John Collier (painter)
Pre-Raphaelite; Orientalist | |
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John Maler Collier
Family
Collier was from a talented and successful family. His grandfather, John Collier, was a Quaker merchant who became a member of parliament. His father, Robert, ( was a member of parliament, Attorney General and, for many years, a full-time judge of the Privy Council) was created the first Lord Monkswell. He was also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, and had artists' studios in his home at 7 Chelsea Embankment for the use of John and his wife Marion.[2] John Collier's elder brother, the second Lord Monkswell, was Under-Secretary of State for War and Chairman of the London County Council.
In due course, Collier became an integral part of the family of
In 1889 Collier married Mady's younger sister Ethel Huxley.[3] Until the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 such a marriage was not possible in England, so the ceremony took place in Norway. By his second wife he had a daughter and a son, Sir Laurence Collier, who was the British Ambassador to Norway 1941–1951.
Subjects
Collier's range of portrait subjects was broad. In 1893, for example, his subjects included Lovelace Stamer, Bishop of Shrewsbury; Sir John Lubbock FRS; A N Hornby (Captain of the Lancashire Eleven); Edward Augustus Inglefield (Admiral and Arctic explorer).
His commissioned portrait of the
.Other subjects included two
A photocopy of John Collier's Sitters Book (made in 1962 from the original in the possession of the artist's son) can be consulted in the Heinz Archive and Library, National Portrait Gallery.[6] This is the artist's own handwritten record of all his portraits, including name of subject, date, fee charged, and details of any major exhibitions of the picture in question.[7]
Posthumous reputation
Collier died in 1934. His entry in the Dictionary of National Biography (volume for 1931–40, published 1949) compares his work to that of Frank Holl because of its solemnity. This is only true, however, of his many portraits of distinguished old men – his portraits of younger men, women and children, and his so-called "problem pictures", covering scenes of ordinary life, are often very bright and fresh.
His entry in the Dictionary of Art (1996 vol 7, p569), by Geoffrey Ashton, refers to the invisibility of his brush strokes as a "rather unexciting and flat use of paint" but contrasts that with "Collier's strong and surprising sense of colour" which "created a disconcerting verisimilitude in both mood and appearance".
The Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920 (1997) describes his portraits as "painterly works with a fresh use of light and colour".
Public collections
Sixteen of John Collier's paintings are now in the collections of the
A 1907 self-portrait has been preserved in the Uffizi in Florence which presumably commissioned it as part of its celebrated collection of artists' self-portraits.
Other pictures may be seen in houses and institutions open to the public: his
Reproductions of many others, from various collections, may be consulted in the John Collier box in the National Portrait Gallery Heinz Archive and Library, and a good selection is published in The Art of the Honourable John Collier by W.H. Pollock (1914). His work was also included in the Great Victorian Pictures exhibition mounted by the Arts Council in 1978 (catalogue, p27).
Views on ethics and religion
Collier's views on religion and ethics are interesting for their comparison with the views of
- "It [the book The Religion of an Artist] is mostly concerned with ethics apart from religion ... I am looking forward to a time when ethics will have taken the place of religion ... My religion is really negative. [The benefits of religion] can be attained by other means which are less conducive to strife and which put less strain on upon the reasoning faculties."[8]: ?
On secular morality:
- "My standard is frankly utilitarian. As far as morality is intuitive, I think it may be reduced to an inherent impulse of kindliness towards our fellow citizens."[8]: ?
His views on ethics, then, were very close to the agnosticism of T.H. Huxley and the humanism of Julian Huxley.
On the idea of God:
- "People may claim without much exaggeration that the belief in God is universal. They omit to add that superstition, often of the most degraded kind, is just as universal."[8]: ?
And
- "An omnipotent Deity who sentences even the vilest of his creatures to eternal torture is infinitely more cruel than the cruellest man."[8]: ?
And on the Church:
- "To me, as to most Englishmen, the triumph of Roman Catholicism would mean an unspeakable disaster to the cause of civilization."[8]: ?
And on non-conformists:
- "They have a superstitious belief in the actual words of the Bible which is very dangerous".[8]: ?
Publications
- A primer of art
- A Manual of Oil Painting, 1886
- The Art of Portrait Painting, 1905
- The religion of an artist, 1926
Gallery
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The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson (1881)
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Cassandra (1885)
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Priestess of Delphi (1891)
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In the Forest of Arden (or Touchstone and Audrey) (1892)
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All Hallowe'en (1895)
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Fire (c. 1900)
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Egg dance (1903)
See also
- List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings – including the work of John Collier
References
- ^ Browne, Janet 2002. Charles Darwin: the power of place. Cape, London p. 487–488.
- ^ a b "Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea". British History Online. Victoria County History, 2004. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ "Collier, Hon. John". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 362.
- ^ Here and elsewhere, the source is Collier's notebook, in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
- ^ Clark R.W. 1968. The Huxleys. p98
- ^ "John Collier". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- ^ "In search of John Collier". The Painters Keys. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Collier, J. (1926). The Religion of an Artist. London, UK: Watts.[page needed]
External links
- Media related to John Collier at Wikimedia Commons
- John Collier at Find a Grave
- John Collier at the Art Renewal Center
- Collection of John Collier's pictures at ArtMagick.com
- 182 artworks by or after John Collier at the Art UK site