Rex Whistler

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Rex Whistler: Self-Portrait (1934)
Rex Whistler: Self-Portrait in Welsh Guards Uniform (1940)

Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (born June 24, 1905 in Eltham, Greater London , † July 18, 1944 in Caen , France ) was an English painter , designer and illustrator .

biography

Rex Whistler was the son of Henry and Helen Frances Mary Whistler. He had a younger brother, Laurence (1912-2000). From May 1919 he attended the Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertford , where he soon showed his artistic talent and made numerous sketches and set designs for game productions. The young Whistler was later admitted to the Royal Academy of Arts , but was hostile to the system and was fired "for incompetence."

He then began to study at the Slade School of Fine Art , where he met Stephen Tennant , a young aristocrat, son of Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner and member of the Jeunesse dorée , who was one of his best friends and a role model for some of his characters Works was. Through Tennant he later met Edith Olivier , the poet Siegfried Sassoon and his wife Hester, with whom Whistler developed a deep friendship. Together with Mary Adshead he created a large mural in Wapping in the early 1920s .

After leaving the Slade School of Fine Art, he embarked on a career as a professional artist. His work encompassed all areas of art and design. He worked as a decorative painter and set designer in the West End theaters in London and made book illustrations, a. a. for works by Evelyn Waugh and Walter de la Mare and especially for Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift . Whistler also engaged in landscape painting , portraiture, and trompe-l'oeil .

His most famous work at the beginning of his career in 1927 was the illusionistic wall painting in the restaurant of the Tate Gallery . Whistler was only 22 years old at the time. He then made posters and illustrations for Shell Petroleum and the Radio Times . Together with Pierre Fix-Masseau and AM Cassandre, he was one of the leading poster draftsmen of the Art Deco era . He also designed ceramics for Wedgwood & Co. Ltd. Whistler's elegance and wit in his painting style also ensured his success as a portrait artist. He painted many members of London society, including Edith Sitwell and Cecil Beaton . The tabloids counted him among the Bright Young Things , a group of young aristocrats and public figures in the 1920s.

Charles Paget , the 6th Marquess of Anglesey , commissioned him in the 1930s to make a large mural as a capriccio in the dining room at Plas Newydd . During this time he made friends with Lady Caroline Paget, the daughter of the landlord. How close this relationship was has not yet been clarified. He painted numerous portraits of her, including one unusual nude. It is not known whether Lady Caroline actually made herself available as a model or whether Whistler made the painting from memory or fantasy.

When World War II broke out, he immediately tried to be accepted into the army and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Welsh Guards in 1940 . A well-known self-portrait came from this period, showing him on York Terrace in Regent's Park in London in Welsh Guards uniform. Even in his military service he continued to paint and draw and also made some portraits of his service comrades. In 1944 he was sent to France after the Allied landings in Normandy .

In July 1944, he was with a tank division in Normandy, which advanced east of Caen inland. On July 18 , after crossing a railway embankment , his tank drove over some telegraph wires that became tangled in the chains. He and the crew got out to remove the wire from the tank when a German machine gunner opened fire on them, preventing them from climbing back into the tank. Whistler stormed across an open field to another tank to order its commander, Sergeant Lewis Sherlock, to return fire. As he climbed down from the tank, a mortar shell exploded next to him. He was thrown through the air and killed instantly on impact by a broken neck . It was the first death the battalion had suffered since landing.

The body of Rex Whistler was first buried on site, later exhumed and buried in the cemetery of Banneville-la-Campagne in the Calvados department, 3 km away . His grave is still in this military cemetery today. Among the many works by Rex Whistler from his service is a pencil portrait of Sergeant Sherlock. In memory of his brother, Laurence Whistler published a number of books and made a glass engraving which is in the morning chapel of Salisbury Cathedral .

Selection of works

Portraits

Mural

  • The Tate Gallery Restaurant Mural (1926)

  • Mural Painting at Dorneywood (1928)

  • Staircase Hall at 36 Hill Street, London (1936)

  • Dining Room Mural at Plas Newydd

Stage sets

Illustrations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Joachim Möller: Georgian Grace: Rex Whistler's Framing for Jonathan Swift's “Gulliver's Travels” . In: ders. (Ed.): Cartridges. Shape and message of an ornament . Dinslaken 2018, pp. 117–147.

literature

Illustrations (selection)

  • Jonathan Swift : Gulliver's Travels (1930)
  • Beverley Nichols: Down the Garden Path (1933)
  • Beverley Nichols: A Thatched Roof (1933)
  • Beverley Nichols: A Village in A Valley (1934)
  • Isak Dinesen : Seven Gothic Tales (1934)
  • Constance Wright: Silver Collar Boy (1935)
  • Hans Christian Andersen : Fairy Tales and Legends (1935)
  • Laurence Whistler: The Emperor Heart (1937)
  • Alfred Edward Woodley Mason : Konigsmark (1938)
  • Walter de la Mare : Desert Islands (1939)
  • Walter de la Mare: Robinson Crusoe (1939)
  • Simon Harcourt-Smith: The last of Uptake or The estranged sisters (1942)
  • Rex Whistler: An Anthology of Mine. Pimpernel Press 2015, ISBN 9781910258156 .

Work editions

  • Laurence Whistler :! Oho! The Bodley Head 1946.
  • Laurence Whistler: The Masque - Designs for the Theater By Rex Whistler. The Curtain Press 1948.
  • Laurence Whistler: Rex Whistler: The Konigsmark Drawings. The Richards Press 1951.
  • Laurence Whistler: Aha. John Murray, London 1978, ISBN 978-0719535741 .

Biographies

  • Laurence Whistler: Rex Whistler, 1905-1944. His life and drawings. Art & Technics 1948.
  • Laurence Whistler, Ronald Fuller: The Work of Rex Whistler. Batsford 1960.
  • Laurence Whistler: Laughter and the Urn: Life of Rex Whistler. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. 1987, ISBN 978-0297790211 .
  • Jenny Spencer-Smith: Rex Whistler's War. Artist Into Tank Commander. National Army Museum 1994, ISBN 9780901721310 .
  • Hugh Cecil, Mirabel Cecil: In Search of Rex Whistler: His Life and His Work. Frances Lincoln 2000, ISBN 9780711232303 .
  • Stephen Calloway: Rex Whistler: The Triumph of Fancy. Royal Pavilion Libraries & Museums 2006, ISBN 9780948723674 .
  • Hugh Cecil, Mirabel Cecil: Rex Whistler Inspiration. Pimpernel Press 2015, ISBN 9781910258422 .
  • Hugh Cecil, Mirabel Cecil: Rex Whistler: Inspirations - Family, Friendships, Landscapes. Pimpernel Press 2015, ISBN 9781910258194 .
  • Hugh Cecil, Mirabel Cecil: Rex Whistler: Inspirations - Love and War. Pimpernel Press 2015, ISBN 9781910258019 .
  • Anna Thomasson: A Curious Friendship: The Story of a Bluestocking and a Bright Young Thing. Macmillan 2015, ISBN 9781447245537 .

Web links

Commons : Rex Whistler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Whistler, Rex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Whistler, Reginald John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English painter, designer and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Eltham, Greater London
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1944
Place of death Caen , France