William Powell Frith

Born: Aldfield, North Yorkshire, 9 January 1819

Died: London, 2 November 1909

Nationality: English


Works by this Artist

Railway Station
William Powell Frith, 1863

Background

son of servants and innkeepers

Studies

Henry Sass's Academy (1835-37, London); Royal Academy (RA) Schools (1837)

Career

1838 - first exhibition - British Institution

1840 - RA debut with Malvolio before the Countess Olivia (untraced - Shakespeare subject)

1852 - elected member of RA

1854 - exhibits Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate Sands at RA; painting is purchased by Queen Victoria

1858 - exhibits Derby Day at RA

1878 - completes Road to Ruin series of 5 paintings (private collection)

1880 - completes Race for Wealth series of 5 paintings (Valdodara Picture Gallery)

1887 - publishes Autobiography and Reminiscences

1890 - retires from RA

1891 - pubishes John Leech: His Life and Work

1902 - last RA exhibition

Commissions from

Charles Dickens; Ernest Gambert (art dealer)

Important Artworks

Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate Sands, 1854 RA exhibition (Royal Collection, London)

Derby Day, 1858 RA (Tate, London)

Readings

Arscott, Caroline. “William Powell Frith’s The Railway Station: Classification and the Crowd,” in Mark Bills and Vivien Knight, eds., William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 79-94

Bills, Mark. William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2006

Kennedy, Ian and Julian Treuherz. The Railway. Art in the Age of Steam. Exhibition catalogue. New Haven, CT and London: Yale Universtiy Press, 2008

Wood, Christopher. William Powell Frith: a Painter and his World. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2006

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