Pre-war aeroplane drawings from the Blackheath School of Art

Among the collection of art works at the Conservatoire are three colour pencil drawings of aeroplanes. These have captured their time perfectly, representing not only aircraft and fashion of the late 1930’s but also of an artistic style that owes a lot to graphic design of the era. The simple metal frames do seem to be later, likely from the 1960’s or 1970’s, however the pictures do seem to be a lot older as will be discussed below. [1]

These drawings most likely date from the period 1937 to 1940 before the art school closed to be annexed by the army pay corps in 1940. Whilst I have found the source photographs for two of the drawings we have yet to discover the source for the third drawing.

Heracles

Heracles at Croydon Airport pre 1940.

Source: www.britishairways.com

Unknown artist, Drawing After British Airways promotional photograph of Heracles, colour pencil on paper, before 1940.

The first drawing depicts Imperial Airways plane Handley Page HP42 GAAXC, Heracles, at Croydon airport. As with the other pictures, the colours remain vibrant with simple lines and shading portraying a stylistic representation of a late 1930’s airport complete with pilots and passengers. Imperial Airways merged to become a part of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939 which was eventually the company known as British Airways in 1974. Heracles first flew in 1931 and was pressed into war service with the RAF on 3 March 1940 and only lasted 16 days before it was destroyed in a gale at Whitchurch airport, Bristol, after being blown into another plane, Hanno. Both planes were damaged beyond repair.

Douglas DST144

Press photograph:  The Launch of American Airlines’ Flagship, Texas at Grand Central Airport, Glendale 1937

Source: www.vintageairphotos.blogspot.co.uk

Unkown artist, The Launch of American Airlines’ Flagship, Texas at Grand Central Airport, Glendale 1937, colour pencil on paper before 1940.

The other is a depiction of American Airlines plane, Texas, at Grand Central Airport, Los Angeles (above right) with passengers waiting to board on the left and soldiers loading/ unloading the plane to the left of the picture. A Douglas DST144 aeroplane press photo dated 1937 is the source of this drawing. This was the aeroplane which significantly cut down the travel time from the west coast to the east coast of the USA from with the Texas in service in late 1935. [2] 

The artist added extra figures and trucks to the right side of the drawing in order to make the composition more balanced. Even though the work is essentially a copy these extra details show that the artist possessed some skill and imagination.

Dornier Merkur D1104

Unkown artist, Dornier Merkur D1104, colour pencil on paper, before 1940.

Detail of above showing pilot and passengers.

The third drawing in the series is an illustration of the Dornier Merkur D1104 plane which was built in the late 1930’s. The technique and style of this picture shows the influence of the eminent British designers and illustrators of this period: Charles Paine (who taught at the Blackheath School of Art in the early 1930’s), Eric Ravilious (official war artist), Edward Bawden (who did some advertising work for Imperial Airways) and Barnett Freedman (a prominent designer at this time who was a visiting lecturer at BSA). During this period at BSA there were a large number of students who were very skilled at creating posters and advertisements studying under Paine (see my previous entry on Charles Paine). Paine and Douglas Bliss taught Commercial Art at the school in the 1930's. The 1931 / 1932 prospectus listed the subjects that the course would concentrate on:

Training as Commercial Artists or Illustrators: Drawing from Life, Figure Designs and Composition, Painting from Life, Poster Design, Lettering and Writing, Heraldry, Costume, Black and White Drawing, Book Illustration and Decoration, Wood Engraving, Study of Historic and Modern Art, Methods of Reproduction, Study of the business requirements of Commercial Art. [3]
One student in the early 1930's, who later studied at Central St Martin's, Richard Wakeford was noted as having designs accepted by Canadian Pacific. [4]

Unlike the other two drawings I have not yet been able to discover a photograph of this plane or whether there may a photograph that closely resembles this picture. Given that the other two pictures definitely were derived from photos the odds are that this too had its beginnings in photographic form.

