of travel. Ever since he left Paris he has
seized every opportunity of seeing the world and of
working in as many places as possible abroad.
Already his wranderings have taken him to France,
Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, a>nd
Morocco, and he has ambitions, which he hopes
before long to satisfy, to visit India, China, and
other parts of the East, and to cross the Atlantic
and paint the cities of America.
39