Alan Sorrell
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alan Ernest Sorrell (11 February 1904 – 21 December 1974) was an English artist and writer best remembered for his archaeological illustrations, particularly his detailed reconstructions of Roman Britain. He was a Senior Assistant Instructor of Drawing at The Royal College of Art, between 1931–39 and 1946–48. In 1937 he was elected a member of the
Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...
.


Early life

Sorrell was born in
Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...
, London, and moved to
Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...
, Essex, at the age of two.Sorrell, Mar
''Sorrell, Alan'' ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
Oxford University Press, accessed 11 December 2011
The son and second child of Ernest Thomas Sorrell (1861–1910), a jeweller and watchmaker, and his wife Edith Jane Sorrell, née Doody (1867–1951), Alan Sorrell would often go with his father on trips away drawing landscapes as a child. However, most of his childhood was spent confined to a bath chair due to a suspected heart condition. The early death of his father also resulted in Sorrell's being very reclusive.


Early career

Sorrell trained at the Southend municipal school of art and, after a brief spell as a commercial artist in London, he attended the
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...
between 1924 and 1927. Whilst there, he met
William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Though he covered many subjects – ranging from landscapes in France to representations of Jewish synag ...
who would act as a mentor for Sorrell and became a close friend. In 1928, Sorrell won the British Prix de Rome in
Mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...
painting and spent the next three years at the
British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...
. Sorrell returned to England in 1931 and became drawing master at the Royal College of Art where his contemporaries included
Gilbert Spencer Gilbert Spencer (4 August 1892 – 14 January 1979) was a British painter of landscapes, portraits, figure compositions and mural decorations. He worked in oils and watercolour. He was the younger brother of the painter Stanley Spencer. ...
. He began his archaeological reconstruction drawings after a chance meeting in 1936 with
Kathleen Kenyon Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978) was a British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She led excavations of Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, from 1952 to 1958, and has been called ...
on a dig of a Roman site in Leicester, who asked him to produce illustrations for her article for ''
The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
''. More commissions then followed at Maiden Castle, in collaboration with
Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...
, and at Roman Caerwent and Carleon, in collaboration with
Cyril Fox Sir Cyril Fred Fox (16 December 1882 – 15 January 1967) was an English archaeologist and museum director. Fox became keeper of archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, and subsequently served as director from 1926 to 1948. Many of his m ...
and V. E. Nash-Williams of the
National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
.


World War Two

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Sorrell worked in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
in 1940, and then was transferred to the Air Ministry in 1941, applying his artistic talents to help camouflage aerodromes. For a time he worked in the high security Central Intelligence unit at RAF Medmenham, where he was part of a team working on terrain models for bombing missions, and on models of battleships, such as the German battleship . Sorrell later claimed that he had refused to work on terrain models of cities he thought were of "irreplaceable artistic importance". He created artworks of air force life in his spare time as well as completing several short-term commissions from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, to depict airfields and runway construction. In total WAAC acquired some 26 paintings from Sorrell.


Post-war career in archaeology

After the war Sorrell's archaeological work was to take up more and more of his time. Commissions came from archaeologists such as Professor W. F. Grimes for the London
Mithraeum A Mithraeum , sometimes spelled Mithreum and Mithraion (), is a Roman temple, temple erected in classical antiquity by the Mithraism, worshippers of Mithras. Most Mithraea can be dated between 100 BC and 300 AD, mostly in the Roman ...
dig, from ''The Illustrated London News'' and later from the Ministry of Works. Public awareness of his work was increased by his prolific output and his many publications, starting with 'Roman Britain' (1961), as well drawings commissioned for TV series such as '' Who Were the British?'' for Anglia TV. Professor
Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe (born 10 December 1939), usually known as Sir Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been ...
wrote: Throughout this post-war period, Sorrell still found time for his more imaginative work, which was exhibited at both the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Academy plus other venues. The titles were often evocative, such as ''The Fallen Emperors'', ''The Stone Men'' and ''The Dark Tower''. A strong characteristic of these paintings is, according to Sorrell, "a sense of the decay of a noble past, and this and their treatment, in its starkness and drama, links them inevitably with his archaeological drawings".


