Philip Bawcombe

Last updated May 02, 2019

Philip William Bawcombe, FRSA born in London in 1906 and died in 2000, was an industrial designer, inter alia for film studios, and official South African war artist during World War II, who also produced acclaimed collections of paintings illustrating the cities of Johannesburg and Kimberley, in South Africa, published as books in 1973 and 1976 respectively.

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km²) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

A war artist is an artist who depicts scenes or aspects of war through their art. The art might be a pictorial record, or it might commemorate how war shapes lives. War artists explore the visual and sensory dimensions of war, often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Education

Bawcombe was born in London in 1906. He attended the Choir School of St Peter's, Eaton Square, and sang at both St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. He completed his schooling at Framlingham College in Suffolk.^[1]

St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square is a Church of England parish church at the east end of Eaton Square, Belgravia, London. It is a neoclassical building designed by the architect Henry Hakewill with a hexastyle portico with Ionic columns and a clock tower. On 19 October 1991 The Times newspaper wrote "St Peter’s must now rank as one of the most beautiful churches in London". It is a Grade II* listed building.

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign.

Framlingham College is an independent, coeducational boarding and day school in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 2 to 18 years of age.

A career in industrial and set design

Bawcombe was apprenticed to a firm of shopfitters before joining the design department of a London firm of interior decorators. He afterwards became a senior designer for ocean liner decorators.

From 1930 Bawcombe applied his skills to film sets joining the industrial art department of Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. Two years later he joined the nascent Sound Film Producing & Recording Studios, which later became Shepperton Studios, as resident art director.^[2]

Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence the studio was branded as Sound City.

Bawcombe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1938.

Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) judges to have made outstanding achievements to social progress and development. In the official language of the Fellowship Charter, the award recognizes the contributions of exceptional individuals from across the world who have made significant contributions relating to the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. Fellowship is only awarded to those who can demonstrate that they have made significant contributions to social change, and support the mission of the RSA. Fellows of the RSA are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRSA. Fellows of the Royal Society of the Arts are entitled to use of the RSA Library and premises in central London.

War artist

Bawcombe went out to Southern Africa, first to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and then South Africa just prior to the outbreak of World War II. He enlisted with the South African forces, serving initially in the Middle East where he was commissioned as second in command of a camouflage unit. He was responsible for designing dummy tanks constructed on the backs of military lorries as a decoy.^[3]

Rhodesia was a country in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been self-governing since achieving responsible government in 1923. A landlocked nation, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east.

Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The capital and largest city is Harare. A country of roughly 16 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used.

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.

From 1941 to 1945 Bawcombe covered the North African and Italian Campaigns as official South African war artist. A collection of 50 of his war paintings is preserved at the Ditsong National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg.

North African Campaign military campaign of World War II

The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria, as well as Tunisia.

Italian Campaign (World War II) military campaign of World War II

The Italian Campaign of World War II consisted of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to 1945. The Joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre and it planned and led the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the invasion of the Italian mainland and the campaign in Italy until the surrender of the German Armed Forces in Italy in May 1945.

The South African National War Museum in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975, the museum was renamed the South African National Museum of Military History and its function changed to include all conflicts that South Africa has been involved in. In 1999 it was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum and National Cultural History Museum to form the NFI. In April 2010 Ditsong was officially renamed Ditsong Museums of South Africa and the SANMMH was renamed the Ditsong National Museum of Military History.

Later career

Bawcombe returned to South Africa after the war, working as painter and industrial designer. He served a term as president of the Natal Society of Arts, and held exhibitions in South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland. A major commission was the design of villas on the Greek island of Skiathos, followed by a return to Britain as art director in the film industry.^[4]

Back in South Africa from 1968, art works for two books illustrating the historical townscapes of Johannesburg and Kimberley were amongst projects taken up in the early to mid-1970s. Philip Bawcombe’s Johannesburg appeared in 1973. H.F. Oppenheimer hailed Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley (1976) as capturing “the spirit and portraying the fabric of old Kimberley,” announcing that De Beers had acquired the original collection for permanent display.^[5] For both books, Ted Scannel provided the text accompanying the images, while an historical introduction to the Kimberley book was given by Brian Roberts.

Selected filmography

John Halifax (1938)

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References

↑ Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.
↑ Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.
↑ Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.
↑ Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.
↑ H.F. Oppenheimer, Foreword in Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.

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[1] Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.

[2] Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.

[3] Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.

[4] Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.

[5] H.F. Oppenheimer, Foreword in Bawcombe & Scannell. 1976. Philip Bawcombe’s Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing.