Description: This is a wonderful and Fine Antique Old Impressionist Plein Air Seascape Painting, Watercolor on Paper, by the renowned early - mid 20th century British landscape painter and printmaker, Robert Sargent Austin (1895 - 1973.) This is an early work by the artist, when he was in his early 20's, which depicts an enchanting and highly detailed coastal seascape scene. Placid blue ocean waters, coastal rocks with waves lapping at their edges and several seagulls can be seen in the foreground. In the far distance, a dark blue coastal vista of small hills can be seen. Signed and dated: "R.S. Austin '16" in the lower right corner. Approximately 10 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches (including frame.) Actual artwork is approximately 7 1/8 x 11 1/8 inches. Very good condition for age, with mild scuffing, edge wear, and heavy age-related craquelure to the original 100+ year old gilded wood frame (please see photos.) Acquired from an old collection in Los Angeles County, California. Robert Sargent Austin's original artworks are housed in the Tate Museum, British Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Delaware Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, U.K., the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the U.K. Government Art Collection, the University of Pittsburgh, University Art Gallery, the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, among others. Priced to Sell. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Artist: Robert Sargent Austin Born: 1895 - Leicester, EnglandDied: 1973Known for: Engraver, landscape, figure Robert Sargent Austin (1895 - 1973) was active/lived in United Kingdom. Robert Austin is known for Engraver, landscape, figure. Primarily an artist active in Great Britain, Robert Austin also exhibited in the United States including the Art Institute of Chicago in 1937. In England, Austin had a renowned reputation as a painter, draughtsman, engraver and etcher. He received special recognition for being both the President of the Royal Watercolour Society (from 1956) and President of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (from 1962).Austin was born in Leicester, England, attended the Leicester School of Art from 1909 to 1913, and then attended the Royal College of Art on a scholarship in 1914, and at that time began to study life drawing seriously.During World War I, he was a gunner with the Royal Artillery, and later depicted some of his experiences in his drawings. In 1919, he returned to the Royal College and studied with Sir Frank Short.In 1922, he earned an engraving scholarship at the British School in Rome and traveled extensively in Italy and Germany, studying the Old Masters and also taking an interest in landscape painting. However, engraving was his primary interest, and in 1926, he became an engraving teacher at the Royal College of Art. He was elected Royal Academician in 1949.In 1929, he began his visits to Norfolk, England, which inspired much of his future landscape painting as well as portraits of his wife and children. In 1935 he bought the Old Chapel at Burnham Overy Staithe.During World War II Austin was an Official War Artist with the RCA at Ambleside, and thirty-five of his works from this period are at The Imperial War Museum.His work is represented in the collections of the Tate, the V & A, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Ashmolean, and the British Museum. An important retrospective was held at the Ashmolean in 1980.References:Robert Austin, 1895-1973; an Exhibition of Etchings, Engravings, Drawings and Watercolours. Ashmoleon Museum, 1980. Printmaker, painter, illustrator, and currency designer Robert Sargent Austin was born in Leicester, England on May 23, 1895. Austin's unflagging interest in expanding his vision and teaching what he learned allowed for a prolific career. A student of printmaking at the end of the "etching revival," Austin studied at the Leicester Municiple School of Art (1909 - 1913), and then at the Royal College of Art in London preceding and after World War I. There he studied engraving under Sir Frank Short and was awarded the Rome Scholarship to study engraving in Italy in 1922. While there, he met and married writer Ada May Harrison. The couple returned to England in 1926 and Austin began teaching at the Royal College. During World War II Austin enlisted as a war artist, recording the efforts of women in the Royal Air Force and nursing services. Upon his return, he taught at the Royal College of Art, and worked as an advisor on the design of banknotes to the Bank of England. In 1927 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, where he would later succeed Malcome Osborne to become president (1962 - 1973). He was elected a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1934, and later also served as president, from 1957 to 1973. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1939 and to the full membership in 1949. Robert Austin died in Burnham Overy Staithe, England on September 18, 1973 Robert Sargent Austin RA PPRWS PPRE (23 June 1895 β 18 September 1973) was a noted artist, illustrator, engraver and currency designer and widely considered to be one of Britain's leading mid-twentieth century printmakers. Austin studied at Leicester Municipal School of Art from 1909 to 1913 then at the Royal College of Art in London where his studies were interrupted by the First World War. He returned to the College in 1919 when he studied etching under Sir Frank Short and was awarded a scholarship in engraving to study in Italy. During the last 10 years of the etching revival between 1920 and 1930 he produced etchings from copper plates worked in very fine detail in an almost Pre-Raphaelite style. During the Second World War Austin worked as a war artist recording the efforts of women in the Royal Air Force and in the nursing services for the War Artists' Advisory Committee. During that period, he produced a portrait of Lord Nelson as one of a series commissioned by London Transport called 'Our Heritage' and which also included portraits of William Pitt, Francis Drake, Earl Haig and Winston Churchill.He then returned to teaching at the Royal College of Art as Professor of Engraving from 1946. Austin acted as an advisor on the design of banknotes to the Bank of England between 1956 and 1961 and designed the ten shillings and one pound notes issued in the early 1960s.Austin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (R.E.) in 1927 and succeeded Malcolm Osborne to become the Society's President from 1962 to 1970. He was elected a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society (R.W.S.) in 1934 and served as President from 1957 to 1973. