Birley Oswald (6 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. BIRLEY, Oswald H. (1880-1952). Great War Christmas Lithograph with facsimile message of good wishes for 1918 from General Howe. [London, 1917]. Lithographic print, 190 × 230 mm, signed in the plate lower left O.H.B. 1917. The image depicts a British soldier in winter uniform. Incorporated within the design is a printed (facsimile) inscription:'Wishing you good fortune in 1918. J. Howe, General. Christmas 1917'. The sheet appears to have formed the front panel of a folding Christmas card or presentation piece, now detached; light evidence of former mounting. Very good.  The verso bears a contemporary newspaper cutting of Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Justice' (from The Times, 24 October 1918), neatly pasted in place, indicating later personal use as a commemorative or memorial object at the end of the war. Oswald Birley was one of the leading British portraitists of the First World War, later President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and produced numerous images of the Great War.…

Leather. Condition: Fine. First edition. A beautifully bound full vellum example of Percy Bate's study of Scottish portrait painters, one of only twenty-five very scarce copies printed on Japanese vellum. A very scarce work.375 copies of this work were produced, with this being no. 18 of only 25 copies printed on Japanese vellum.In handsome full vellum binding.Illustrated with sixty-one plates complete with captioned tissue guards. Collated, complete.With examples of portraits from such Scottish artists as Sir James Guthrie, Sir Geo. Reid, Oswald Birley, Robert Brough and others.The introduction is the work of Percy H. Bate, Secretary of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine arts. In a full vellum binding, with extensive gilt detailing. Externally, excellent, with vellum lightly age toned, and with light spotting to rear board. Internally, firmly bound. Pages exceptionally clean and bright. Fine. Sir James Guthrie; Sir Geo. Reid; Oswald Birley; Robert Brough et al (illustrator). book.…

A large photographic reproduction of the 1951 Trinity House portrait by Sir Oswald Birley. Inscribed to the lower margin in black ink by Winston Churchill during his second term as British Prime Minister "With many thanks / from your old friend / Winston S. Churchill / 1952". Measuring 37 x 30 cm. In excellent condition with minor creasing to the corners and toning to the margin edges, the inscription and photograph bright and without fading. Contemporary dark wood frame, glazed. A scarce image in inscribed state. In April 1951 the maritime authority Trinity House commissioned the distinguished portrait painter Oswald Birley to depict Winston Churchill as an Elder Brother of the Corporation. Churchill had held this prestigious association since his service as First Lord of the Admiralty before and during the First World War. His connection with Trinity House remained a visible and symbolic one: Churchill was frequently photographed wearing the distinctive Trinity House cap or uniform, particularly during naval inspections and maritime visits throughout the Second World War. The recipient of this particularly warm prime-ministerial presentation was the eminent Australian statesman Lord Casey (Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, 18901976). One of the most distinguished figures in twentieth-century Australian public life, Casey enjoyed a remarkable career in imperial and international service. He served as an army officer in the First World War, later entering politics as a cabinet minister and subsequently representing Australia as Ambassador to the United States. During the Second World War he sat in Churchill's War Cabinet and later held the office of Governor of Bengal. His long career of public service culminated in his appointment as the 16th Governor-General of Australia, serving from 1965 to 1969. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. All items are catalogued by humans. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers. …

