ARTHUR CROFT MITCHELL (BRITISH, 1872-1956)

Footnote
Arthur Croft Mitchell was born in 1872 in Birmingham. His maternal grandfather was the church architect John Croft, and his maternal uncle the successful landscape painter Arthur Croft. The latter strongly encouraged Arthur’s aptitude for drawing, and liberated him from other obligations by undertaking the support of his widowed mother and sisters, allowing him to take up the full-time study of art.

In 1898, Arthur enrolled at the Slade School, where he studied under Frederic Brown, Henry Tonks and Philip Wilson Steer. Fellow students included Harold Gilman, William Orpen, and the portrait photographer Charles Beresford; Augustus John had graduated the year before but was also a regular visitor. On graduating from the Slade, Arthur spent two years at the Adacemie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, where he came under the direct influence of the Impressionists, and where he exhibited in the Paris Salon. Once he had returned from Paris, Arthur based himself in Chelsea and satisfied his romantic nature painting large canvases on themes such as Arthurian myth. Inspired by his love of Vermeer, he also specialised in interior scenes, and he exhibited at the New English Art Club, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Paris Salon.

In 1913, he built a house with a studio at 32 Mallord Street, Chelsea, only to be overtaken by the outbreak of WW1. When Arthur returned to full-time painting in 1920, the war had devastated the art market, and his war work had weakened his eyesight so that he could no longer produce interiors. He turned instead to landscape painting and flower compositions and travelled to Europe on painting trips with friends from his art school days, while continuing to exhibit regularly.

At the age of 52, Arthur met his future wife Molly, at the Chelsea Arts Ball. She quickly became his muse, and he painted her portrait many times. They married in 1926 and continued life at 32 Mallord Street, now next door to Augustus John’s home and Studio, although the two men had little in common besides their profession. Arthur found contentment with his new domesticity; the marriage produced two sons, which put an end to trips abroad, but Arthur was content to paint his wife, flower compositions, and the changing seasons in Wimbledon Common, a place he came to love. He lived in Mallord Street until his death in 1956.

Condition report

Original, unlined canvas; pinholes to the canvas along the right hand border, probably from a previous position on the stretcher, corresponding stretcher marks off the right hand border.  Paint surface has light surface dirt, areas of scuffing, upper right and a few flecks of paint loss to sitter's dress, lower right.  Ultraviolet reveals an uneven varnish and one small speck of retouching, lower centre, otherwise original condition.