Leslie Arthur Wilcox | |
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| Born | Leslie Arthur Wilcox (1904-03-13)13 March 1904 |
| Died | 11 January 1982(1982-01-11) (aged 77) Rustington,Sussex, England |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Children | 2, includingIngram Wilcox |
Leslie Arthur Wilcox, RI, RSMA (13 March 1904 – 11 January 1982) was an English artist known mainly for hismarine works in oils. He was also a watercolourist, illustrator, poster artist, marine model-maker and author. He was for some years Honorary Secretary of theRoyal Society of Marine Artists and a member of theRoyal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. His works are in many collections around the world, including theNational Maritime Museum,Greenwich, and theRoyal Collection. He wrote and illustrated two books onmaritime history:Mr Pepys' Navy andAnson's Voyage.[1]
Born on 13 March 1904 to a working-class family inFulham, he was the youngest of five children. Two of his brothers died in the Middle East towards the end of theFirst World War which seems to have had a profound effect on his outlook and beliefs. He left school at 14, and at about that time won an art competition in a national newspaper with a watercolour drawing of an aircraft; on the strength of this he obtained his first job in an advertising studios in the Strand. He learned many aspects of commercial art there, and eventually set up a studio in Holborn with two artist friends, where all three worked on illustration and children's comics.
With theSecond World War looming he decided to volunteer for the navy before conscription started, and had spent only a few months in the Naval Patrol Service before his skills were recognised and he was seconded to the Naval Camouflage unit atLeamington Spa, where he spent the rest of the war making model ships and testing camouflage designs. After the war he went back to his studio, but found it difficult to find illustration work, however by then he had begun to sell his oil paintings and to build a reputation as a marine artist, being elected a member of theRoyal Society of Marine Artists in 1947. Then in 1953 he received a commission from the Master ofTrinity House to paint the triumphal return of the Queen from the Commonwealth Tour, with theRoyal Yacht Britannia passing underTower Bridge in London; this painting was presented to Her Majesty in 1954 and it subsequently hung over the fireplace in the drawing-room of the Royal Yacht until the ship was decommissioned; the work now hangs inFrogmore House at Windsor.
From this point his work began to receive worldwide recognition. He did several paintings forAristotle Onassis, for theUnion-Castle Line andClan Line. His large work 'Jeannette, Trafalgar 1805' (shown above) which was painted for the RSMA Jubilee Exhibition atGuildhall, London was purchased by Mr Garfield Weston, and now hangs inFortnum and Mason's store, Piccadilly. His large work 'The Mayflower and Speedwell at Dartmouth' was bought by thePilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Another large painting, 'HRH Prince of Wales Leaving Plymouth, 1861' was commissioned by Mr Stuart Liberty, and now hangs inLiberty (department store) in London. Two of his works hang inKing's House, Jamaica, and countless others works in Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, etc. in addition to several in theNational Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
He was for many years an active member of the Wapping Group of Artists, who met regularly and exhibited yearly at the Mall Galleries; other members included Jack Merriott, Max Hofler, Hugh Boycott-Brown and David Ghilchik.
He married Alice "Peta" Spurgeon, who was herself a painter and commercial artist, in 1939, and they had three sons, John, William andIngram. In 1963 they moved out of London to live atRustington in Sussex, where he built a large studio to continue his painting. It was also here that he worked on writing and illustrating his two books: Mr Pepys's Navy and Ansons Voyage. He died in Rustington in January 1982.
2. "Who's Who in Art", The Art Trade Press Ltd., 1966
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