A superb print of a portrait commissioned from Oswald Birley by the Royal Yacht Squadron when the king became their admiral and patron in 1910. The portrait fittingly shows him in a rattan yacht armchair, with his sailing cap and telescope on an ottoman beside him. It is signed in the lower margin by both the king and the engraver. This print comes from the estate of Admiral Martin Dunbar-Nasmith (1883-1965), who won the Victoria Cross for his command of submarine E11 in the Dardanelles. George (1865-1936), the second child of Edward VII, was destined for a naval career. In 1877, he joined the training ship HMS Britannia with his elder brother Albert Victor. He served continuously until 1892, rising to the rank of captain through merit, and maintained a keen interest in naval affairs throughout his life. This nautical image is very fitting for the recipient, one of the great naval heroes of the First World War, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his service in submarine E11 during the Dardanelles campaign. Churchill praised his actions, stating, "one submarine alone - E11 - three times passed and re-passed through the terrible dangers of the tenfold minefields, of the Nagara net, and of the long vigilantly guarded reaches of the Dardanelles, remained in the Marmora ninety-six days (forty-seven in one spell) and sunk single-handed 101 vessels, including a battleship, a modern destroyer and three gunboats. This prodigious feat of Commander Dunbar Nasmith VC. remains unsurpassed in the history of submarine warfare" (Churchill, p. 283). The king and Dunbar-Nasmith met in 1912 under remarkable circumstances. The king was at Weymouth in the Royal Yacht to watch the Fleet manoeuvres. When fog interrupted the proceedings, the King expressed his desire to take a dive in a submarine. He embarked on Dunbar-Nasmith's command, D4, and as reported by The Times, "made a lengthy run in her when she was submerged." Astonishingly, the king's fellow passengers included his second son, Prince Albert (later George VI), Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty and future prime minister), and Captain Roger Keyes (Inspecting Captain of Submarines and first Director of Combined Operations in the early stages of the Second World War). A biographical sketch in the July 2012 issue of Navy News by long-time family friend Commander William Corbett notes that the admiral often wondered what would have happened to the course of 20th-century history had he sunk that day. This concern was not unreasonable, given that he had nearly sunk in submarine A4 during a signalling trial in the Solent in 1905. Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) was a highly talented portraitist, "capable of creating not only a fine likeness but possessing an ability to bring thoughtfulness and empathy to his work" (Freeborn). George V was his first royal commission, which increased his popularity among "aristocrats, politicians, artists and scientists of the day" in whom "he captured the expression, pose and attitude of a generation of people who lived through and influenced some of history's most tumultuous years." The plate was engraved by Thomas Hamilton Crawford (1860-1948), a Scottish landscape and architectural artist who studied under Herkomer and exhibited at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon. Crawford is perhaps best remembered as the last serious exponent of mezzotint portrait engraving in the first half of the 20th century. Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis Vol. II: 1915, 1923; Ros Freeborn, "Power & Beauty: The Art of Sir Oswald Birley", ArtUK online. Finely executed mezzotint by T. Hamilton Crawford, printed in sepia on India paper and mounted within a debossed plate-mark, framed and glazed in the original gilt ebonized wood presentation frame surmounted by gilt Imperial State Crown; frame 760 x 608 mm, glazed area 685 x 533 mm, print area 490 x 370 mm. Print lightly toned, some foxing in the margin, particularly at the bottom around the engraver's signature; recently reglazed retaining the original backboard with framer's label of Albert Gardner & Co. of Havant; a few small scuffs to the frame, but overall very good indeed.…

Rare signed photograph portrait of the future first President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann on his 60th birthday. Silver gelatin photograph of an original oil on canvas portrait of Weizmann done by British portrait artist Sir Oswald Birley in 1934 on the occasion of Weizmann's 60th birthday. Signed by Weizmann in the lower right corner, "C Weizmann." Mounted on cardboard. In very good condition with diagonal creasing across the image, minor toning to the edges. The piece measures 10 inches by 8.225 inches. The Birley portrait of Weizmann exists in the collection of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. It was gifted to Weizmann by Lord Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton, a prominent British Jewish advocate of Zionism who, after 1948, advised Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on transportation and logistics in the newly created state of Israel, and also joined the Israeli Defense Forces. Chaim Azriel Weizmann was a Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as President of the Zionist Organization and later as the first President of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann convinced the United States government to recognize the newly formed state of Israel. Weizmann was also a biochemist who developed the acetoneâ"butanolâ"ethanol fermentation process, which produces acetone through bacterial fermentation. His acetone production method was of great importance for the British war industry during World War I. He founded the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.…