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[1] The label on the reverse is from Framery Ltd, 39 Blandford Street, London, W1H 3AF. The telephone number shows that the label is from before 1990 but most likely the 1960's -  01-935 4838.
[2] The Vintage Air Photos blog contains an interesting entry on the history of the plane and detailed analysis of the photograph which inspired the drawing. See entry from Tuesday 6 August 2013 entitled Legends: Grand Central and the First DC-3.
[3] Blackheath, Lee, Lewisham and Greenwich School of Art and Crafts: Prospectus & Time Table Session 1931 - 1932 p. vi.
[4] ‘Blackheath School of Art’, in Blackheath Local Guide, 28 March, 1936, p. 6. Although Wakeford was a student at the school before 1937 (the date of the source photographs) this article shows that students were involved in designs for travel.

Barnett Freedman and the Blackheath School of Art

Whilst Barnett Freedman isn't necessarily a household name like his more famous contemporaries, Ravilious and Bawden, his images and designs will be familiar to many people. He is perhaps best known for his 'Keep Calm and Carry On' posters as well as his images for companies like the London Transport and Shell Oil to name a few.

Advertisement from the Blackheath Local Guide and District Advertiser for a Barnett Freedman lecture at Blackheath School of Art, Wed 6 March, 1940.

Freedman was invited to speak at the school by John Edgar Platt in March 1940 just six months before the school was the close, focusing on the subject of 'The Artist Today'. Platt invited artists to speak about their experiences in the art world and Freedman was one of a number of well known practitioners to speak to the students throughout the 1930's and early 1940's.

Barnett Freedman, Christmas Card 1950's and detail of signature above, signed, collection of the author.

Freedman also designed Christmas Cards and this is the main excuse for this entry to offer Christmas wishes to anyone who has taken the time to read my blog this year. Also thanks must go to friends and colleagues who have listened with interest to my mad ravings when I have made been able to make links between British Art and the Blackheath School of Art. 

A Brief Introduction to the Blackheath School of Art

Blackheath Art School: An Introduction and depictions of the local area

I am hopeful that this will be the beginning of an exploration of the history of the Blackheath School of Art through regular blogs focusing on artists and personalities connected with the school. Thanks must go to Sydney Thornbury who has encouraged my endless fascination with the 'lost history' and John Bartram of the Blackheath Society who expertly edited my research into a more easily understandable text. Anyway, here goes...

Two of the best known artists who attended the Blackheath Art School (now a part of the Conservatoire) as students did so before it closed for World War I and World War II. John Skeaping studied under Frederic Halnon in 1914 (at the age of thirteen) for one term before enrolling at Goldsmith’s. In his career he became one of the foremost equine artists in Britain, producing sculpture for the Getty family, and is perhaps best known for his “How to Draw Animals” books. Those who have closely followed the career of Barbara Hepworth may recall him as her first husband.

One of the last students at the school was Joan Eardley, who attended for two terms in late 1938 before enrolling at Goldsmith’s in 1939. She subsequently attended Glasgow School of Art and became one of the most admired Scottish modern artists through her touching paintings of Glaswegian children and depictions of the coastline at Catterline, Aberdeenshire.

The 1904 Blackheath School of Art students’ exhibition was reviewed in the Arts and Crafts Magazine which provides a fantastic resource of names for researchers. In the review a young student Percy Noel Boxer, whose watercolour 'capital' work was included amongst the praise for this medium at the school: ‘In water-colour painting… excellent studies were shown, evidencing a degree of practical appreciation of the capabilities of the medium not often met with in school work.’  His drawings of Charlton and Greenwich featured in the Studio Magazine in 1916 and he is renowned for his drawing of Limehouse and of Greenwich and its surrounds. Tragically, he died young after a long illness and today little is known about him, although his works definitely deserve another look.

Another student who featured in this exhibition was Nora Cundell who received the following mention about her exhibited work: ‘In spirited conception, at least, Miss Norah Cundell is not far behind Miss Stanton, in her Nursery Panel of a Children's Cake-Walk’. Cundell subsequently studied under Walter Sickert and in her later years travelled to Arizona to spend time in the desert painting cowboys and the Native American Indians. Her 1940 tome, Unsentimental Journey, describes one of her many trailblazing adventures and is full of simple yet descriptive line drawings of the characters she encountered there.

