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Biography|chiswick=Lewis F Lupton Born: 18th July 1909 Fulham, London Died: 16th July 1996, London Nationality: British Education: Sheffield College of Arts and Craft Known for: Painting, Exhibition design, Illustrating, writing Spouse: Phyllis Joan Ainger (1910 - 1998) m. 1934Lewis F Lupton

Artist, illustrator, Author

Born: 18th July 1909 Fulham, London

Died: 16th July 1996, London

Nationality: British

Education: Sheffield College of Arts and Craft

Known for: Painting, Exhibition design, Illustrating, writing

Spouse: Phyllis Joan Ainger (1910 - 1998) m. 1934

Contents


 * 1) Early Life and career
 * 2) World War 2
 * 3) Post war era
 * 4) 195s Scripture Union
 * 5) Author and publisher
 * 6) Painting - a New Direction
 * 7) ‘The Michelangelo of Chiswick’
 * 8) References

1. Early Life and career

Lewis Frederick Lupton (1909- 1996) was a British artist, author, and illustrator. He was the oldest of 7 children, born to Frederick J Lupton, (draper) and Lilian Love Lupton in Fulham, London. In 1912 the family moved to Sheffield when his father obtained work in a department stores.

Lupton showed considerable artistic talent from an early age, and was allowed to spend his time drawing at school.

‘''From the age of 5 I had made up my mind that I must be an artist. While in the Infants School I had produced a drawing in chalks which had been so admired by the teachers it was not allowed to be rubbed off until the Inspectors visited the school''. ''I was given permission to spend most of my time drawing. When I reached the age of 12, mother found a  course, half art and half general education, at the Pre Apprenticeship school. I started this in 1920. Classes were badly conducted, and the school closed after a year.’ 1.''

''Mother then went to see the Director of Education and I was allowed to go to the main Art School and train for a few months just prior to the time for the Scholarship Exam. I prayed earnestly that I would get it- only 2 boys and 2 girls in Sheffield could get it – and I was successful''.’1.

He then received various scholarships to Sheffield College of Arts and Craft where he studied for seven years, and excelled in a broad range of subjects. This testimonial was written by his painting tutor  Anthony Betts (1897 - 1980),  later Professor of Fine Art at Reading University.

‘He is a very gifted fellow and possesses a striking personality. While under my tuition he has always worked and behaved in a thoroughly satisfactory manner.

His successes in the Board of Education Drawing and Painting examinations bear witness to his power both as a draughtsman and a painter.’2.

After a few months teaching at Doncaster art school, Lupton moved to Stanleys Commercial Art Studio in Sheffield. In 1934 he was invited by  Victor Askew, former pupil of pre-apprenticeship school, Sheffield,  to join a commercial art studio he and his wife Margaret had set up on The Strand, London. Lewis married fellow art student Joan Ainger in Sheffield in June 1934, and they moved to London.

''‘By the time we arrived in London, Victor had moved to the top floor of Halifax House in The Strand. I had a lot of interesting work, Victor was of a generous disposition. He also found work for 2 other Sheffield students who were out of work. He got the kind of work we were best at, imaginative, posters of Galleons for Marconi, picturesque. By the time war came I had illustrated 2 books for The Oxford University Press, Book of Ships and Machines.’1.''

2. World War 2

At the outbreak of War Lupton registered as a conscientious objector, and after a tribunal in 1942 received an unconditional discharge.

The family, by then living in a rented flat in Chiswick, West London, remained in London throughout the war. Following the demise of  Askew Younge in 1940, Lewis became a self employed commercial artist. In November 1940 the family lost their home and posessions to bombing.

On seeing his illustrations for ‘Machines’ and ‘Ships', Fritz Keil,  owner of City Display Organisation, contacted Lupton, and obtained commissions for him over the next 15 years.

His first project was to decorate the boarded up windows of GEC HQ, Magnet House on Kingsway, with themes such as ‘This England’.

