Alfred Thomson

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Alfred Reginald Thomson RA (born December 10, 1894 in Bangalore , British India , † October 27, 1979 in London ) was a British graphic artist and painter . His work includes illustrations, caricatures, portraits, and wall paintings. He was the last artist to win a gold medal for painting in the Olympics .

Life

Alfred Thomson was born in Bangalore, India, in 1895, where his father worked as an administrator. He was deaf from birth and grew up in England. There he attended the Royal School for Deaf Children ( Royal School for Deaf and Mute Children ) in Margate . Thomson began his artistic career as a commercial artist and designed, for example, movie posters for the Vitagraph Company . He also worked as a cartoonist and illustrator. He drew scenes from Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour based on the novel by Robert Smith Surtees for Badminton magazine . The influence of Augustus John is evident in his early portrait paintings . In addition, he designed several wall paintings. These include scenes from the novel The Pickwickiers by Charles Dickens , which he painted for the Duncannon Arms Hotel in London, or a room decoration that was created for the Palais de Danse in Derby .

In the 1920s he participated in several major art exhibitions. In 1920 he exhibited works at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, was represented in the exhibition of paintings by younger artists from Germany, England, France and the United States in the Berlin National Gallery in 1926, and in 1927 was a participant in the masterpieces of English painting show from 3 centuries in the Vienna Secession . In World War II Alfred Thomson was Official War Artist ( Official War Artist ) of the Royal Air Force . During this time he painted numerous portraits of members of the army, but also created pictures such as A High Explosive Bomb in High Street, Kensington, 18th February 1944 , in which he documented the air raids on London. In 1945 Thomson became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. He took in 1948 at the art competition of the London Olympics in part and received for his painting The London Amateur Boxing Championship held at the Royal Albert Hall (also briefly London Amateur Championships , German: London amateur championships ) a gold medal.

Thomson's works can be found in London's Tate Gallery ( Sister Fry ) and the Imperial War Museum (several works). Thomson died in London in 1979.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Image on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London.
  2. ↑ Image on the Tate Gallery website.
personal data
SURNAME Thomson, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thomson, Alfred Reginald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British printmaker and painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Bangalore
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1979
Place of death London