Hubert Andrew Freeth (29 December 1912 – 26 March 1986) was a British portrait

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

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 ...

Biography

Freeth was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and attended the Birmingham College of Art and, between 1936 and 1939, studied at the British School in Rome. From 1936 onwards, Freeth exhibited regularly at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, 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 ...

and elsewhere. During World War Two, Freeth served in the Middle East as an official war artist to 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 ...

. 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 artis ...

commissioned two lithographs from Freeth. During the War, he also worked on the Recording Britain project. Freeth was one of the first artists to make the people of the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...

the main subject of his work, as other artists placed greater emphasis on representing the industrial landscape. Freeth won the prestigious Prix de Rome in engraving in 1936 and 1937, for his series of Black Country images. After the war, the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

commissioned Freeth to produce works about mine-workers due to the success of his representation of the people of the Black Country. Freeth was elected to the

in 1965 and taught at St Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Art in London. Freeth's work is held in a number of public collections, including Birmingham Museums Trust,

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of Football in England, football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of association football, football ...

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

and a number of university collections. Freeth was a friend of fellow artist Raymond Teague Cowern who was also born in Birmingham.

Family

Andrew married Roseen (née Preston). They had three sons, Martin Freeth, Tony Freeth, and Richard Freeth. Andrew's nephew is Peter Freeth, also a Royal Academician.

References

* 'FREETH, H. Andrew', Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
accessed 20 Jan 2012

External links

* 1912 births 1986 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century British printmakers Painters from Birmingham, West Midlands British etchers English male painters Royal Academicians World War II artists 20th-century British war artists {{UK-painter-20thC-stub