Eric Kennington

Eric Kennington
Name	Eric Kennington
Birth date	12 February 1888
Birth place	Chelsea, London
Death date	13 April 1960
Death place	Kingston upon Thames
Nationality	British
Known for	Painting, sculpture, printmaking, war art
Movement	Figurative art

Eric Kennington was a British painter, sculptor and printmaker noted for his portraits, relief sculpture and official war art during the First World War and the Second World War. He produced iconic depictions of soldiers, airmen and naval personnel and executed public memorials and portrait commissions for civic and national institutions. Kennington’s career intersected with many prominent figures and organizations in British art, culture and military history.

Early life and education

Kennington was born in Chelsea and raised in Fulham, receiving early instruction at local schools before attending the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. He progressed to the Slade School of Fine Art, where he encountered contemporaries from the Royal Academy of Arts milieu and connections to St Martin-in-the-Fields circles in London. His formative years brought him into contact with artists associated with the New English Art Club and the Royal Society of British Artists, and he later exhibited at venues such as the Grafton Galleries and the Royal Academy exhibitions alongside peers linked to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood legacy and the newer Vorticism debates.

Artistic career

Kennington’s early professional work included illustrations and woodcuts for periodicals and books published by The Studio (magazine), The Graphic (weekly newspaper), and publishers like Cassell (publisher) and Chatto & Windus. He supplied designs for stage and costume connected to productions at the Old Vic and portrait commissions for figures associated with the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. His involvement with the Society of Wood Engravers and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers placed him within networks that included members of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Bloomsbury Group who frequented galleries such as the Grosvenor Gallery and the New Gallery.

First World War service and war art

During the First World War, Kennington enlisted with the London Regiment and later became associated with the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in France and Belgium during actions related to the Battle of the Somme and the Ypres Salient. His experience on the Western Front produced portraiture and lithographs depicting Tommies, stretcher-bearers and officers that were shown at the Imperial War Museum and reproduced in publications like Punch (magazine) and The Times. After being wounded, he joined the efforts of the British War Memorials Committee and produced work for plans connected to the Hall of Remembrance initiative and public displays at institutions such as the National Gallery and exhibitions organized by the British Council.

Interwar period and public commissions

In the interwar years Kennington completed portrait commissions for politicians and cultural figures associated with the House of Commons, the British Legion and the Royal Air Force. He undertook major public sculpture projects including civic war memorials for towns administered by boroughs such as Cambridge, Oxford, Islington and municipal bodies linked to Surrey County Council and the London County Council. Kennington exhibited widely at the Royal Academy of Arts, the New English Art Club and international venues like the Salon des Artistes Français and worked with patrons connected to the Prince of Wales and the British Museum trustees.

Second World War service and later war art

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Kennington was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee and produced portraits and studies of Royal Air Force aircrew, Royal Navy ratings and British Army personnel. He made notable work depicting the Battle of Britain participants and the Air Ministry cohort, and his wartime portraits were acquired by the Imperial War Museum and displayed in exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Gallery. Kennington also contributed designs connected to the Ministry of Information and collaborated with photographers and journalists from outlets such as the Daily Telegraph and the BBC.

Style, techniques and influences

Kennington worked across media — oil painting, bronze relief, wood engraving and lithography — and his style combined realist portraiture with monumental relief influenced by studies of Michelangelo, the sculptural tradition of the Renaissance, and the public-civic practice seen in works by Jacob Epstein, Eric Gill, and Henry Moore. He employed direct observation from sittings with figures like Winston Churchill, Aneurin Bevan and T. E. Lawrence and drew on iconography linked to commemorative works by Edwin Lutyens and memorial sculpture in Westminster Abbey. His printwork connected him to contemporaries in printmaking circles such as Gwen Raverat and C. R. W. Nevinson.

Legacy and collections

Kennington’s works are held in major collections including the Imperial War Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and regional museums such as the Manchester Art Gallery and the Ashmolean Museum. His public memorials remain in situ in municipalities like Cambridge and Islington, and his prints and sculptures continue to be studied alongside works by Paul Nash, John Singer Sargent, Augustus John and Stanley Spencer. Archives relating to his career are preserved in repositories tied to the British Library, the National Archives (United Kingdom) and university collections at Oxford University and King's College London.

Category:British painters Category:British sculptors Category:War artists