SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL FLINT RA PRWS
Edinburgh 1880 - 1969 London
Ref: BZ 285
Griselda
Signed lower left: W. RUSSELL FLINT; signed, dated and inscribed on the reverse: “Griselda” / W Russell Flint / Painted quickly and very happily from Cecilia, June 1956. Signed and inscribed on the backboard: “Griselda” / W Russell Flint / Peel Cottage / 80 Peel Street / W8 / No.779 in the Royal Academy of 1958
Watercolour: 18 ½ x 22 ½ in / 47 x 57.1 cm
Frame size: 23 x 27 in / 58.4 x 68.6 cm
Provenance:
Cecilia Green, the artist’s model, given by the artist in 1956
Christie’s London, 5th November 1999, lot 65;
Richard Green, London;
private collection, 2000
Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 1958, no.779
Literature:
Keith S Gardner and Nigel D Clark, Sir William Russell Flint 1880-1969, 1986, pl.58, p.233
Famed as a watercolourist of remarkable technical skill, William Russell Flint also painted in oil and tempera and produced many etchings and drypoints. It was as an artist of feminine grace that he won universal acclaim, for his picturesque gypsies, flamenco dancers and languorous nudes and half draped beauties. For many years he also painted the landscapes and seascapes of England and Scotland, and travelled abroad, where he painted in Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France.
Born in Edinburgh in 1880, Flint was the eldest son of a commercial designer and watercolourist. He was educated at Daniel Stewart's College, and at the age of fourteen he took up a six year apprenticeship as a lithographic artist and designer with a firm of printers. He also attended evening classes at the Royal Institute School of Art.
Between 1902 and 1903 he worked as a commercial designer and magazine illustrator, and from 1902 to 1907 he was employed as a staff artist at Heatherley's Art School. He married Sybylle Sueter in 1905. Already a successful black and white draughtsman, he now turned to colour illustration and was commissioned by the Medici Society to make illustrations for several of their de luxe editions.
During the First World War, Flint served as a lieutenant in the RNVR and later as a captain in the RAF. He was attached to the RNAS Airship section from 1916 to 1918 and was Admirably Assistant Overseer on HM Airship R34 from 1918 to 1919.
After the war, Flint established his reputation as a painter, and became one of the most sought after artists of the day. Whilst his work won immediate favour with amateurs and connoisseurs alike, the exhibiting societies were also quick to give him official recognition. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1912, a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1917, and President of the latter from 1936-56. He was knighted in 1947, and accorded a one-man exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1962, the highest distinction that an artist can achieve during his lifetime.
