Charles Harris (painter)

Last updated

Charles Harris is a British painter, art instructor and teacher.

Contents

Harris is a British traditional artist who trained at the Royal Academy in London. He founded a movement called "New Traditional Art" and the Association Embracing Realist Art (AERA). He predominantly paints his landscapes enpleinair and his portraits in front of his subjects.

Personal life

Charles Harris completed both his BA and his MA at the Royal Academy. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy for both of these courses and has won several prizes during those years.

A British art critic, Brian Sewell commented on how Harris had "modestly eschewed these major prizes" in a review where he chose Harris as being, "One of the six best painters for the future." [1] Harris devoted much of his time to Art History under the tutelage of Prof. David Morris, former Royal Academy of Arts Historian. In support of his study, Harris spent most of his lunch hours at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London. In his third year at the Academy Harris was elected to the Livery in the Guild of Painter-Stainers and awarded the Freedom of the City of London becoming their youngest member at the time. [2] Harris wrote and presented a paper for the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers entitled: ‘The Necessity of Traditional Art’. This speech was subsequently incorporated into the curriculum of – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The late Peter Greenham RA, Former Keeper of the Royal Academy once said about Harris "Anyone wishing to pursue Traditional Art will find himself swimming against a stream of insensitive Modernism." This is also reflected in an article in The Scotsman. [3]

Upon leaving the Royal Academy, Harris began painting the portraits of many famous people as well as staging a series of one-man exhibitions in London and Surrey. Over an extensive period, he regularly received official portrait commissions from the worlds of Politics, the Church, the Military, Business, Entertainment, the Arts, Sport and Education.

Teaching career

Harris taught at every standard and level, from reception class, to sixth form in schools, plus talks and lectures at colleges and universities. His almost unbroken period of teaching and lecturing continues to the present day with Masterclasses and seminars overseas. Harris also pioneered the first ‘Artist in Residence’ scheme in schools, which was featured on a BBC Six O’Clock News programme. [4] [5]

In 1989 four years after finishing at the Royal Academy, Harris was awarded a Senior Academic Cultural Exchange Visit to Russia. Harris had to study Russian for 18 months to be able to qualify for this Award. He represented Great Britain visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pavlosk and the Baltic Coast with a speaking engagement at the Repin Institute of Arts in St. Petersburg. [6] Harris co-founded the ‘New Human Realists for New Traditional Art’ with Prof. David Morris, former Royal Academy Art Historian. They staged a huge exhibition of artworks, entitled ‘Artists For Peace’ Exhibition in Picadilly, London.

Harris has made submissions to a number of the Professional Societies at the Mall Galleries, including – the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours, the Pastel Society, the Freestanding Painters and Sculptors, the United Society of Artists, the New English Art Club and he became a member or an associate member of many of these Professional Societies at the Mall.

Appointments

In 1999, Harris was commissioned to paint the Queen of Swaziland. [7] Harris then received a picture request from Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. [8] [9] Two of his works are also held at St James's Palace for The Prince of Wales. [10] Former Prime Minister Tony Blair also has one of Harris' pictures.

Spending much of his life in England and Scotland both influenced his thinking and the nature of the artwork he completed. This led Harris to undertake the 'Round the World Painting Tour' for charity to Spain, Portugal, Thailand and Australia. Besides painting the portraits of many people, Harris also has an international reputation as a landscape painter. Harris practically always works entirely in front of the subject, outside in all weathers, anywhere in the world. [11]

In Scotland, Harris was invited to work on the film set of the motion picture Rob Roy , and completed pastel studies, watercolour and portraits drawings of Michael Caton-Jones, Bill Westley, John Hurt, Liam Neeson, Andrew Keir, Tim Roth, Jessica Lange as well as Karen Matheson, a member of the Scottish folk group Capercaillie. Harris also had a brief appearance in the film.

A world tour beginning at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow and included stops in Belfast, Dublin, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Russia, France, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Florence and Earls Court in London.

Major exhibitions

Restoration work

Harris received a commission from the Roman Catholic Church to support the restoration of a Scottish Monastery, with a series of other activities, including talks and Seminars to assist this charitable purpose. [17] Harris has also worked as a restorer of the old masters. Artists he has restored were: A painting of Venice by Canaletto (private collection); a major early Renaissance painting believed to be a Giotto (private collection); a number of Scottish painters including a Farquharson landscape (private collection); several John Duncan Fergusson landscapes (private collections).

