JOHN STANTON WARD, R.A. (1917-2007)

 
A ITALIAN GARDEN
 
 
Signed & dated in pencil l.l. John Ward 1988
Watercolour with pencil 
15 x 23 cm | 31 x 38 cm
 
 
 
 
 
Ward began his studies at Hereford School of art. With financial support from Sir William Rothenstein, then Principal, he won a place at the Royal College of Art. Here he studied under some of the school’s greatest instructors including Gilbert Spencer, Barnett Freedman, Percy Horton, Charles Mahoney and Alan Sorrell. During the War, Ward designed pillboxes in Kent while serving in the Royal Engineers. After the War he returned to the RCA and won their travelling scholarship in 1947. 
 
 
Ward's fellow Hereford alumnus was the Art Director of Vogue, who hired him as an illustrator for the magazine from 1948-1952. Ward taught at Wimbledon College of Art, and from 1954 onward his reputation began to grow considerably: he exhibited at Agnews, the Maas Gallery and later at Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox. He worked as a literary illustrator and also for several large companies. He became well known as a portraitist, painting Joyce Grenfell, Sir Michael Adeane, Sir Roger Bannister, Lord Denning, Norman Parkinson, the members of the Society of Dilettanti and founders and staff of Annabel’s. He also painted Diana Spencer in her wedding dress as Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Gloucester. He painted the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge’s christenings and also gave drawing lessons to the then-Prince of Wales. 
 
 
Ward was a trustee of the RA from 1985-1993, but resigned his membership of the Academy in protest at the controversial Sensation exhibition, never resuming it. His works are in a number of public collections (including fifteen portraits in the NPG) and high-profile private collections.