Reginald John Whistler, who was always known as Rex,
was a painter of enormous talent and considerable wit who might have been one
of the 20th century’s all-time greats had his life not been cut
short by World War Two.
His early life
Rex Whistler was born in what is now part of
south-east London on 24th June 1905, the middle of the three sons of
an architect, Henry Whistler, and his wife Helen. He produced drawings and
paintings from a very early age, winning the first of his many prizes when aged
only seven.
On leaving Haileybury College he at first failed to
impress at the Royal Academy Schools but was regarded very differently at the
Slade School of Fine Art, where his talent for imaginative decoration was
encouraged by Henry Tonks. It was on Tonks’s recommendation that Whistler was
offered the job of painting a mural in the refreshment room of the Tate Gallery
(now Tate Britain). The result was “In Pursuit of Rare Meats”, a narrative in
paint of a hunting party proceeding through a succession of imaginary
landscapes. The commission took 18 months to complete, with the restaurant
being opened in November 1927. The murals still adorn the walls today.
A latter-day classicist
Whistler’s style was somewhat out of phase with the
modernism of his time; indeed, it harked back to the classicism of a bygone
age, being reminiscent of artists such as Poussin and Claude Lorrain. However,
this was precisely what attracted him to the landed gentry who wanted something
original on their walls that was still in keeping with the architecture of
their country houses.
Plas Newydd, Anglesey
The best example of his work in this genre was at
Plas Newydd, the seat of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey, where the
dining room had a bare wall on one side but windows on the other side that
looked out over the Menai Straits and the mountains of Snowdonia beyond. This
being North Wales, the view was often obscured by rain and low cloud, so
Whistler’s plan was to contrast this with a view of a Mediterranean harbour on
which the sun always shone. This was not in fact a mural as the term is
normally understood, because the painting was done on a huge piece of canvas,
58 feet in length. Some of the work was done in London and some of it in situ.
The work (see picture above) reaches from floor to ceiling and extends
to the two side walls. The main work depicts a romantic harbour scene, with
ships at anchor, castle turrets, and mountains in the far distance. In the
foreground steps lead down to the water. Damp footsteps can be seen, leading
towards the carpet of the dining room. It is clear that Neptune has just walked
out of the sea, leaving his crown and trident on the sea wall.
To the left is a town scene, where the artist
himself can be seen, sweeping the patio with a broom. To the right, a colonnaded
passageway leads towards a terraced bathed in sunlight, with various objects in
view that had significance for the family, such as a child’s cello and their
pet dogs. So realistic is the scene that visitors have been known to try to pat
the dogs and walk along the passage!
The painting is full of details that might be missed
on a first viewing but which have symbolic significance, particularly for the
Anglesey family. A boy tries to steal an apple while the shopkeeper is not
looking. The model for the boy was the son of the Marquess; he succeeded to the
title as the 7th Marquess in 1947 and died in 2013.
While at work at Plas Newydd, Rex Whistler developed
an attachment to the Marquess’s eldest daughter, Lady Caroline Paget, whom
Whistler had met before gaining the commission, but his love was not returned.
There are details in the painting that hint at his feelings, such as love
taking flight in the form of a pair of swallows, and rose petals on the ground
that the artist with the broom leaves unswept.
A story is told that illustrates Whistler’s ease
with his medium. He remarked one day that the harbour scene was too busy, so he
painted out a number of ships. He later commented that something was needed to
fill the space, perhaps an island? He said this at 10 o’clock one evening; when
the family came down the next morning the island, complete with houses, a
church, a castle and quayside, had appeared.
His later work
Whistler’s final commission of this kind was at
Mottisfont Abbey, near Romsey in Hampshire. Here he transformed a drawing room
by giving it Gothic columns, plasterwork and drapery, all in paint, with a host
of “trompe-l’oeil” features including books in alcoves and a paint pot with
brushes. At one point visitors can see where the “careless” painter has left a
box of matches high up on a painted cornice. It was years after the work was
finished that an inscription was found that reads “I was painting this ermine
curtain when Britain declared war on the Nazi tyrants, Sunday, September 3rd.
RW”
Whistler’s work extended far beyond the medium of
the mural. He was, for example, a highly accomplished book illustrator, a
characteristic feature of his work being to set the illustration in a rococo
frame. He designed stage scenery and costumes, and also designs for textiles,
china and carpets.
Much of Whistler’s work, as well as the mural, can
be seen at Plas Newydd, where the 7th Marquess collected as much of it
as he could. The collection includes a nude painting of Lady Caroline and
letters written to her by Rex. Plas Newydd is now a National Trust property (as
is Mottisfont Abbey), so there is public access for much of the year.
His death during World War Two
Soon after the outbreak of war in 1939 Rex Whistler
took a commission (2nd lieutenant) with the Welsh Guards, although
he did not go overseas until 1944. In the meantime he continued to work,
including producing a mural on the wall of the officers’ mess at the Brighton
barracks. He commanded a tank during the advance into France following the D-day
landings, but was killed by a mortar shell when the tank was disabled by a
fouled tank track. This was on 18th July 1944. He was buried in a
British war cemetery in France.
Rex Whistler will always be one of the art world’s
great “might have beens”. Had he lived, would his style, with its throwbacks to
a distant past, have been forgotten as fashion and taste moved in a completely new
direction? Or would his idiosyncracies and humour have stood out from the crowd
and made him a popular favourite? Of course, we can only speculate.
© John Welford
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