William Rothenstein:

An Inventory of His Art Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Biographical Sketch

The English portrait artist Sir William Rothenstein was born January 29, 1872, near Bradford, Yorkshire. William Rothenstein was the son of Moritz Rothenstein, who came to England from Hanover in 1859, and the brother of Charles Lambert Rutherston, the collector, and Albert Daniel Rutherston, the artist. William Rothenstein studied for one year at the Slade School in London under Alphonse Legros, after which he spent four years in Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian. While in Paris, Rothenstein met many of the important artists of the time; he was particularly influenced by Whistler, Degas, and Fantin-Latour. After his return to England in 1893, Rothenstein was commissioned by John Lane to execute a series of portraits of Oxford figures, which was published as Oxford Characters: Twenty-four Lithographs (London: J. Lane, 1896). During his life he went on to create over 750 portrait drawings and 135 lithographs.

Rothenstein was a professor of civic art at the University of Sheffield, a principal of the Royal College of Art, a trustee of the Tate Gallery, and a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission. He served as an official war artist during World War I, and was an unofficial artist to the Royal Air Force during World War II. Rothenstein died in London on February 14, 1945.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 34 original works of art, dating between 1896 and 1944?, by William Rothenstein. The works (drawings, lithographs, and one oil painting) are portraits of various important figures who were contemporaries of Rothenstein. Subjects include: Maurice Baring, Max Beerbohm, Laurence Binyon, Edward Carpenter, R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Albert Einstein, André Gide, Edmund Gosse, Harley Granville-Barker, Laurence Housman, W. H. Hudson, Henry James, Florence Kahn, Eric Kennington, Frederic Manning, Axel Munthe, George William Russell, George Bernard Shaw, James Stevens, Dame Ellen Terry, and W. B. Yeats. The works are arranged alphabetically by portrait subject.

The Art Collection also has two caricatures by Max Beerbohm of William Rothenstein in its Max Beerbohm Collection. The Ransom Center has in its Manuscripts Collections material related to Rothenstein in the Sir William Rothenstein Collection and in the collection of John Lane Company Records. The Ransom Center's Photography Collection has Rothenstein material in its Literary File.

Restrictions

Access:

A minimum of twenty-four hours is required to pull art materials to the Reading Room.

Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Purchases (R16, R162, R830, R1009, R1901, R2109, R2391, R2767, R3011, R3992, R4562), and gift

Provenance

Three items came from the Dobie Collection.

Processed by:

Alice Egan, 1997, and Helen Young, 2001

Sources:

William Rothenstein--Item List