John Chambers (artist) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John Chambers was a landscape, seascape and portrait painter in oil, tempera and watercolour, and an etcher and illustrator.

Chambers was born in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

and educated at the town's Union British School, where the pupils were particularly encouraged to draw ships and other nautical subjects. He joined the Tyne Pilot Service on leaving school but left before reaching manhood and decided to become an artist. Chambers enrolled at the Government School of Design in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

and later went to study in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

in the ateliers of Professors Gustave Boulanger

Gustave Boulanger

Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger was a French figure painter known for his Neo-Grec style. He was born at Paris, studied with Delaroche and Jollivet, and in 1849 took the Prix de Rome. His paintings are prime examples of academic art of the time, particularly history painting...

and Jules Joseph Le Febvre, before settling at North Shields

North Shields

North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...

as a professional artist.

He first began exhibiting in 1877, showing several examples at the South Shields Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition. He followed this by showing his "Partonhall and Harbour" at the Central Exchange Art Gallery, Newcastle in 1878 and was subsequently an exhibitor at the Arts Association Exhibition in Newcastle in 1879, 1881 and 1882 and the Gateshead Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition in 1883. In the following year he began an association with the exhibitions of the Newcastle Bewick Club which lasted just over a decade. In 1886 he sent his first of three works to the exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, showing "The Deserted Mill". Chambers mainly exhibited on Tyneside

Tyneside

Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...

for the remainder of his career, including exhibitions at the art clubs of South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

,where he was a vice-president, Tynemouth

Tynemouth

Tynemouth is a town and a historic borough in Tyne and Wear, England, at the mouth of the River Tyne, between North Shields and Cullercoats . It is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside, but until 1974 was an independent county borough in its own right...

, and from their inception in 1905, the Artists of the Northern Counties exhibitions at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

Most of his work was executed in watercolour and predominantly featured nautical and landscape subjects. His most important work, however, was in oil and pictured the loss of H.M.S. Victoria, which was accidentally sunk off Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

during manoeuvres in 1893. He had painted the vessel as it looked leaving the Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

following its completion at Sir William Armstrong's Elswick Yard in 1888 and after its loss, spent a year preparing a 9ft x 12ft canvas which proved so successful an interpretation of the scene that an offer of £2000 was made for the picture, but was refused. It was exhibited all over Tyneside

Tyneside

, and was also engraved.

Chambers maintained a succession of studios at North Shields

North Shields

North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...

where, at times, he directed painting classes, and at which he held exhibitions of his work, and occasionally those of fellow artists. It was also shown before being sold in large quantities by Bainbridge & Co, a North Shields

North Shields

North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...

auctioneers, and featured in several local loan exhibitions. Despite frequent favourable comment on his work, he remained a quiet, diffident artist who died at his home and studio at Borough Road, North Shields

North Shields

North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...

, without really extending his reputation beyond his native Northumbria, although he is reputed to have lectured on art in other parts of the country, was a regular visitor to the Berwickshire coastline, and had also worked in Holland. Although much of this reputation rested on his nautical and landscape paintings he also etched subjects for sale locally and was an occasional illustrator of Tyneside

Tyneside

publications. Among his less typical works were a number of portraits in watercolour, among these one of Henry Hetherington Emmerson now in the possession of the Laing Art Gallery. He also produced a sketch of Emmerson for the menu card of the annual Bewick Club dinner in 1889.

External links

Short Biography (John Nicholson & Dunhelm Fine Art)

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