Ernest Procter

Ernest Procter
Born 1886
Tynemouth, Northumberland, England
Died 1935
North Shields, England
Nationality English
Education Forbes’ School of Painting, Atelier Colarossi
Known for Painter, illustrator
Movement Newlyn School
Spouse(s) Dod Procter

Ernest Procter ARA (1886–1935) was an English designer, illustrator and painter, and husband to artist Dod Procter. He was actively involved with the Newlyn School, partner of the Harvey-Procter School and an instructor at the Glasgow School of Art.[1][2]

Personal life and education

Ernest Procter was born into a Quaker family in 1886 in Tynemouth, Northumberland. His father, Henry Richardson Procter was a scientist and a Leeds University professor who specialized in leather chemistry. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1][3]

Procter, like his father, attended school first in York at the Quaker Bootham School[4] in York, New Yorkshire. From 1907 to 1910 he was a student of Stanhope Forbes at the Forbes’ School of Painting in Newlyn, Cornwall. He contributed to the school's publication, The Paper Chase in 1908 and 1909, was an assistant to Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes, and was a successful, well-respected student.[1][2] At Forbes Procter met his future wife Doris "Dod" Shaw; They were "amongst the Forbes' star pupils."[2][3]

In 1910 and 1911 Procter studied in Paris at Atelier Colarossi. Dod Shaw also was a student at Atelier Colarossi. Ernest and Dod were both influenced by Impressionism and Post-impressionism and the artists that they met in France, such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne. In 1912 Procter married Dod at the church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris.[1][2][5] They had a son together named Bill and stayed in Paris until 1918.[5][6]

Influential artists' works

In 1918 Procter and his wife returned to Newlyn, where they primarily lived from that point forward. On 21 October 1935, after years of high blood pressure, Procter died of a cerebral haemorrhage in North Shields while travelling.[1][3][7]

World War I

During the war Procter served in France working for the Friends' Ambulance Service,[1] or perhaps more specifically the British Red Cross in Dunkirk.[6]

Career

After the war, Dod and Ernest Procter returned to Newlyn where Ernest was a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. In 1920 Ernest and Harold Harvey established the Harvey-Procter School.[1][6] They taught painting of still life, figures and landscapes in watercolour and oil.[3] He and his wife, Dod, accepted a commission to decorate the Kokine Palace in 1919 and 1920.[1][6]

Procter created in 1931 what he called Diaphenicons, which were "painted and glazed decorations that provided their own light source." Leicester Galleries exhibited these works.[1]

The Glasgow School of Art appointed him Director of Studies in Design and Craft in 1934.[1][3]

Works

Procter's works included portraits and landscapes.[6]

Paintings

  • All the Fun of the Fair[6]
  • Aphrodite[6]
  • Delphiniums, 1907[1]** Earth, Water, Fire, Air, 1928[1]
  • Feather leaves, 1934, a painted ceramic plate, Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[8][nb 1]
  • Helston Flora Dance, 1926[1]
  • Mother & Child, 1924[1]
  • Malo Gate, Dunkirk, 1924[1]
  • Night and Evening[6]
  • Porthgwarra, oil on canvas, Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[3]
  • Rising Tide, 1936, Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[1][9]
  • Spring Hawthorn[1]
  • The Edge of the Shadow, 1921, for a Royal Academy Exhibition[1]
  • The Four Elements[6]
  • The Mischievous Boy[6]
  • The Road to Sancreed[1]
  • The Terrace, 1921[1]
  • The Zodiac, 1925, oil on canvas, Tate[7]
  • Those Who Dare[6]
  • Versailles, 1921[1]

