Sir Thomas Kennington

Born in the coastal town of Great Grimsby on 7th April 1856, Kennington was a superb exponent of oils and water colours, infusing his portraits and genre scenes with a rare liveliness and sense of colour. He shows a true understanding of human nature, as well as a deep artistic skill in his brilliant portrait work. Kennington studied at the Liverpool School of Art, the Royal College of Art and at the Academie Julien in Paris. He then made a permanent move to London, where he enjoyed a successful career and taught his son, who was a talented painter and sculptor. Thomas Kennington's works were very well received and he was invited to exhibit at the Royal Academy from 1880. He was an original member of the New English Watercolour Society, and its first Secretary. This was a society founded in 1886 by a group of young artists as an English version of the Salon des Refuses in Paris. The pictures were selected by the artists themselves, not by a committee, and the Society became a centre for French influence and impressionism. Thomas Kennington painted with an expressive and poignant manner that earned him a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1889. He was also a regular exhibitor at Suffolk Street from 1880 onwards. Kennington died on 10th December1916

Sir Thomas Kennington Images:
A Mother’s Love