Percy Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born in 1906 in the working class area of Kates Hill, Dudley, the fourth of eight children In the same year, he had his first exhibit at the Royal Academy, "A Mulatto", a portrait of a lady which was later bought by Dudley Art Gallery. He also exhibited at the Paris Salon and at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, of which he was elected an associate in 1936. When World War II broke out in 1939, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, and trained at HMS Vernon while continuing to paint in his spare time. In May 1943, whilst stationed ashore at Roedean School in East Sussex, he was killed in a bombing raid while he was walking alone opposite Marine Gate in Brighton. ==Work==

General Shakespeare's work after leaving art school concentrated on figure drawings and portraiture, this continued until he started on his Thirties at Leisure series in 1936. His major works outside this series included the following (photographs of titles highlighted in bold appear in the gallery): • Portrait of Alan Young (1928) • Gwendoline Shakespeare (c1929) • Girl in Green Ball Gown (c1929) • Self Portrait in pencil (c1930) • Rasp Grinders (1932) • Miss Molly Betteridge (1932) • The Rendezvous (1932) • Isobel (1932) • A Mulatto (1933) • Self-portrait with Trilby (Mephistopheles) (1933) • Mrs Neil Jenkins (1933) • Seated Nude (1933) • View from Artists Bedroom /The Window (c1934) • Morning Exercise (1934) • On the Rhine (1935) • White Gloves (1936) • Boy and Dog (1937) • Girl with Daffodils (1937) • Tennis Player (c1938) • Schoolgirl (1938) Gwendoline Shakespeare (b.1917) - Percy Shakespeare.jpg|Gwendoline Shakespeare, 1929 A_Mulatto_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|A Mulatto, 1933 Self Portrait (Mephistopheles) - Percy Shakespeare.jpg|Self Portrait (Mephistopheles), 1933 Mrs Nell Jenkins - Percy Shakespeare.jpg| Mrs Neil Jenkins, 1933 Seated Nude (Summer) - Percy Shakespeare.jpg| Seated nude, 1933 Percy Shakespeare View from the artist's bedroom .jpg| View from the artist's bedroom, c1934 Percy_Shakespeare_Morning_exercise.jpg|Morning Exercise, 1934 On_the_Rhine_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|On the Rhine,1935 Boy and Dog - Percy Shakespeare.jpg| Boy and Dog, 1937 Girl with Daffodils - Percy Shakespeare.jpg| Girl with Daffodils, 1937 The_Tennis_Player_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|The Tennis Player, c1938 Schoolgirl_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|Schoolgirl, 1938 The Thirties at Leisure series From 1936, Shakespeare embarked on a series of oil paintings showing groups of people at leisure. These compositions were the result of intense work with many preliminary drawings of the component figures. It has been noted that the drawings themselves are of considerable merit in their own right. He painted one or two of these compositions each year and submitted them to the Royal Academy and often they were accepted. They are remarkable in their colour and figure arrangements and together they present a fascinating picture of leisure activities in the period leading up the Second World War. This series included the following works: • The Bathing Party (1936) • Tennis (1937) • The Crooner (c 1938) • Afternoon at the Ice Rink (1938) • Seaside photographer (c1938) • Tea Interval (at Dudley CC) (c1938) • The Team Race (c1938) • The Bird House (1939) • The Boat Shed (1939) • The Broads (1940) • Caravanners (1941) There were two other paintings made in Sussex during Shakespeare's war service with a stylistic relationship to this series: • December on the Downs (1942) • The Ante Room HMS Vernon (1942) The_Crooner_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|The Crooner, c 1938 Afternoon_at_the_Ice_Rink_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|Afternoon at the Ice Rink, c1938 Tropical Bird House, Dudley Zoo - Percy Shakespeare.jpg|The Bird House, 1939 The Boat Shed - Percy Shakespeare.jpg| The Boat Shed, 1939 December_on_the_Downs%2C_Wartime_-_Percy_Shakespeare.jpg|December on the Downs, 1942 Ante Room at HMS Vernon.jpg| The Ante-Room, HMS Vernon, c. 1942 ==Legacy==

In an obituary, Ivo Shaw was quoted as saying: "He was the best painter in oils the School had produced". Many of the paintings he left behind are held by Dudley Museum at The Archives. Some are on permanent display although most are held in store. Dudley Museum and Art Gallery mounted exhibitions of his work in 1979 and 1999 which featured both the paintings from their collection and others which were loaned from private owners. In January 2022, a blue Plaque was unveiled on the façade of the former Dudley School of Art commemorating his life and work. ==External links==