John Armstrong (artist)
| John Armstrong | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Rutherford Armstrong 14 November 1893 Hastings, Sussex |
| Died | 19 May 1973 (aged 79) Putney, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Painting, design work |
John Rutherford Armstrong ARA (14 November 1893 – 19 May 1973) was a British artist and muralist who also designed for film and theatre productions. He is most notable for the Surrealist paintings he produced.
Armstrong was born in Hastings in Sussex. His father was a clergyman and Armstrong was educated at St. Paul's School in London. He studied law at St. John's College, Oxford, but switched to art and became a student at St John's Wood Art School throughout 1913 and 1914. Armstrong served with some distinction in the Royal Field Artillery in Salonika during World War One before returning briefly to complete his studies at St John's Wood Art School. After a period of some economic hardship, Armstrong began to build a career as a theatre designer in London and to gain a client base for his artworks. He received a commission to decorate a room in the Portman Square home of the art collector Samuel Courtauld, and also painted a frieze for the ballroom at 1 Kensington Palace Gardens. Armstrong held his first solo exhibition in 1928 at the Leicester Galleries in London. In 1933 he joined Unit One and displayed a set of semi-abstract paintings at their one, extended, exhibition. Throughout the 1930s Armstrong continued to work as a designer as he also continued to develop his art. He produced a number of remarkable posters for Shell and also produced a 1935 poster for the Royal Mail. He worked on the first production of the ballet Façade and on a number of Alexander Korda's film productions, designing costumes for The Private Life of Henry VIII, Rembrandt and I Claudius. In 1938 Armstrong held an exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery which featured Surrealist works set in English landscapes such as Dreaming Head. Pro Patria, also from 1938, is Armstrong's comment on the Spanish Civil War.
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