Publications

Trust Your Eye: an Illustrated History of Painting. ISBN   978-0992698508.

Major portrait commissions

Along with numerous other commissions, portrait requests continue to the present. They have included:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Ramsay (artist)</span> Scottish portrait painter (1713–1784)

Allan Ramsay was a prominent Scottish portrait-painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Blackadder</span> Scottish painter and printmaker (1931–2021)

Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, Mrs Houston, was a Scottish painter and printmaker. She was the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Reid (Scottish artist)</span> Scottish artist (1841–1913)

Sir George Reid PRSA was a Scottish artist.

Alberto Morrocco was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his works featuring landscapes of Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his beach scenes and views of Venice.

Alison Watt OBE FRSE RSA is a British painter who first came to national attention while still at college when she won the 1987 Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Baird (artist)</span>

Edward Baird was a Scottish artist, known for his portrait painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Millie Dow</span> Scottish artist

Thomas Millie Dow was a Scottish artist and member of the Glasgow Boys school. He was a member of The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and the New English Art Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Coutts Michie</span> Scottish painter (1859–1919)

James Coutts Michie ARSA was a Scottish painter who specialised in landscapes and portraits.

William Bradley Lamond RBA (1857–1924) was a Scottish painter, born at Newtyle, Angus. He had no formal art training and worked for the Caledonian Railway company for many years. He initially specialised in portraits and later worked on landscapes which have been described as "vigorous impressionistic scenes in oil – with a strong use of colour". He was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1906, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy and Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

Calum Colvin is a Scottish artist whose work combines photography, painting, and installation, and often deals with issues of Scottish identity and culture and with the history of art. He has had solo exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and Royal Scottish Academy and has a number of works in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate Galleries, and the British Council. He is also Professor of Fine Art Photography and Programme Director, Art & Media at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of Dundee.

Victoria Elizabeth Crowe OBE, DHC, FRSE, MA (RCA) RSA, RSW is a Scottish artist known for her portrait and landscape paintings. She has works in several collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Royal Scottish Academy.

James Cowie was a Scottish painter and teacher. The quality of his portrait paintings and his strong linear style made him among the most individual Scottish painters of the 1920s and 1930s. His work displayed meticulous draughtsmanship which was based on his studies of the Old Masters and his use of many preparatory drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hutchison (sculptor)</span> Scottish sculptor (1832-1910)

John Hutchison was a Scottish sculptor based in Edinburgh. He was the son of an unnamed builder, and his artistic life began as a thirteen-year-old woodcarving apprentice. He attended art school in the evenings, then later became a student at the Trustees Academy. and attracted the patronage of its owner, Patrick Allan Fraser, who gave him commissions to fund his study in Rome. Although after Rome he continued to enjoy ancient Roman sculptural themes, he remained in Edinburgh for the rest of his life, working in wood, clay and marble, and concentrating on portraiture of Scottish people, and images of Scottish myth and history. He created the bust of Sir Walter Scott in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He was a successful artist who received commissions from Queen Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Bruce Thomson</span>

Adam Bruce Thomson OBE, RSA, PRSW or ‘Adam B’ as he was often called at Edinburgh College of Art, was a painter perhaps best known for his oil and water colour landscape paintings, particularly of the Highlands and Edinburgh. He is regarded as one of the Edinburgh School of artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrice Huntington</span> Scottish artist, sculptor and musician

Beatrice Huntington (1889–1988) was a Scottish artist, sculptor and musician exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute. A natural colourist, she is most celebrated as a portrait painter.

Barbara Balmer RSA was a Scottish artist and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Nasmyth</span> Scottish painter

Charlotte Nasmyth was a Scottish painter whose works were regarded at the time as "gems", and which are now included in the collections of the Scottish National Gallery and other museums.