Blanche Goff also receive a mention for her metalwork describing Blanche’s ‘beaten silver work and enamel jewellery [as] deserv[ing] commendation’. Her sister Bertha Goff, who attended Holloway School of Art, continued with this career and her arts and crafts style jewellery is sought after today. One of the two sisters later became a teacher at the school as a B Goff is listed as a teacher of Enamelling in 1909.

One of the local artists who attended the school was privileged to study under some of the foremost British printmakers of the day. This was Meryl Watts who is perhaps best known for her striking depictions of Portmeirion which were made into postcards. Living in nearby Saint Germain’s Place, some of her early woodcuts show Blackheath as it looked in the 1930s. Watts also features in the records of the Music school, having attended from 1919 to the late 1920s, participating in physical education classes and piano lessons. Currently she is the first student we have evidence of attending both schools.

Blackheath, 1930’s by Meryl Watts

A plethora of new names have come to light from documents in the London Metropolitan Archives and the National Archives, Kew. Some have particular claims to fame, including Phillip Boydell who taught ceramics and design at the school in the 1920s and designed the typeface for the Festival of Britain (Festival Titling) in 1951 and various iconic advertising images. Harold Nelson was a renowned bookplate artist who taught Black and White Illustration, according to the 1909 prospectus. He also designed a stamp for the 1929 postal union conference and worked for Punch magazine. A well-known local artist Hugh Bellingham Smith taught the ‘Study of the Figure’ (Life Drawing/ Painting) in 1909 and he painted numerous landscapes and works that survive depicting nearby Greenwich Park.

Children in Greenwich Park, sold at Bonham’s 2010, by Hugh Bellingham Smith

Placing existing works into the context of the Art School has been one of the most exciting parts of this research. The first discovered extant piece of ceramics, and also the earliest piece from the school, is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The vase, created by Frances A Baker, was made in 1901. 

John Edgar Platt and Charles Paine, two esteemed printmakers, worked together at the school in the 1930s and both men produced advertising posters for London Transport. A work by Platt, The Lamb, appeared at auction at Bamford’s in the summer of 2015 and is inscribed ‘From JP to CP, 1934.’ It is, along with the vase in the V&A, one of a few artworks that are documented as having been completed at the school.

Michael Platt, the son of the principal, John Edgar Platt, studied at the school in the 1930s, later becoming a painter and teacher of art. One of his paintings depicted Blackheath during the war portraying how the Heath appeared in World War II looking towards Shooter’s Hill in the background.

Barrage Balloons and Tank Traps, Blackheath by Michael Platt, 1940 sold at Cheffins 2011

In the past the art school has been associated with Eric Gill as he was a guest lecturer in 1939. This is slightly unfair as other eminent artists and art historians including Muirhead Bone, Francis Dodd, Barnett Freedman and James Laver either delivered lectures or gave out awards at prize-giving events here.

There is a wealth of material surviving in the archives of the Conservatoire relating to its music school but very little original material that belongs to the art school before its 1940 closure. Neil Rhind’s research provided a starting point along with some interesting letters from Margaret T Holden Jones, Douglas Percy Bliss and Norman Sillman which provided names to look into.

The pride of the archive is the 1931 prospectus with names of teachers and a beautiful frontispiece which looks as though it may have been designed by James Woodford, but what happened to the art school’s original documents from this period remains a mystery. Various possibilities have been suggested, for example that John Edgar Platt, the principal at the time of the 1940 closure, was not interested in keeping paperwork, that the material was destroyed when David Moir Carnegie’s house was destroyed by bombs or that it was left on a bus. Spencer Jones, the Chairman of the school’s board of governors at its closure, had the final word, writing in a letter to Mr Houghton of the London County Council on 22 June 1959 that all the material, including minute books and accounts were destroyed when Moir Carnegie’s house was bombed.

These names are just a fraction of the people who either studied or taught at Blackheath, Greenwich, Lee and Lewisham School of Art before its closure in 1940. Hopefully more names will come to light to further enhance its reputation as a respected and renowned school. The Conservatoire waiting room has on display works by a number of the artists mentioned here, so please feel free to come and have a look.