James Fletcher-Watson; watercolourist
Hyfler/Rosner
July 5, 2004, Monday
some examples of his work:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0713487577.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
James Fletcher-Watson, painter, was born on July 25, 1913.
He died on June 12, 2004, aged 90.
James Fletcher-Watson was a master of composition in
watercolours whose paintings managed always to convey the
sense of inner contentment he found in creating them.
Elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in
Watercolours in 1952 and a member of the Royal Society of
British Artists in 1957, he exhibited regularly at the Royal
Academy, where his first picture was accepted when he was
20. He was awarded an honourable mention for his picture in
the Paris Salon and held one man exhibitions in America and
Australia.
His most remarkable attribute, however, was perhaps his
missionary zeal in wanting to pass on the methods and
traditions of the true watercolour tradition. He produced
three teaching videos and five books, of which two -The
Magic of Watercolour and Watercolour Secrets -remain in
print. So well did he describe the stages of composition,
illustrated with his own paintings, that at least one other
artist found it easy to produce a pale copy of
Fletcher-Watson's work and sell it as his own.
Fletcher-Watson grew up in Norfolk and would become part of
the Norwich School of painters who rejoiced in capturing the
depth and drama of the East Anglia skies.
He enrolled at the Royal Academy School of Architecture
where he studied under Edward Lutyens and Albert Richardson.
Skills aquired there came in useful during the war, when
General Slim asked him to design forward runways into Burma
and the Imphal aerodrome. He sketched wherever he went, and
the results finally saw publication two years ago in the
book Soldier Artist in Wartime India.
He joined his uncle, Cecil Upcher, at his architectural
practice in Norwich, where his work included Bawdeswell
Church. Opening his own practice in London in 1959, he was
commissioned to design Nottingham University, where his
library ceiling was described as "a triumph of geometry".
When not exhibiting or painting at his home in Windrush,
Gloucestershire, he conducted painting courses in Venice and
in various parts of Britain. The Duchess of York was one of
his many pupils.