Sir Muirhead Bone (23 March 1876 – 21 October 1953) was a Scottish

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and watercolourist who became known for his depiction of industrial and architectural subjects and his work as a war artist in both the First and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

s. A figure in the last generation of the

Etching Revival The etching revival was the re-emergence and invigoration of etching as an original form of printmaking during the period approximately from 1850 to 1930. The main centres were France, Britain and the United States, but other countries, such as ...

, Bone's early large and heavily-worked architectural subjects fetched extremely high prices before the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange coll ...

deflated the collectors' market. He was well known, if not notorious, for publishing large numbers of different states of etchings, encouraging collectors to buy several impressions. Bone was an active member of both the

British War Memorials Committee The British War Memorials Committee was a British Government body that throughout 1918 was responsible for the commissioning of artworks to create a memorial to the First World War. The Committee was formed in February 1918 when the Department of In ...

in the First World War and the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

in the Second World War. He promoted the work of many young artists and served as a Trustee of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, and the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

Early life

Muirhead Bone was born in

Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. His parents were journalist David Drummond Bone (1841–1911)The Late Mr David D. Bone
The Scottish Referee, 27 October 1911 via London Hearts Supporters Club website. and Elizabeth Millar Crawford (1847–1886). The Bone and his siblings attended the local

Board school School boards were public bodies in England and Wales between 1870 and 1902, which established and administered elementary schools. School boards were created in boroughs and parishes under the Elementary Education Act 1870 following campaigni ...

and were placed in apprenticeships from the age of fourteen. James Bone, Muirhead Bone's senior by four years, was apprenticed as a newspaper reporter and went on to become the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian while

David Bone Sir David William Bone (22 June 1874''Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950'' – 17 May 1959) was a Scottish Commodore and author of nautical fiction. His work includes ''The Brassbounder'' about a brassbounder, a young apprentice on ...

, another older brother, joined the navy and eventually became Commander Master of the Anchor Line and was knighted. Muirhead Bone was initially apprenticed as a painter of porcelain and later as an architect's draughtsman and completed a four-year apprenticeship before immediately turning to art. Bone studied at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...

, initially at evening classes. There he befriended the artist Francis Dodd and his sister

Gertrude Helena Dodd Gertrude Helena Bone, Lady Bone ( Dodd; 1876–1962) was a British writer who published during the Edwardian era. She wrote short stories, three novels, and several illustrated collections. Life Gertrude Dodd was the daughter of the Methodis ...

, to whom he became engaged in 1898. He began

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

in 1898, his first known print was a

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

and he is now better known for his etchings and drypoints. His subject matter was principally related to landscapes and architecture, which included urban construction and demolition sites, Gothic cathedrals and Norman buildings. The collection of his prints held by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

contains a number of works based in South Ayrshire, between 1898 and 1916. In 1900 he tried to run art classes in Ayr, from newly built premises at Wellington Chambers. In 1901 Bone moved to London, where he met

William Strang William Strang (13 February 1859 – 12 April 1921) was a Scottish painter and printmaker, notable for illustrating the works of Bunyan, Coleridge and Kipling. Early life Strang was born at Dumbarton, the son of Peter Strang, a builder, a ...

Dugald MacColl Dugald Sutherland MacColl (10 March 1859 – 21 December 1948) was a Scottish watercolour painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the Tate Gallery for five years. Life MacColl was born in Glasgow and educated at the Unive ...

and

Alphonse Legros Alphonse Legros (8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later took British citizenship. He was important as a teacher in the British etching re ...

, and became a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

. He held his first solo exhibition at the Carfax Gallery in 1902. Bone was also a member of the

Glasgow Art Club Glasgow Art Club is a club for artists and lay members with an interest in the arts, that has become over the generations "a meeting place for artists, business leaders and academics". They moved to

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...

and had their first son, Stephen, in 1904, and their second son, Gavin, in 1907. Bone continued to visit Ayr, producing the notable prints of Ayr Prison in 1905 and a series based on the view of the Ballantrae Road in 1907.

First World War and interbellum

During the First World War,

Charles Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such ...

