Norman Wilkinson (1878-1971)

Oil and watercolour painter, printmaker and poster designer, born in Cambridge. Although early on he studied figure paintings in Paris, further study with the river and coastal painter Louis Grier in Cornwall reinforced Wilkinson's growing belief that he should concentrate on marine subjects, of which he became a master. Wilkinson's wife Evelyn was also an artist. In 1895 his family moved to Southsea, Hampshire, where he attended the Portsmouth and Southsea School of Art; he later taught there. Arthur Conan Doyle introduced him to Jerome K. Jerome, the author and publisher of Idler and Today. His career as an illustrator began with a first acceptance by the Illustrated London News in 1898, a publication with which he was long associated. He covered the Russo-Japanese War for the periodical, and travelled widely as an illustrator. Other trips took him to Europe, the Mediterranean, and North and South America. He also illustrated several