Randolph Schwabe

Randolph Schwabe studied at Slade School of Fine Art and Académie Julian. The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with Camberwell College of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art. Work by Randolph Schwabe is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Tate, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

• Name — Randolph Schwabe • Born — 9 May 1885 • Birthplace — Eccles, Greater Manchester, England • Died — 19 September 1948 • Place of death — Helensburgh, Scotland • Field — Painting, drawing • Training — * Royal College of Art • Slade School of Art • Académie Julian

• Illustration — V2 Damage at the Chelsea Pensioners' Hospital London, SW3 (Art.IWM ART LD 4807) Schwabe was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester, the youngest of two sons to Octavie Henriette Ermen and Lawrence Schwabe, a cotton merchant whose father had emigrated from Germany in 1820. The family moved several times before settling in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, where Lawrence Schwabe opened a printing and stationery business. Randolph was educated at a private school in Hemel Hempstead and from an early age showed a talent for drawing. In 1899, aged fourteen, he was enrolled at the Royal College of Art but was unhappy there and within a few months had transferred to the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1904 Schwabe won a Slade Scholarship and in 1905 won the college Summer Competition Prize. In 1906, a Slade scholarship allowed him to study at the Académie Julian in Paris before travelling to Italy in 1908. Working in Rome and Florence he gained a deep knowledge of Italian art and architecture.[3] Work by Schwabe was shown at the New English Art Club in 1909 and he became a member in 1917, having become a member of the London Group in 1915.[4] In April 1913 Schwabe married Gwendolen Jones and they were to have one daughter.

• Illustration — Coventry Cathedral, November 1940 (Art.IWM ART LD 709) During the First World War, Schwabe served as an official war artist, as poor health had prevented him enlisting, and he mainly produced paintings and drawings of the work done by the Women's Land Army. After the war he began to teach at both the Camberwell School of Art and the Westminster School of Art. In 1930 he succeeded Henry Tonks as Slade Professor of Fine Art at University College and as Principal of the Slade School of Fine Art.[5] Schwabe's work was widely exhibited and he also created designs for theatrical productions and illustrated a number of books, including Historic Costume (1925) and A Short History of Costume and Armour (1931), both with F. M. Kelly.[6] Other books illustrated by Schwabe included Crossings (1921) by Walter de la Mare, The Tinkers of Elstow (1946) by H E Bates and several books by the dance historian Cyril W. Beaumont.[7] As well as illustrating several books for the Beaumont Press, Schwabe also designed a set of wooden figures based on dancers from the Sergei Diaghilev company, the Ballets Russes for Beaumont.[8] In 1941 Schwabe joined the committee of the War Artists' Advisory Committee and was also given a short commission to produce pieces for their collection.[9] This included a commission to record the bomb damage to Coventry Cathedral in November 1940.[10] In 1942 Schwabe was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, having been elected an associate of the Society in 1938.[11] A columnist for the Chicago Daily Tribune nominated Schwabe for a Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for his cover illustration to The Old Churches of London by Gerald Cobb but had to write to the book's publishers to explain that he had been humorous as no such prize existed.[12] Although he remained Principal of the Slade, he moved to Helensburgh in Dunbartonshire for health reasons and he died there in September 1948.[13]

Randolph Schwabe is recorded with the occupation painter. Recorded as painter and illustrator.