GEORGE OWEN WYNNE APPERLEY
(Ventnor, Island of Wight, England, 1884 - Tánger, 1960)
The case of George Owen Wynne Apperley is that of many foreigners, especially British, who were captured by the Spanish culture and the Spanish landscape, that was in those times considered as an exotic destination far from the European civilization and traditions. He was born in a noble family, spent his early childhood on the coast of the South England and in Alton, Hampshire. In spite of the wish of his mother Margaret’s second husband who wanted him to dedicated himself to a military career and his mother herself, who wanted her son to play an important role in the ecclesiastical life, George demonstrated at once his inclination towards the painting, the Greak mythology and the studies of the ancient civilizations; this first knowledge marked his posterior painting of classic reminiscences on the margin of the running of time and the voracious machine of vanguard. When he got over difficulties with his family, he travelled to Italy for the first time in 1904, the event that, as it was to be expected, had a great impact on his development. In the same year one of his water-colour picture was chosen for the annual |
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Portrait of a Lady with Mantilla |
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exhibition of the Royal Academy, and a year later he returned to Italy; there was also his first individual exhibiton in the Baillie Gallery, a real success with the English media. In 1907 he married Hilda Pope, and they had two sons, Edward y Phyllis, and the individual exhibitions in the Baillie Gallery, the Leicester Gallery and in London in 1912 followed, as well as in the Walker’s Art Gallery; meanwhile he was travelling throughout Europe, Italy in particularly. In 1914 he went to Spain, it was a significant trip as it had a great impact on his pictures and life, as he was fascinated by places and cultural particularities of this country. During this first travel he painted, in the overwhelming majority, water-colours, like The Bridge of Alcantara and Morning in Granada. Since his definite settlement in Granada in 1916 and his studies in the Placeta de San Nicolás, George dedicated himself to painting landscape of the surroundings, portraits of Spanish women dressed in typical clothes of the region and gypsies of Albaicín. In Spain he got married second time with Enriqueta Contreras, and had two more sons, George and Riki. His first Spanish exhibition took place in Madrid in November in 1918, inaugurated by the kings of Spain. It was followed by exhibitions in London, in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and in the Royal Academy, mass media acknowledged that they were successful. He went on travelling to Italy and Marocco. In fact he established his residence in Tánger in 1932, where he continued painting his famous compositions filled with nude women in different poses in academic style. In 1936 he was nominated knight commander of Mehdavia for republican “important services”; and in 1945 he got Commandment of Alfonso X The Clever, an honour that had never been granted to a British artist. Finally, in 1951 he was distinguished as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Malaga. He died in Tánger in 1960. |
Claudio Coello 6 28001 Madrid tel.
(34) 91 435 0174 galeria@josedelamano.com |
