Lewis Pinhorn Wood

Lewis Pinhorn Wood
Born 1848
Died 7 November 1918
Nationality British
Other names L. Pinhorn Wood
Occupation landscapist, watercolourist

Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1848–1918) was a British landscapist and watercolourist, best known for his rural scenes of Sussex and Surrey. In the tradition of the Victorian era, his work depicted idyllic scenes of rural life across the home counties.

Personal life

Born in Middlesex in 1848, his father was Lewis John Wood (1813–1901),[1] the 19th-century architectural artist and lithographer renowned principally for his specialisation in architectural scenes from across Belgium and Northern France. In 1875 he married Louisa Howard Watson in the church of St Saviour in Hampstead, Middlesex. They had four children; the illustrator and designer Clarence Lawson Wood (1878–1957), Eveline, Esmond and Enid.

In early married life Pinhorn Wood lived and worked at Burnside in the village of Shere, Surrey,[2] before moving to Highgate, London, and latterly to Homefield Road in Chiswick.[2] In later life he lived in Pevensey, Sussex, where he registered as a member of the Sussex Archaeological Society[3] in 1910, and died on 7 November 1918.

Career

Early fishing village (undated) by Lewis Pinhorn Wood

Early in his career, Pinhorn Wood continued his father’s Northern European interest with scenes such as 'Rue de Hallage, Rouen' (1869) and A Tyrolean Scene. He studied at the West London School of Art,[4] in Bolsover Street, Great Portland Street, when it opened it 1870, prior to its merger with Regent Street Polytechnic in 1882. Others involved in the School at this time included: his contemporary Weedon Grossmith, the writer, painter and actor; Claude Hayes, the watercolorist and landscapist; Herbert Lyndon, the oil painter and landscapist; and watercolorist Frederick Goodall (RA).

From the 1870s onward, Pinhorn Wood focussed on rural landscapes, working mainly in watercolour but occasionally in oil, across Sussex, Surrey and some London Boroughs. His work played into the Victorian era tradition of and appetite for idyllic, sentimental scenes of rural life. He exhibited regularly in London at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Dudley Gallery, and elsewhere.[5]

In 1890, aged 41 and with a young family of four, he wrote a story for children entitled "Harry Goodchild's Day Dream: A Tale".[6] The book was published in 28 pages by George Stoneman, who was based in Paternoster Row in the City of London.

He was elected to the Savage Club[7] sometime after 1890, when it was moved to Adelphi Terrace from Gordon’s Hotel in Covent Garden. He joined the ‘art’ category of its membership. Weedon Grossmith was also a member.

On 8 January 1895 The Mercury[8] mentioned a painting of Brockham village in Surrey by Pinhorn Wood among a 'fine collection of watercolour paintings' of assorted Scottish and English scenes, brought by a 'Miss Hodson' to be hung in the Colonial Gallery in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart for public appreciation. On 24 November 1908, a number of Pinhorn Wood's works featured in an auction of 'choice and specially selected English watercolours from the collection of Mrs Fletcher Johnson' in the exchange room of the town hall of Adelaide, South Australia. The paintings were auctioned by Theodore Bruce & Co, along with a number of his fellow members of the Dudley Gallery in Piccadilly, London. The Advertiser[9] described the sale as 'without doubt the Choicest Collection ever submitted under the hammer in South Australia'. On 22 May 1909 The Sun[10] of New Brunswick, Canada, reported from an exhibition in the city of St John that ‘‘Goathland Moor’, a charming watercolour by Pinhorn Wood, is full of warmth and light, giving out the true atmosphere of the wild moorlands with their multi-coloured foliage and bracken’. On 20 December 1921, work by Pinhorn Wood appeared alongside work by J W Turner and others in a sale at 12 Waterloo Street in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. The sale was described by The Argus[11] as 'an exceptionally fine collection of oil paintings and watercolours'. Works by Pinhorn Wood that have come under auction in Australia in recent years include 'Early Fishing Village' and 'A Surrey Common' (1904).[12]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ BBC Your Paintings: Lewis John Wood
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Esmond - Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents - Ancestry.com.au". Search.ancestry.com.au. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  3. ↑ Sussex Archaeological Society
  4. ↑ "Full text of "From studio to stage : reminiscences of Weedon Grossmith, written by himself"". Archive.org. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  5. ↑ "Wood (Lewis Pinhorn, 1870-1913). Landscape with - by Dominic Winter Auctions". Artfact.com. 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  6. ↑ Harry Goodchild's Day Dream: A Tale
  7. ↑ "ebooks/oca3/14/savageclubmedley00watsuoft/savageclubmedley00watsuoft_djvu". booksnow2.scholarsportal.info. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  8. ↑ "08 Jan 1895 - BRITISH WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS". Trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  9. ↑ "24 Nov 1908 - Advertising". Trove.nla.gov.au. 1908-11-24. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  10. ↑ "The St. John Sun - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  11. ↑ "10 Dec 1921 - Classified Advertising". Trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  12. ↑ "Pinhorn Wood - List All Works". Aasd.com.au. Retrieved 2014-03-16.