An introduction to the  Ministry of Food secured work throughout the war -  posters and displays for Food Advice Centres;  ‘a classic and unusual advertising campaign to encourage people to eat home-grown potatoes rather than bread which used imported ingredients’- featuring Potato Pete; and dig for Victory campaign. He designed exhibitions for Aid China and United Nations Information Organisation, and Energy saving posters for the Ministry of Fuel and Power.

He continued to illustrate  books  for several Publishers, including Collins (Book for Boys’ 1942), Sampson Lowe, Dent, and Macmillan.

''‘While at the studio I tried to do one or two oil paintings in my spare time, with a view to sending them to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Those paintings were not any I would wish to be seen now. Until 1939 came – then I produced a painting, first of a series, which seemed to have something my previous work did not have. This one was accepted straight away, along with 2 others. This continued for the next 10 years 1940 – 1949 twenty-one paintings in the RA summer show.’ 1''

1940:Academy accepts all his pictures

Mr Lewis F Lupton, a former student at the Sheffield College of Arts, submitted three pictures to the Royal Academy and all have been accepted. One depicting Strand on the Green, Chiswick, near where Mr Lupton lives, has been hung on the line: 3

1941:’''Mr Lewis F Lupton has had 2 pictures accepted by the Royal Academy. One is hung ‘on the line’. Mr Lupton married Miss Joan Ainger formerly of Highland Grove, Worksop. Their flat and studio were demolished by a direct hit in a raid on Chiswick, but no personal injuries were suffered''.’ 4

1943:  ‘Mr Lewis F Lupton has work on show at two important London Exhibitions.

At the New English Art Club at the Suffolk Galleries he exhibits a painting of Newton Chambers’ Colliery, and at the London Group Exhibition at Burlington house he is represented by a riverside scene, ‘Old Isleworth’.

He has a self-portrait on tour in a CEMA exhibition.

He has been in Sheffield lately doing some paintings and sketches, among them a view of the Rivelin Valley.’ 5

3. Post War Era

After the war he  successfully  exhibited oil paintings in various exhibitions.

1948 ‘''A Sheffield Artist, Mr Lewis F Lupton, now working in the South, has sent 3 accomplished oils. He handles paint with superb ease, and his studies of The Thames* and the Round Temple by the Lake, Chiswick Park, show that he has a sure sense of decoration. 6''

* ’The Thames East from Kew Bridge’ was chosen by Arts Council for their national tour.

The post- war years saw him involved in more exhibition design. In 1948 he won a competition to design an Exhibition  ‘Is the the Way?’ for the British and Foreign Bible Society at St Bride’s Institute.

Other commissions included:


 * 1947 Displays for National Coal Board
 * Road Safety Exhibitions for ROSPA.
 * 1949 mural for British Iron and Steel Federation Scottish Exhibtion( designer Rotter) 7*
 * Design for State Room of RMS Caronia,
 * 1951 ‘Faith Of Britain’ * 8 Exhibition in St Paul’s Cathedral Crypt, concurrently with Festival of Britain
 * 1953 designs for Coronation street decorations in various cities- Brighton, Kensington, Leeds, Sheffield etc
 * 1953 BFBs Jubilee Exhibition ‘We want to Live’ exhibition at the Royal Exchange
 * 1958 mural for BISF at Expo 58 in Brussels.
 * Ideal Homes Exhibition - Hoover and other stands
 * BIF ( British Industries Federation) displays for many firms including GEC, Daimler
 * BIF ( British Industries Federation) displays for many firms including GEC, Daimler

4 1950s Scripture Union

‘''When the exhibition opened at St Brides in 1948, I met Morgan Derham who had just been appointed Editorial Secretary of Scripture Union. I had the job of redesigning their publications, including illustrating many children’s novels. I spent the next 15 years with them working as a free lance artist, and moved over from secular to Christian. 1''

I very much enjoyed my work with SU, but I think it was too much for me’

While at Scripture Union Lupton developed his characteristic style of colourful book jackets with ‘scraper board’ illustrations. Books he illustrated included several  by well known authors eg  Patricia St John; ‘Treasures of the Snow’ (Patricia St John 1950)is still in print today.5 1960s Author and Publisher

1965 saw a change of direction, as Lupton used the skills he had honed over the years in illustration and book design, to write and illustrate his own work. His first book was  a tale for children ‘Red Indian Peril’  (Fauconberg Press 1965), closely followed by ‘Captured’ the same year. This is how he described himself in the introduction to Captured:

‘For the last decade he has devoted much of his time to the illustration of Christian Literature.