Family life

Sorrell was married twice, first to Irene Agnes Mary Oldershaw in 1932; they divorced in 1946. His second marriage was to the watercolour artist Elizabeth Sorrell née Tanner in 1947. They lived and raised their family in a small converted chapel in Daws Heath in southeast Essex. They had three children, Richard Sorrell (born 1948), an artist, Mark Sorrell (born 1952), a writer, and Julia Sorrell (born 1955), also an artist. As an active member of the
Campaign to Protect Rural England Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar produ ...
, Sorrell worked to help preserve ancient trees and woodlands in his local area. This was indicative of his
Neo-Romantic The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in philosophy, literature, music, painting, and architecture, as well as social movements, that exist after and incorporate elements from the era of Romanticism. It has been used ...
outlook which was reflected in works such as ''The Spoilers'', ''The Planting of the trees'', and ''The Assault'' which was left unfinished on his easel at the time of his death. He died in 1974, and is buried in Sutton cemetery,
Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...
, with his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1991.


Collections and galleries

*
Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...
(13 works) * Liss Fine Art *
London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of Transport in London, London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the histo ...
(3 works) *
Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...
(13 works) *
Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a Historic house museum, house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and ...
(Exhibition 2013–2014) *
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 UK ...
(2 works) *
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
(40 works) * National Museum Cardiff *
Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...
(3 works) * Arts Council Collection *
Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
*
Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...
*
Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupi ...
(two works) * Verulanium Museum *
Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome, in North London's Borough of Barnet. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air ...
(3 works) * Beecroft Art Gallery (70+ works inc. Nubia collection) * Magdelen College, Oxford (two works inc. portrait of C S Lewis) *
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...
(1 work) * Museum of Reading * Dorset Museum(1 work) *
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
* Portsmouth Museum *
Corporation of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's fi ...
* British Postal Museum and Archive (1 work) * Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield (2 works) * Bradford Art Galleries (1 Work) * Tyne & Wear Museums and Archive (1 work) *
Norwich Castle Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...
Museum (2 work) *
Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman architecture, Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, d ...
Museum (3 works) * Chelmsford Museum and Art Gallery * South Mill Arts Bishop's Stortford Museum * Wearing Art Gallery (1 work) * Stoke Museum Service (1 work) * Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Carlisle *
Royal Cornwall Museum The Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, is a museum in Truro, England, which holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral coll ...
Truro (2 works) * The National Maritime Museum (1 work) * The Mitchell J Wolfson Museum of Decorative & Propaganda Art, Miami (1 work) * Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Glasgow (1 work) * Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (3 works) *
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...


Publications

* ''Latinum'' A reader for the first stage of Latin by C.B. Robinson with illustrations by Alan Sorrell, Cambridge at the University Press, 1940 * ''Roman Britain'' text by Aileen Fox, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1961 * ''Saxon England'' text by John Hamilton, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1964 * ''Living History'', text and drawings by Alan Sorrell, B T Batsfords Ltd, London 1965 * ''Norman Britain'' text by H. R. Loyn, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1966 * ''Prehistoric Britain'' text by Barbara Green, drawings by Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1968 * ''The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version'' Colour illustrations by Alan Sorrell, William Collins & Sons, London 1968 * ''Imperial Rome'', by
Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was one of the leaders of excavations at of the Roman fortress at Vindolanda and also published several books on Roman ...
and Alan Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1970 * ''Stories from Livy'' by R.M. Ogilvie, original drawings and maps by Alan Sorrell,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1970 * ''Nubia: A Drowning Land'' text by Margaret S. Drower, paintings by Alan Sorrell, Longmans, London & Harlow, 1970. * ''British Castles'' text and illustrations by Alan Sorrell, B T Batsford Ltd, London 1973 * ''Roman Towns in Britain'' text and illustrations by Alan Sorrell, foreword by Dr Graham Webster, B T Batsford Ltd, London 1976 * ''Medieval Britain'' Drawing by Alan Sorrell & Richard Sorrell, Lutterworth Press, London 1978 * ''Alan Sorrell: Ail-greu'r Gorffenol'' (1980. National Museum of Wales) * ''Reconstructing the Past'' by Alan Sorrell, edited by Mark Sorrell, Batsfords, 1981,


References


External links

*
Official website
(maintained by his family)
University of Southampton: Alan Sorrell Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorrell, Alan 1904 births 1974 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters Academics of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artists from Essex Burials in Essex Camoufleurs English male painters English muralists People from Southend-on-Sea People from Tooting Prix de Rome (Britain) winners Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II artists 20th-century British war artists