European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

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Frith, William Powell

The Oxford Dictionary of Art | 2004 | | Copyright

Frith, William Powell (b Aldfield, nr. Ripon, Yorkshire, 9 Jan. 1819; d London, 2 Nov. 1909). English painter. He began his career as a portraitist and painter of literary subjects (from Shakespeare, Scott, and other authors), but in the 1850s he turned to contemporary scenes, with which he had enormous commercial success. Three of his pictures are particularly renowned—crowded, anecdote-packed scenes that rank among the most familiar images of Victorian life: Life at the Seaside (or Ramsgate Sands) (1854, Royal Coll.), Derby Day (1858, Tate, London), and The Railway Station (1862, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, Egham). Derby Day was so popular when shown at the Royal Academy that it had to be railed off from the throng of admirers—a distinction previously accorded only to Wilkie's Chelsea Pensioners in 1822. Frith's My Autobiography and Reminiscences (1887) and Further Reminiscences (1888) give lively accounts of the art world of his time. He continued exhibiting until 1902 and by the end of his long life he was regarded as a ‘specimen of Victorian philistinism’ (Jeremy Maas, Victorian Painters, 1969). His reputation greatly revived as part of the general re-evaluation of Victorian art after the Second World War.

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Frith, William Powell

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists | 2003 | | Copyright

Frith, William Powell (1819–1909). English painter. He began his career with literary subjects (from Shakespeare, Scott, and other authors), but in the 1850s he turned to contemporary scenes, with which he had great commercial success. His crowded, anecdote-packed pictures of Victorian life, among them Derby Day (1858, Tate, London) and The Railway Station (1862, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, Egham), are among the most familiar images of their age. Frith's My Autobiography and Reminiscences (1887) and Further Reminiscences (1888) give lively accounts of the art world of his time.

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IAN CHILVERS. "Frith, William Powell." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

IAN CHILVERS. "Frith, William Powell." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-FrithWilliamPowell.html

IAN CHILVERS. "Frith, William Powell." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-FrithWilliamPowell.html

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William Powell Frith

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

William Powell Frith 1819-1909, English anecdotal and genre painter. His early paintings were illustrations, such as his Scene from a Sentimental Journey (Victoria and Albert Mus.). Later he painted many enormously popular pictures of everyday English life, among them Derby Day (National Gall., London) and The Railway Station (Leicester Mus.).

Bibliography: See his memoirs, A Victorian Canvas (1957).

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