''He now finds the appeal of the three creative activities, writing, painting, and drawing, almost equally balanced. Like most people with artistic gifs he is spurred on by the hope of producing some work of fasting merit, but at middle age it still remains to be sen whether he will make an permanent mark.’7''

The next year saw the Publication of the First volume of his  magnum opus ‘The History of the Geneva Bible’ -‘The Quarrel’. He describes his first encounter with a Geneva Bible:

‘''It was on a sketching tour soon after the War that I fell in love with a [Geneva] Bible. It lay invitingly open in a window shop in Chichester. The left-hand page had an old map with galleons and sea monsters on it while the right had a gorgeously decorative title and border. It was early closing day so we drove on to Bosham with our easels and canvasses. But I always regretted missing that Bible and in the end, some three years later, I wrote to see if it was still there. It was, and thereby hangs this tale.’8''

''’This experience led Mr. Lupton to not only cherish the Geneva Bible and begin a 25-volume study of its history, but also contributed to his appreciation for and contributions towards hand-lettered calligraphy, which he used from volume eight forward, with a quill pen. The individual volumes are a treasure, because each has the feel of a book written especially for the reader.’9''

‘ an artist with words as well as with brush and pen’10

And  ‘ not only the eye of an artist but also the nose of the true historian’ 11

‘''Quite apart from its content, this is one of the most attractive books in format and illustration that we have seen for many a long year. It is lovely to look at indeed!''

This is not altogether to be wondered at since it is the labour of love of a true ‘amateur’ in the individualistic tradition of a William Blake or William Morris’ 12

Originally intended to be 7 volumes long, the series expanded to 25 volumes and would take the next 30 years to complete. He had written volume 26 before his death in 1996, which remains unpublished.

6 Painting - a New Direction

In the 1960s  Lupton found himself with more time to devote to painting, He developed a new lighter, brighter painting style. ‘Lewis’s ‘ style changed from the sombre tones of his early pictures;’ I like to think that now I was a Christian man I began to hunger for light and for brightness and so gradually it came’. 13  His love of English countryside and old towns was shown in his colourful landscapes in oil and watercolour. Many of his subjects were linked to the historical research for his books. He  experimented with scenes of family life, influenced by the Impressionists and the French artist Bonnard.

At the same time Joan Lupton returned to painting after bringing up a family.

Together they toured the country with mobile exhibitions between 1967 and 1970, visiting country towns including Norwich, Buxton, and Totnes. Their paintings received favourable press coverage and brought their work to a wider audience.

''‘There is the same sympathy between Lewis Lupton and the landscapes he paints as as there is between friends. At the same time, the landscape is transformed, the colour made more shimmering and evanescent. This change comes from with the painter himself, and makes the landscape glow with a light half perceived, half imposed.’ 14''

7. ‘The Michelangelo of Chiswick’

In the 1960s Lupton engaged in a labour of love - of biblical proportions.

He transformed his home in Chiswick with a series of  murals  with a religious theme,

''a vast panorama illustrating biblical scenes from Genesis to Revelation. The 30ft by 20ft  painting  covered the ceiling of the living-room, and took 10 years to complete.’ 2''

He became something of a local celebrity, with visits to see the ceiling from the local secondary school.

In later years physical limitations restricted Lupton’s painting tours, but he continued to work from home -   writing ‘a page  a day’  of his Geneva Bible series and illustrating the volumes. Occasionally he could still be seen sketching in his favourite area - Chiswick and The Thames.