Harold Sandys Williamson was born in Leeds on 29 August 1892. He studied at the Leeds School of Art between 1911 and 1914. In 1915 he attended the RA Schools in London, 1914-15 and was awarded the Turner Gold Medal. Initially turned down from the army in the First World War on health grounds, he joined as a rifleman in January 1916. He served in France, wounded by a grenade fragment on September 15 1916. He received treatment in the UK and then returned to France in May 1917.
Injured at other points in the war, he moved between the battlefront and the UK, working on paintings whilst recuperating. Whilst recuperating he was recruited to the War Artists Scheme for the MOI, but the Armistice meant that the contract was not taken up. Williamson became a respected artist after the war, designing posters for LT, and showing work at the RA, the New English Art Club, the London Group and many other galleries. Between 1930 and 1958 he was Headmaster at the Chelsea School of Art, employing Henry Moore as head of a new sculpture department in 1932. Well known as a British poster artist, Williamson was a ‘great admirer of William Roberts whom he had employed at Chelsea as a supervisor of drawing’, and of Ceri Richards. He was devoted to classical music and Radio Three. The IWM owns several of his works from when he was official war artist on the Western Front in the First World War, ‘with a particular emphasis on the depiction of the role played by animals’.
Information collated from: Imperial War Museum, ‘The First World War letters and paintings of
Harold Sandys Williamson’, http://www.iwm.org.uk/online/fww_rem/fww-art.htm, accessed September 21 2003; Imperial War Museum, ‘The First World War letters and paintings of Harold Sandys Williamson’ (Page 2), http://www.iwm.org.uk/online/fww_rem/fww-art2.htm, accessed September 21 2003; Imperial War Museum, ‘The First World War letters and paintings of Harold Sandys Williamson’ (Page 8), http://www.iwm.org.uk/online/fww_rem/fww-art8.htm, accessed September 21 2003; Consignia, ‘Heritage Collection’, http://www.consignia.com/heritage/html/transport/left/airmail.htm; http://www.consignia.com/heritage/html/transport/left/packet_boats.htm, accessed October 3 2003.; Fineart.ac.uk, ‘Henry Moore’, http://fineart.ac.uk/artists/102/, accessed October 3 2003; Brighton School of Art and Design, ‘Archive Vicky’, http://www.adh.brighton.ac.uk/schoolofdesign/MA.COURSE/01/LIAWilliamson.html, accessed October 3 2003.
drbexl
“This rare glimpse into North Korean society is the first book of its kind: a riveting collection of state-sponsored propaganda posters that presents the unique graphic sensibilities of this little-known country. Seldom seen by the outside world, North Korea s propaganda art colors the cities and countryside with vibrant images of brave soldiers, happy and well-fed peasants, and a heroic and compassionate leader. More than 250 of these posters are collected here for the first time, showing the wide range of North Korean propaganda art. Hand-painted pieces of art, these posters display the latest political slogans that are repeated in newspaper editorials, government declarations, and compulsory study sessions throughout the country. A collection that will appeal to artists and graphic designers as well as those interested in this closed society, this book may not represent the reality of North Korea, but rather a vision of the country as promoted by its regime and depicted by its state-sponsored artists.”