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1939 and to the full membership (R.A.) in 1949 as an engraver.Austin was married to the writer Ada May Harrison for whom he illustrated a number of books. Ada's sister Rose was married to the sculptor and Royal Academician James Woodford. Robert and Ada had a son, also Robert, and two daughters, Rachel and Clare. In 1936 the artist purchased an old Methodist chapel in Burnham Overy Staithe in North Norfolk and converted it into a studio where he could look out onto the beautiful marshes and landscape and paint. He used to paint in the early hours of the morning because he liked the light best at that time. Robert Sargent Austin (1895β1973)Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Printmaker and draughtsman, born in Leicester. He studied at the School of Art there and at Royal College of Art, 1914β16 and 1919β22, winning the Rome Scholarship for engraving in the latter year. Austin married Ada (May) Harrison, with whom he collaborated on Some Tuscan Cities, 1924, Some Umbrian Cities, 1925, and other books. He taught engraving at Royal College of Art, 1927β44, becoming professor in the department of graphic design, 1948β55. Showed with RWS of which he was a member and president; RE of which he was a member and president; and RA, to which he was elected in 1949. Austin was a meticulous craftsman-engraver and a vigorous draughtsman, as his series of drawings of Womenβs Auxiliary Air Force and ballooning activities done during World War II shows.In 1956, Austin became adviser to the Bank of England, designing ten-shilling and one-pound notes which went into circulation in 1960. Lived in London and at Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk, where he died. An exhibition of Austinβs prints and drawings was held at Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in 1980. A show of prints toured from the Fine Art Society in 2001 and in 2002 it and Paul Liss Fine Art exhibited paintings and drawings including many of Austinβs family, a favourite subject. In 2004, Sothebyβs at Olympia offered extensive works from the studio. Tate Gallery holds his work. Exhibition: Robert Sargent Austin RA PPRWS PPRE β Prints in the School of Art Collection, 11/12/2023 β 26/01/2024 , School of Art, Tessa Sidey Gallery Robert Sargent Austin [1895-1973] famously disliked art theory or indeed any pretentiousness about art. For thirty years he taught printmaking at the Royal College of Art, telling his students βWe can talk about art laterβ¦. Letβs find out first how to draw.β Austinβs own remarkable draughtsmanship was apparent early on in his career. He studied at the Royal College of Art under Frank Short (1857-1945), who described him as a βa poet on metal within lineβ. Austin won the prestigious Prix de Rome scholarship in 1922, studying at the British School at Rome for three years. During this time, he travelled to Tuscany and Umbria, often using the Italian cities as a backdrop for his etchings of street life. At this time, he was influenced by Renaissance artists, including Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Giulio Campagnola (c.1482-c.1518), Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) and Martin Schongauer (d.1491). From 1924, he began to make more use of pure line engraving, a technique he initially adopted to enrich his etchings. His technical skills as an etcher and engraver, combined with his talent for drawing, made him a leading figure in British printmaking during the 1920s and 1930s. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. He sold his work through the Twenty-One Gallery in London and survived the collapse in the print market that began in 1929. During the Second World War, Austin worked as a war artist, illustrating the service of women especially. He also designed London Transport posters for the Ministry of Information. His commercial work included illustrating books and bookplates, including those written by his wife Ada May Harrison (1899-1958), whom he met in Italy. He also advised the Bank of England on the design of bank notes. He was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and served as President for both. He was also a full member of the Royal Academy as an Engraver. By around 1951 he, had lost the use of his right thumb and made very few engravings afterwards. This exhibition also features works by some of his students and contemporaries at the Royal College of Art from the School of Art collection.
Price: 975 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2024-09-23T23:48:47.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Austin
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Austin
Size: Small
Signed: Yes
Period: Art Nouveau (1880-1920)
Material: Paper, Watercolor
Region of Origin: California, USA
Framing: Framed
Subject: Birds, Fishing, Landscape, Seafaring, Seascape, Seaside, Seasons, States & Counties
Type: Painting
Year of Production: 1916
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 10 1/2 in
Theme: Art, Cities & Towns, Continents & Countries, Exhibitions, Famous Places, Nature, Nautical, Topographical
Style: Impressionism, Plein Air
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Watercolor Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
Handmade: Yes
Item Width: 14 1/2 in
Time Period Produced: 1900-1924