, head of the British War Propaganda Bureau, acting on the advice of

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

, appointed Bone as the first official British war artist in May 1916. Bone had lobbied hard for the establishment of an Official War Artists scheme and in June 1916 he was sent to France with an honorary rank and a salary of £500. Although thirty-eight years old at the outbreak of war, Bone was spared from certain enlistment by his appointment. Bone's small, black and white drawings, and their realistic intensity, reproduced well in the government-funded publications of the day. Where some artists might have demurred at the challenge of drawing ocean liners in a drydock or tens of thousands of shells in a munitions factory, Bone delighted in them; he was rarely intimidated by complex subjects and whatever the challenge those who commissioned his work could always be sure that out of superficial chaos there emerged a beautiful and ordered design. Commissioned as an honorary

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

, Bone served as a war artist with the Allied forces on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

and also with the Royal Navy for a time. He arrived in France on 16 August 1916, during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

and produced 150 drawings of the war before returning to England in October 1916. Over the next few months Bone returned to his earlier subject matter, producing six lithographs of shipyards on the Clyde for the

War Propaganda Bureau Wellington House is the more common name for Britain's War Propaganda Bureau, which operated during the First World War from Wellington House, a building on Buckingham Gate, London, which was the headquarters of the National Insurance Commission b ...

's ''Britain's Efforts and Ideals'' portfolio of images which were exhibited in Britain and abroad and were also sold as prints to raise money for the war effort. He visited France again in 1917 where he took particular interest depicting architectural ruins. Two volumes of Bone's wartime drawings were published during the war, ''The Western Front'' and ''With the Grand Fleet''. He was an active member of the

and helped select which artists received commissions from the Committee. After the Armistice, Bone returned to the type of works he produced before the war, and was influential in promoting fellow war artists William Orpen and

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

. He began to undertake extensive foreign travels, visiting France, Italy and the Netherlands, which increasingly influenced his work. In 1923 he produced three portraits of the novelist

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not spe ...

during an Atlantic crossing. An extended visit to Spain in 1929 resulted in the folio ''Old Spain'', a collaboration with his wife who wrote the text, which was published in 1936. In the inter-war period he exhibited extensively in London and New York, building up a considerable reputation. Bone received a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

hood in the

1937 Coronation Honours The 1937 Coronation Honours were awarded in honour of the coronation of George VI. Royal Honours Order of the Thistle * The Queen Royal Victorian Chain * The Queen * Queen Mary * Clive, Baron Wigram Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) * The Queen ...

for services to art and he served as a Trustee and on the committees of several institutions including the Tate, the National Gallery and the Imperial War Museum.

Second World War

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Muirhead Bone was appointed a member of the

and also became a full-time salaried artist to the Ministry of Information specialising in Admiralty subjects. He produced scenes of coastal installations, evacuated troops and portraits of officers. However, following the death of his son Gavin in 1943, he decided not to continue with the Admiralty commission but he did remain an active Committee member until the end of the war. His other son,

Stephen Bone Stephen Bone (13 November 1904 – 15 September 1958) was an English painter, writer, broadcaster and noted war artist. Bone achieved early success in book illustration using woodcuts before he turned to painting and art criticism. Early life ...

, was subsequently appointed to the vacant Admiralty position.

Death

Bone died on 21 October 1953 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He was buried in the churchyard adjacent to the St. Mary's Church, Whitegate at

Vale Royal A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...

parish in Cheshire. St. Mary's Church Whitegate

He has a memorial stone in

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gra ...

in London.

Bibliography and books illustrated

War Drawings by Muirhead Bone- Chateau near Brie on the Somme Art

War Drawings by Muirhead Bone- Tanks Art

* ''The Yellow Book'' (1897), (Contributor), * ''Portfolio'' (1899), * ''Glasgow'' (1901), * ''Children's Children'' (1908) * ''Glasgow: Fifty Drawings'' (1911), * ''The Front Line'' (1916), * ''The Western Front: Drawings by Muirhead Bone'' (1917), with an introduction by Gen. Sir Douglas Haig and text by C.E. Montague. * ''Merchant Men-at-Arms'' (1919) by his brother David Bone * ''With the Grand Fleet'' * ''The London Perambulator'' (1925), by his brother James Bone * ''Old Spain'', (1936), with Gertrude Bone, * ''The London Perambulator'' (1938), * ''Days in Old Spain'' (1938), with Gertrude Bone * ''London Echoing'' (1948), * ''Merchant Men Rearmed'' (1949), by his brother David Bone * ''The English and their Country'' (1952), * ''Came to Oxford'' (1952), with Gertrude Bone

References

External links

* * *
Sir Muirhead Bone exhibition catalogues
*
James Hamilton Muir
(joint pseudonym) at LC Authorities, 2 records
Gertrude Bone
at LC Authorities, 7 records {{DEFAULTSORT:Bone, Muirhead 1876 births 1953 deaths British Army officers Military personnel from Glasgow 20th-century British printmakers 19th-century Scottish painters 20th-century Scottish painters Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from Glasgow British Army General List officers British Army personnel of World War I British draughtsmen British war artists Knights Bachelor Royal Marines officers Royal Marines personnel of World War II Scottish etchers Scottish knights Scottish male painters Scottish printmakers Scottish watercolourists World War I artists World War II artists People from Partick Muirhead