Arthur John Elsley (1861-1952)

Professions: Painter

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  ARTHUR JOHN ELSLEY

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  Arthur John Elsley , The Happy Pair (A Royal Procession)

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  Arthur John Elsley (British 1860-1952)

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  Arthur John Elsley (1861-1952)

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Arthur John Elsley Biography

(b London, 1860; d London, February, 1952) English Painter. The son of a coachman, Elsley joined the South Kensington School of Art at the age of fourteen. In 1876 he became a student at the Royal Academy School and submitted his first exhibit to the Academy in 1878. In 1889, he joined a studio of established artists, including a leading exponent of childhood imagery, Fred Morgan (1847-1927). Elsley was to paint the animals in a scene while Morgan focused on the human figures. The two painted young, privileged children with animals, subjects enormously popular with the burgeoning suburban middle classes. Quite apart from their subject matter, however, the appeal of Elsley's paintings lies in the comical, almost human, expressions and poises of the animals, who seem almost to "talk back" to their young masters. The artist was soon considered the foremost painter of animals and children in the country. In 1900, following an estrangement with Morgan who accused him of stealing ideas for his pictures, Elsley began to execute works on a grander scale. In 1902 Elsley embarked on a series of twelve, multi-figure paintings of children playing in gardens of grand country houses. The first of this series was Spring Songs/Baby’s Birthday (1902).* While he continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1917, due to his failing eyesight that artist painted less and less through the years.** In portraying the intricate relationship between animals and children, Elsley elevated domestic pets from working animals to members of the family, eager participants in childhood games. Arthur John Elsley died in February of 1952. (Credit: *Sotheby’s, New York, 19th Century European Art, April 18, 2007, Lot 191; **Christie’s, New York, 19th Century European Art, October 18, 2000, Lot 52)

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