Richard Eurich
Richard Ernst Eurich RA | |
---|---|
Born | Richard Ernst Eurich 14 March 1903 |
Died | 6 June 1992 Southampton, Hampshire, England | (aged 89)
Education |
|
Known for | Painter |
Richard Ernst Eurich,
Biography
Early life
Richard Eurich was born in Bradford. He was the second of five children born to Dr Friederich Wilhelm Eurich, a professor of forensic medicine and a bacteriologist known for his research into the disease anthrax. Richard was sent to St George's School, Harpenden at the age of ten and then attended
Whilst still a student, Eurich met
World War Two
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Dunkirk_Beaches%2C_1940_Art.IWMARTLD2277.jpg/220px-Dunkirk_Beaches%2C_1940_Art.IWMARTLD2277.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/The_Raid_on_the_Bruneval_Radio-location_Station%2C_27th-28th_February_1942_Art.IWMARTLD3475.jpg/220px-The_Raid_on_the_Bruneval_Radio-location_Station%2C_27th-28th_February_1942_Art.IWMARTLD3475.jpg)
In June 1940 Eurich wrote to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, suggesting the withdrawal from Dunkirk as a subject, as he had previously painted in the port at Dunkirk. Although WAAC had already commissioned a large painting from Charles Cundall on the withdrawal, they agreed to Eurich's suggestion. His panoramic painting of the Dunkirk beaches made his name overnight when it was shown at the National Gallery in August 1940, alongside Cundall's treatment of the same subject.[3]
After completing his Dunkirk painting and a number of other short-term commissions for WAAC, Eurich was given a full-time commission to paint Admiralty subjects. This commission lasted from 1941 to 1945 during which time he painted, sometimes, epic reconstructions of battle scenes, depictions of survival stories and also simpler paintings of ships and boats.
Eurich first had a picture exhibited at the
Commissions and teaching
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Preparations_for_D-day_Art.IWMARTLD4587.jpg/220px-Preparations_for_D-day_Art.IWMARTLD4587.jpg)
Following the War, when it was difficult to make a living as a painter, Eurich accepted a range of commissions. Amongst these was one from Evelyn Waugh to depict the interior of a Dakota aircraft about to crash (called The Pleasures of Travel, 1951), which he painted in 1953. Also in 1953 he painted the Queen's Coronation for an illustrated newspaper. Then in 1956 came the Rededication of Rouen Cathedral.[citation needed]
From 1958 to 1965 he did a series for the Shell Shilling Guides of various counties. The Esso Oil Refinery at Fawley in Hampshire was close to where he lived and in 1960 he painted a picture of "The Seven Sisters", the name given to a group of pressurised spheres.[citation needed]
In 1968 he painted the large diptych depicting Whitby Harbour and Chatsworth House for the Teaching Hospital in Sheffield. Unfortunately this is not on show at present as the building was redesigned and there is no space for them. This is the only work he ever did in acrylic as it was deemed less reflective than oil paint.[citation needed]
From 1949 till 1968 Richard taught part-time at
Later life
In 1958 Eurich wrote an as yet unpublished autobiographical fragment called "As the Twig is Bent" which records his early life until the end of his student days.[citation needed]
After World War Two, the Redfern only exhibited abstract art so Eurich started a five-year association with Arthur Tooth and Sons, but from 1973 he began to exhibit at the Fine Art Society who championed his work for the rest of his life.[citation needed]
In 1951 and 1980 there were retrospective exhibitions organised by the Bradford Art Galleries. The second of these toured to Southampton, London and Glasgow. In 1981 he won the first Hunting Art Prize for oil painting with his picture "Weymouth Bay 1980".[10] In 1981 he was given an OBE and in 1989 an Hon D Litt from Bradford University.[citation needed] In 1991 the Imperial War Museum, assisted by the Fine Art Society, put on a retrospective exhibition which, although he was ill, Eurich managed to attend.[citation needed]
Family and friends
In 1934 Eurich married Mavis Pope, a teacher at Southlands Training College in Wimbledon and the daughter of a Methodist minister. The couple set up home in the New Forest where Mavis' parents were and they had four children. Crispin, the eldest (b. 1935) became a successful photographer but he died of a brain tumour in 1976 at the age of 40. Joanna died in infancy in 1945. Caroline (b. 1942) and Philippa (b. 1947) survive.[citation needed]
Eurich was a shy man but formed several lasting friendships.
Further reading
- "Bradford's Own" Derek A J Lister. Sutton Publishing ISBN 0-7509-3826-9
- "British Landscape Painters" Charles Hemming. Victor Gollancz ISBN 0-575-03957-4
- "British Painters of the Coast and Sea" Charles Hemming. Victor Gollancz ISBN 0-575-03956-6
- "Art in Poole and Dorset" Peter Davies. Poole Historical Trust ISBN 0-9504914-6-2
- "Every Picture Tells a Story" Rolf Harris. Phaedon ISBN 0-7148-2554-9
- "I Spy Transport in Art" Lucy Micklethwaite. Collins 1996 ISBN 0-00-198181-1
- "Marine Painting" William Gaunt. Secker and Warburg ISBN 0-436-17315-8
- "Portrait of the Artist" ISBN 0-946657-24-6
- "An Art Accustomed Eye: John Gibbs and Art Appreciation in Wales 1945–1996" Peter, Wakelin 2004 ISBN 0-7200-0555-8
- "Twentieth Century British Marine Painting" Denys Brook-Hart Antique Collectors Club Ltd ISBN 0-902028-90-1
- "The Gentle Eye" photographs by Crispin Eurich, with introduction by Vivien Cutting. Self-published by the Eurich family 1979, probably coincident with exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery, central London. Printed by Unwin Brothers Limited, Old Woking, Surrey. No ISBN.
- "Richard Eurich (1903 – 1992) Visionary Artist" (2003), ISBN 1-903470-11-0
- "Richard Eurich: From Dunkirk to D-Day" (1991), published by the Imperial War Museum to accompany the exhibition. Includes an essay by Nicholas Usherwood with additions by Angela Weight.
- "The Edge of All the Land: Richard Eurich 1903 – 1992" (1994) by Southampton Art Gallery to coincide with a Memorial Exhibition with an introduction by Nicholas Usherwood. This exhibition toured to Manchester City Art Gallery, Cartwright Hall Bradford and Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich.
References
- ^ ISBN 1-85149-106-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-7181-2314-X.
- ^ Imperial War Museum. "Correspondence with Artists - Richard Eurich". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-10890-3.
- ^ Tate. "Display caption - Survivors from a Torpedoed Ship (1942)". Tate. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ Tate. "Display caption - The Landing at Dieppe, 19th August 1942 (1942-43)". Tate. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- Royal Academy. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-7537-2468-2.
- ISBN 1-85149-180-5.
- ^ "The Hunting Art Prizes" (PDF). Hunting plc. p. 13. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)