Oswald Birley's painting-saturated diary written in the winter months of his year abroad in the Mediterranean which records his obsession with Velasquez who would go on to inspire the artist's enormously successful practice, as well as offering an eye witness account of the Friday ceremonial of the penultimate Ottoman Sultan. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Small quarto manuscript book bound in half roan over marbled boards - rubbed but sound. All edges marbled; marbled endpapers. At one end of the MS is written 'Diary 1905 Jan 10-' followed by 19 pages of diary entries, January 10th-Jan 25th. At the other end is written 'Oswald Birley 1905' on the second flyleaf and as-if inadvertently Birley picks up in media res on January 26th - at least one page stub precedes this section. Birley continues the narrative over 38 pages, ending with increasingly sketchy entries up to February 28th when he had succumbed to his Velasquez obsession in Madrid - and lost interest in his diary. We can find no record of any institutional holdings of Birley's diaries. A small collection of archival material is held at the Frick Museum. NARRATIVE: Birley's journey began in London, travelling on board the Princess Alice to Genoa, arriving Jan 18th, 1905, after being held at sea overnight during a storm, waking to find 'the Italian Riviera all covered with white'. Birley toured Genoa's palazzi but 'the best pictures are in the Palazzo Pallavicini: the best represented Van Dyk, Rubens, and Andrea del Sarto: there is also a very fine Paul Veronese in the Andrea Doria Palazzo', continuing via Naples and Pompei, thence to Rome by train, visiting the Villa Borghese where 'the great thing of course being Titian's Sacred and Profane Love' and called on 'Sir E[dwin] Egerton our Ambassador'. In Rome Birley made a special visit 'to see the Velasquez portrait of Pope Innocent X in the Palazzo Doria - it's in a room by itself and is a marvellous arrangement of colour in different tones of red in the background, cap, chair and clothes with only his grey collar a warm white skirt to set if off & the head is beautifully modelled' (Jan 24). On the way to Greece Birley visited the Empress of Austria's villa on Corfu and in Athens 'the Acropolis. so wonderful: everything of Pentelion marble but which has become almost golden with age, colour must be far finer now than it was when it was quite white'. Birley returned to the Acropolis two days later 'and sketched another bas-relief', making one more visit to photograph the scene. Continuing to Istanbul (staying at the Pera Palace hotel) Birley found himself slightly overwhelmed by a performance of the 'howling dervishes' but having gained permission from the British envoy was fascinated by viewing 'the Sultan's procession which he makes every Friday to his mosque there. There is a sort of terrace reserved for foreigners and one has an excellent view of everything. all the generals, dignitaries in their war paint on the road. Everything very well stage managed. The Sultan appeared about 12.30 and went down to the mosque. He looks more than 62 - and has a most evil looking face - pale unhealthy face - a long beaky nose and he has dyed his beard a reddish colour.' Birley's European apotheosis came when he arrived in Madrid (Feb 23, 1905) instantly visiting the Prado where 'the Velasquez are quite marvellous: much finer than anything I had ever imagined. There are about 35 collected in one large Room with the Surrender of Breda at the end and by itself. In a small room leading out of it Las Meninas which is simply marvellous. Absolutely alive. Had no difficulty in getting permission to copy and settled on one of the dwarfs', an experience Birley repeats until the diary ends: 'Working all day in the Prado'. Spent all day drawing in the Velasquez Copy. Working all day in the Prado. El Prado with the Henrys' - Birley had arrived where he needed to be and here the diary ends. Born in 1880 and educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, this diary dates from the year after he had begun studying at the Academie Julian in Paris and St John's Wood School of Art. His career-defining debut solo exhibition in London had to wait until 1919 and his reputation made he would go on to paint Mahatma Gandhi, Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill in an oeuvre that combines 'aesthetic and psychological realism' (Philip Mould). Birley kept the copies of Velasquez that he made while in Madrid and they can be seen in photographs from the 1920s of his studio in St John's Wood. Thanks to Philip Mould's Power & Beauty: the Art of Oswald Birley, Please contact Christian White Rare Books Ltd for more information or images of this item.…