Albert Rutherston (né Albert Daniel Rothenstein) was born into a prosperous German-Jewish immigrant family in Bradford, England in 1881. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and exhibited widely, including at the New English Art Club, initially painting in a realist style before transitioning to a more decorative approach. A versatile artist and designer, Rutherston also created stage sets, produced illustrations, and held teaching positions in several renowned art schools, including the Ruskin School School of Art in Oxford (now part of Oxford University).
Painter, printmaker, illustrator, and stage designer, Albert Rutherston (né Albert Daniel Rothenstein) was born into a prosperous German-Jewish immigrant family in Bradford, Yorkshire, England on 12 May 1881, the youngest of six children. He was the younger brother of artist, William Rothenstein and collector Charles Rutherston. Rutherston was educated at Bradford Grammar School before studying at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1898 to 1902, where he was part of a talented cohort, alongside Augustus John and William Orpen, with the trio known as ‘the Three Musketeers’.
Initially a realist painter, Rutherston’s style shifted around 1910 towards a more decorative approach, seen in works presented at his first solo exhibition at the Carfax Gallery in London (1910), a venue co-founded by his brother William and John Fothergill. Rutherston's early realist work included Laundry Girls (1906, Tate Gallery). In the same year, while holidaying in Normandy, he was introduced to watercolour by the artist Edna Clarke Hall, which influenced his transition to a more decorative style and, while staying in Grasse on the French Riviera, Rutherston began experimenting with watercolour on silk. Inspired by his friend, the artist, Charles Conder, he created small-scale works featuring stylised figures and imaginative landscapes, showcasing his evolving decorative approach. An example of this new style were the designs he created for a mural for the dining room of the Borough Polytechnic in south London in 1911, a commission organised by Roger Fry (see Tate Collection). In 1905, he became a member of the New English Art Club (NEAC), and in the same period, he briefly joined the Fitzroy Street Group, led by his friend Walter Sickert, enjoying both their social and artistic benefits. He exhibited widely, including at the NEAC, Leicester Galleries, Goupil Gallery, Royal Watercolour Society, and the Fine Art Society. He also contributed to exhibitions showcasing artworks from the collection of his brother, Charles, including at Cartwright Hall in Bradford in 1915, which featured drawings from the British School, and at a show at Sheffield University in 1920, which included works by Augustus John, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Muirhead Bone, among others.
During the First World War, both Albert and Charles anglicised their surname in 1916 as a declaration of British patriotism. Rutherston served with the Northamptonshire Regiment in Egypt and Palestine from 1916 to 1919. Upon returning to England, he focused increasingly on decorative designs, watercolour landscapes, stage designs, and book illustrations, particularly for Curwen Press and niche publishers, such as Nonesuch and Cresset Press. Rutherston's illustrations varied from Thomas Hardy's Yuletide in a Younger World (1927) to an edition of The Haggadah, the text read at the Jewish festival of Passover (Soncino Press, 1930). As a stage and costume designer, he worked on Harley Granville-Barker's productions, including The Winter's Tale (1911) and George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion (1913) and, in 1919, he published his lecture,Decoration in the Art of the Theatre, through the Poetry Bookshop. Rutherston also designed posters and tickets for the London Underground.
Rutherston held his first teaching post at London's Camberwell School of Art, and later initiated a project to revitalise the Oxford School of Drawing, Painting, and Design, which was eventually taken over by the Ruskin School of Art. While teaching, Rutherston also edited the monograph series, Contemporary British Artists, published between 1923 and 1927. In 1929 he was appointed Ruskin Master of Drawing, a post he held for almost 20 years. In 1937, the Group of Oxford Painters, consisting of his former and current students at the Ruskin, held their second exhibition at the Cooling Galleries in London's Bond Street. In 1938, Rutherston returned to oil painting after being introduced to the young art student, Patricia Koring, by his friend, artist Barnett Freedman. Koring became his model for over a decade, and this partnership reinvigorated his interest in painting portraits and nudes. He exhibited in London at the Leicester Galleries during the 1920s and 1930s and participated in group exhibitions at the Ben Uri Gallery in 1937, 1944, and 1951. Rutherston also became a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1942 and regularly exhibited with the Cheltenham Group.
Albert Rutherston died in Ouchy-Lausanne, Switzerland on 14 July 1953. His work is held in numerous UK public collections, including the British Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate, the V&A, and the Ben Uri Collection. In 1988, a retrospective exhibition of his works was presented by Max Rutherston (his grandson) in London, reflecting on his varied contributions to British art as a painter, designer, and illustrator.
Albert Rutherston in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Albert Rutherston ]
Publications related to [Albert Rutherston ] in the Ben Uri Library