Georgina Mossman Greenlees (1849–1932) was a Scottish artist known for her landscape painting. She was an advocate for art education and practice for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Weir Allan</span> English artist

Robert Weir Allan (1851–1942) was a Scottish-born painter known mainly for his depiction of landscape and marine subjects. He was born in Glasgow into a family that encouraged and valued his natural artistic ability. He exhibited at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts when aged 22, and two years later he had a painting selected for the Royal Academy, in London. In 1875–80 he attended the Académie Julian in Paris, and he was influenced by the French school of rustic naturalism and also by French Impressionism. Working plein-air, he developed a loose, painterly approach to landscape subjects. He was a prolific artist who travelled widely in Europe, India, Japan, the Middle East and America; however, he drew particular inspiration from the north-east coast of Scotland – a subject to which he returned throughout his life. He exhibited extensively in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and became vice-president of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours. He was equally at home with oil painting, and during his lifetime he had 84 paintings selected for exhibition at the Royal Academy. For the last 60 years of his life his home was in London, and he died there at the age of 90 in 1942.

James Wallace Ferguson was a Scottish painter, born in Stirling, and resident in Glasgow for most of his life. He went to the Glasgow School of Art before the First World War. He won the Guthrie Award in 1923 for young artists of the Royal Scottish Academy. He became the President of the Glasgow Art Club in the 1950s. He also was a Principal Lecturer in Art at Jordanhill Teacher Training College. He died in New Zealand while staying with his son.

References

  1. "The Six best Painters for the Future". The Tatler Magazine. 1977.
  2. List of names, The Little Red Book (1983). "The Worshipful Company of Painter–Stainers". Painters Hall, Little Trinity Lane, City of London, England.
  3. "The Turner Prize...", "...whipping boy of the modern art..." (1 November 2002). "The art of deception". The Scotsman. Edinburgh, Scotland.
  4. Guy Michelmore, presenter (7 February 1990). "Six o´Clock News". News. BBC. BBC Newsroom South East. Artist in Residence at Sutton School
  5. ...They have learnt far more ..., Art now means more ... (7 February 1990). "Artist in the Classroom". Sutton Herald. Surrey. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017.
  6. ...British council... Russia..., ...The Queen´s private collection... (14 August 1987). "Queen buys local artist´s picture". Epsom & Ewell Herald. Epsom.
  7. "This new traditional art by Charles Harris we find very real", The parallels between it and our country are obvious" (13 August 1999). "Scots artist to paint Queen of Swaziland". Stephen Breen in The Scotsman. Edingburgh, Scotland.
  8. "Fishing Boat", "Upper Redgorton" (2002). "Painting in Royal Collection". Royal Collection Trust.
  9. "The Ashley Centre", "British School" (1984). "Painting in Royal Collection". Royal Collection Trust.
  10. "...for Prince Charles", "Scone-based artist..." (2000). "By Royal Appointment - The Prince of Wales holding a pastel painting of the River Tay at Stanley Mills, Perthshire". The Scotsman. Edinburgh, Scotland.
  11. "picture Ian Potter", "Charles Harris creating his art in Glen Quaich" (30 January 2014). "Artist with a taste for the traditional". Richard Burdge in The Dundee Courier. Dundee, Scotland.
  12. "HRH the Duke of Kent with Charles Harris MA BA in Nizhny Novgorod". The Dundee Courier . 2 October 1997.
  13. "Scottish landscapes: Charles Harris was asked to stage an exhibition in Rome for HRH Prince Charles by royal appointment". The Scotsman . November 2002.
  14. "Charles Harris a Pescara L'arte spiegata agli studenti". il Centro (in Italian). 2 April 2008.
  15. Ferrara, Jolanda (21 April 2008). "Il pittore scozzese Charles Harris spiega l'arte agli studenti pescaresi". Primadanoi.it (in Italian).
  16. "Pete Wishart opens art exhibition in Italy". Daily Record . 8 July 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  17. ...Father Jim McManus, Perthshire artist Charles Harris... "St.Mary´s forgotten treasures unearthed". Perthshire Advertiser. Perth, Scotland.
  18. ..Lord Stormont was a patient sitter..., Following in a family tradition... (27 August 1999). "Portrait of Lord Stormont". The Courier and Advertiser . Dundee, Scotland.
  19. "Scots Artist to paint Queen of Swaziland". Stephen Breen in The Scotsman. Edinburgh, Scotland. 13 August 1999.
  20. ...British council... Russia..., ...The Queen´s private collection... (14 August 1987). "Queen buys local artist´s picture". Epsom & Ewell Herald. Epsom.
  21. Charles Harris with his portrait of John Rees, Painter Charles Harris has recently moved... (10 March 1992). "Change of lifestyle". The Fiona Page in The Courier & Advertiser. Dundee, Scotland.