George Owen Wynne Apperley

George Owen Wynne Apperley (1884-1960) was a British painter. Described as “one of the finest” of the late Romantic artists, he worked mainly in Spain and in North Africa.

George Owen Wynne Apperley
Self-portrait (1915)
Born(1884-06-17)17 June 1884
Died10 September 1960(1960-09-10) (aged 76)
Tangier, Morocco
Known forPaintings
MovementRomanticism

Life edit

Apperley was born at Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, in 1884.[1][2] He trained briefly at the Herkomer School in Bushey, Hertfordshire, but was mostly self-taught.[3] He moved to Spain in 1917,[4] abandoning his British wife, Hilda Pope, and family,[5] and established himself in a carmen in the Albaicín district of Granada.[6] He became friends with many of the artists resident in the city,[a] but was forced to leave in 1932 when his conservative political stance regarding the Second Spanish Republic led to the bombing of his house.[7] He moved with his second family, his muse and later wife, Enriqueta Contreras and their two sons, to Tangier, Morocco, where he died in 1960.[8] He is commemorated in Granada by a statue, unveiled in 2011.[9]

Works edit

Apperley first worked on Classical and mythological subjects. His moves to Spain, and subsequently Morocco, saw his focus shift to portraiture.[10] Examples of his work are held by the Victoria & Albert Museum,[b] the Museo de Málaga, the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Bushey Museum.[12]

Gallery edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ One of Apperley’s acquaintances was Federico García Lorca, who named a pastry of which Apperley was particularly fond “Apperlies”.[7]
  2. ^ The V&A holds Apperley’s La Cordobesa, a watercolour dating from 1923.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ "George Owen Wynne Apperley". Spanish Royal Academy of History. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Apperley, George Owen Wynne (1884-1960)". Modernist Journals. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Apperley, George Owen Wynne, 1884–1960". Art UK. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. ^ "George Owen Wynne Apperley". Leighton Fine Art. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Venus (1917)". Maas Gallery. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  6. ^ Dizy Caso 1997, p. 22.
  7. ^ a b Requesens 2016, p. 97.
  8. ^ "George Owen Wynne Apperley". Christie's. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  9. ^ "George Owen Wynne Apperley". Andalucia.com. 16 November 2017.
  10. ^ Requesens 2016, pp. 96–97.
  11. ^ "La Cordobesa". V&A. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Nude by George Owen Wynne Apperley". Lusher Gallery. Retrieved 6 November 2022.

Sources edit