Charles Sims (painter)
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Charles Sims (1873 – 13 April 1928) was a British painter of portraits, landscapes, and decorative paintings.
[edit] Biography
Sims was born in Islington, London, the son of a costume manufacturer. He received his art education in London in the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools, and in Paris in the ateliers of Julian and Baschet. Quickly gaining critical and academic success, he became a fellow of the Royal Academy and the Royal Water Colour Society. He specialized in neo-classical allegories (e.g. 'the Fountain') and society portraits.
The First World War proved to be a traumatic experience for Sims, from which he never recovered. His eldest son was killed, and Sims was unbalanced by what he witnessed in France where he was sent as a war artist in 1918. He experienced hallucinations and sleeplessness. His subsequent paintings, termed 'Spirituals', often show signs of the mental disturbance (e.g. 'I am the Abyss and I am Light'). He resigned his post at the Royal Academy Schools in 1926. In 1928, Sims committed suicide, shooting himself at his home in St. Boswells, Scotland.
A reference to Charles Sims and his work is made in Robert Aickman's strange story 'Ravissante', where his paintings are described as 'apparently confused on the surface, even demented, they made one doubt while one continued to gaze, whether the painter had not in truth broken through to a deep and terrible order.'
