Julius Mendes Price (1857 – 29 September 1924) was an artist, war correspondent, explorer, traveller, journalist and caricaturist for ''Vanity Fair'' (signed "Imp", "Jmp" or "jmp"). Several of his newspaper serial reports were later published in book form.

Biography

Born in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

, to a Jewish family, he was educated at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and studied art in Brussels and at the

École des Beaux Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, Paris. He was a special war artist and correspondent 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 ...

''. For journalist purposes he enlisted as a trooper in Methuen's Horse and served in the Bechuanaland campaign 1884–1885 and continued serving with the regiment until it was disbanded. During 1890–1891 he joined an exploration expedition to open up the Nordenskiöld route to the interior of Siberia via the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

, the Arctic coast of Siberia, and along the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

; after the expedition he travelled unaccompanied by westerners across Siberia, Mongolia including the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

, and North China to Beijing. In 1895 he went on an expedition through the Western Australian goldfields. Price was with the Greek army during the

Greco-Turkish War (1897) The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War (), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the O ...

. In 1898 he went on an expedition across the Northwest Territory of Canada and down the Yukon River to the Klondike gold rush. In 1904 he acted as both special artist of the ''Illustrated London News'' and as war correspondent of the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' with the Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese war. During the 1890s and early 1900s he contributed art and prose to various journals including the ''

Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000 ...

'' and the ''

Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed i ...

''. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon; he won a medal at the Paris Exhibition 1900. At the start of WWI he was a war correspondent on the French front. In 1915–1917 he was a war artist and correspondent on the Italian front. During the

Sixth Battle of the Isonzo The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, better known as the Battle of Gorizia, was the most successful Italian offensive along the Soča () River during World War I. Background Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had reduced the Austro-Hungarian forces alo ...

in 1916 he was the only foreign correspondent present at the capture of

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

by the Italian army.

Books by J. M. Price

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * *
National Portrait Gallery – Julius Mendes Price ('Imp')"Missed: An Episode of the Rocket Brigade, Scilly" by Julius Mendes Price (at National Museums Liverpool) — Art UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Julius Mendes 1857 births 1924 deaths Alumni of University College London British caricaturists Jewish British writers British war correspondents Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Vanity Fair (British magazine) artists Artists' Rifles soldiers