Portraits

Church or other commissions

  • St Mary's Church altar screen, Chapel Street, Penzance - which in 1985 was destroyed during a fire[1]
  • Kokine Palace decorations, Rangoon, 1920 with his wife Dod.[1][nb 2]
  • St Hilary Church:
    • Depicted St Mawes, St Kevin and St Neot for the St Hilary Church pulpit[11]
    • Reredos of the Altar of the Dead for the St Hilary Church[11]
    • Visitation, 1933, St Hilary Church[1]
    • Deposition, 1935, St Hilary Church[1]
    • Dod also made works for the St Hilary Church.[2] Ernest and Dod's works are still on view at the church.[3]

World War I

  • Etaples, The Convoy Yard, 1918, pencil and watercolour, Imperial War Museum, Gift of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1920[12]
  • Nissen Huts, St Omer, chalk and gouache, Imperial War Museum, Gift of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1920[13]
  • The Interior of a Garage, Boulogne', pastel drawing, Imperial War Museum, Gift of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1920[14]
  • The Interior of the BRCS and Order of St John Garage, Boulogne, pastel drawing, Imperial War Museum, Gift of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1920[15]

Book illustrations and other works

  • Crowns Mine, Botallack, pencil drawing. Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[16]
  • In Newlyn (untitled). Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[17]
  • No Breakfast for Growler, 1901, book illustrations. Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[18]
  • Young Witches at Play in the Night Sky, pastel drawing. Penlee House Gallery and Museum.[19]

Museums and galleries

His works are part of collections at the Imperial War Museum, Tate, Leeds, Newcastle, Penlee House Gallery and Museum, and Worthing / Adelaide.[1]

Memberships

He was a member or affiliated with the following organizations:[1][7]

  • Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA), from 1932
  • International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Engravers (IS), from 1925
  • New English Art Club (NEAC), from 1929
  • Newlyn Art Gallery (NAG), also called the Passmore Edwards Art Gallery, Newlyn, Cornwall
  • Newlyn Society of Artists (NSA), Newlyn, Cornwall - member from 1924 to 34, trustee 1928 to 34
  • Royal Academy, from 1921

Exhibitions

Procter's work was exhibited:[1][7]

  • 1904 +: Newlyn Art Gallery (NAG) - starting 1904, first sale 1909
  • 1913: Fine Art Gallery
  • 1916 +: International Society
  • Leicester Galleries
  • Royal Academy (49)
  • Leicester Galleries (99)

Memorial exhibitions in 1936:[7]

  • Leicester Galleries
  • Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle

Posthumous:[1]

  • 1985: Painting in Newlyn 1900-1930, Newlyn Art Gallery (NAG) & Barbican Art Gallery
  • 1987: Looking West, Paintings inspired by Cornwall
  • 1989: A Century of Art in Cornwall, CCC centenary, Truro
  • 1990: Dod Procter RA and Ernest Procter ARA, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
  • 1992: Royal West of England Academy, Bristol: Artists from Cornwall

Gallery

Notes

  1. ↑ Produced in Bizarre by Clarice Cliff. Made for October 1934 Harrod's Exhibition.
  2. ↑ The eastern aesthetic influenced his subsequent works.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 Ernest Procter. Cornwall Artists. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Ernest Procter. Brown University, The Modernists Journal Project. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Ernest Proctor. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Bootham School Register. York, England: BOSA. 2011. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dod Proctor Cornwall Artists. 3 October 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 Ernest Procter Art Magick. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 The Zodiac. Tate. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Feather leaves. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Rising Tide. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Ernest Procter. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Melissa Hardie. 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery. Hypatia Publications; 1 June 1995. ISBN 978-1-872229-22-5. p. 1915. Note: previous page to where this link lands, ironically not a page 1914.
  12. ↑ Etaples, The Convoy Yard. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Nissen Huts, St Omer. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  14. ↑ The Interior of a Garage, Boulogne. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  15. ↑ The Interior of the BRCS and Order of St John Garage, Boulogne. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  16. ↑ Crowns Mine, Botallack. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  17. ↑ In Newlyn (untitled). Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  18. ↑ No Breakfast for Growler. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  19. ↑ Young Witches at Play in the Night Sky. Penlee House Gallery and Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ernest Procter.