Charles Holme (; 1848–1923) was an English journalist and art critic, founding editor of ''The Studio'' from 1893. He published a series of books promoting peasant art in the first decades of the 20th century.

Life

Holme was born on 7 October 1848 in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, the younger son of a

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

manufacturer, George Holme, and his wife Ann, ''née'' Brentnall. Holme himself worked in the silk and wool trades, trading with

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and China in the 1870s. He subsequently opened offices in Japan, visiting the country in 1889 with the painter

Alfred East Sir Alfred Edward East (15 December 1844 – 28 September 1913) was an English painter. Life East was born in Kettering in Northamptonshire and studied at the Glasgow School of Art. His romantic landscapes show the influence of the Barbizon s ...

and

Arthur Lasenby Liberty Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty (13 August 1843 – 11 May 1917) was a London-based merchant, and the founder of Liberty & Co. Early life Arthur Liberty was born on 13 August 1843 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of a draper. He b ...

and his wife. He served as vice-president of the Japan Society, and was a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1902. Holme was a member of the private bibliophile club, the Sette of Odd Volumes, and President in 1890. Holme was painted by

Philip Alexius de László Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

in 1908; the portrait was published in ''The Studio'' in 1911. He died on 14 March 1923 in

Upton Grey Upton Grey is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. History Roman times The village is on the line of an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way. Norman times The Grey derives from the years when the village was owned ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

''The Studio''

Following his retirement from trade in 1892, Holme founded ''The Studio: an illustrated magazine of fine and applied art'', a magazine dedicated to fine arts and

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...

, giving roughly equal weight to each. The first issue appeared in April 1893. The first serving editor was Joseph Gleeson White ( Lewis Hind had acted as editor for four months before the launch of the magazine). In 1895 Holme took over as editor himself, although Gleeson White continued to contribute. Holme retired as editor in 1919 for reasons of health, and was succeeded by his son Charles Geoffrey Holme, who was already the editor of special numbers and year-books of the magazine.

Edited works

Special numbers of ''The Studio'' were edited by Holme for separate publication as books. * ''Corot and Millet; with critical essays by

Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first histo ...

& Arsène Alexandre'', 1902 * ''Daumier and Gavarni'' by Henri Frantz and

Octave Uzanne Octave Uzanne (14 September 1851 – 31 October 1931) was a 19th-century French bibliophile, writer, publisher, and journalist. He is noted for his literary research on the authors of the 18th century. He published many previously unpublishe ...

, 1904 * ''Peasant art in Italy'' by S. J. A. Churchill, V. Balzano and Elisa Ricci, 1905 * ''The gardens of England in the southern & western counties'', 1907 * ''Art in England during the Elizabethan and Stuart periods'' by Aymer Vallance, 1908 * ''Old English mezzotints'' by Malcolm Salaman, 1910 * ''Peasant art in Sweden, Lapland and Iceland'' by Sten Granlund and Jarno Jessen (pseud.), 1910 * ''Peasant art in Austria and Hungary'' by A. S. Levetus, Dr. Haberlandt and

Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch (29 October 1863 – 16 June 1920) was a Hungarian Art Nouveau painter. He was born in Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the ...

, 1911 * ''Peasant art in Russia'', 1912 * ''Old houses in Holland'' by Sydney R. Jones, 1913 * ''The great painter-etchers from Rembrandt to Whistler'' by Malcolm Salaman, 1914 * ''The art of the book; a review of some recent European and American work in typography, page decoration & binding'', 1914 * ''Shakespeare in pictorial art'' by Malcolm Salaman, 1916 * ''The development of British landscape painting in water-colours'' by Alexander Joseph Finberg and E. A. Taylor, 1918.

Life

''The Studio''

Edited works

References

Further reading