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Ad Code: 4
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from Auction House Records.
Man painting lips of ship's figurehead
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following is from a November 7, 2003 San Francisco Public Library Announcement for the Exhibit, "Arthur Watts":
Arthur Watts was a well known British illustrator and artist whose humorous cartoons and drawings were a regular part of Punch magazine from 1921 until his tragic death in 1935. Born in England in 1883, Arthur Watts grew up "only wanting to draw" (and ruined all his school exercise books with funny drawings in the margins).
He entered the Slade Art School at the age of 17, and from there he went to the Free Arts Schools in Antwerp and then to Paris, "Where I learnt little about drawing and a lot about living." By 1904 he was making a modest living, drawing for such papers as the Tatler, the Bystander, Pearson's and London Opinion. His first contribution to Punch Magazine was made in 1912; it wasn't until 1921 that his cartoons and drawings became a regular feature for the magazine.
During the 1920's and 30's class distinctions were social fault-lines that ran through Britain. Many of Arthur Watts' "birds-eye view" drawings are acute observations of different accents, vocabulary, dress, drinking habits and table manners, with his sharpest barbs aimed at the 'modern' art of the period. Never intended to be spiteful or cruel, his humor instead poked fun at social climbers, the nouveau riche, day trippers, and hen-pecked husbandsfigures still with us today. Sadly, on his way home from Italy Arthur Watts' life was cut short in a plane crash in July 1935.
Information submitted as a bulletin by: Robert Garvin |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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