Myles Birket Foster Art
Myles Birket Foster was a popular English illustrator, watercolor artist and engraver in the Victorian period. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster. Foster was born in North Shields, England of a primarily Quaker family, but his family moved south to London in 1830, where his father founded M. B. Foster & sons — a successful beer-bottling company. He was schooled at Hitchin, Hertfordshire and on leaving, he initially went into his father's business. However, noticing his talent for art, his father secured an apprenticeship with the notable wood engraver, Ebenezer Landells, where he worked on illustrations for Punch magazine and the Illustrated London News. On leaving Landells' employ, he continued to produce work for the Illustrated London News and the Illustrated London Almanack. He also found work as a book illustrator and, during the 1850s, trained himself to paint in watercolors. His illustrations of Longfellow’s Evangeline and books of poetry by other contemporaries were a great success, and he quickly became a successful artist in watercolors. Foster became an Associate of the "Old" Watercolor Society (Later the Royal Watercolor Society) in 1860 and exhibited some 400 of his paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts for over more than two decades. He traveled widely, painting the countryside around Scotland, the Rhine Valley, the Swiss lakes and in Italy, especially Venice. In 1863, he moved to Witley, near Godalming in Surrey, where he had a house named The Hill built. Being friendly with Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, he had the house decorated and furnished in contemporary style, with tiles and paintings by Burne-Jones and Morris' firm, Morris and Company. The same year, he published a volume of English Landscapes, with text by Tom Taylor. Although he had painted great numbers of landscape scenes from Scotland to the Mediterranean, it was after moving to Witley that Birket Foster produced the works for which he is best known—a sentimentalized view of the contemporary English countryside, particularly in the West Surrey area. Although criticized for their idealized view of rural life, they were recognized for their detail and execution. Foster's work (along with that of other artists) was used by Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer, on the cover of their chocolate boxes from the 1860s onwards. He became ill in 1893 and moved to Weybridge. He continued painting but died on 27th March 1899. His obituary in The Times referred to him as "certainly the most popular watercolor artist of our time." He is buried at All Saints' Church in Witley.
20th Century Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor
1880s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor, Gouache, Lithograph
1880s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Lithograph, Watercolor, Gouache
1960s American Modern Myles Birket Foster Art
Gold Leaf
1960s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor, Aquatint
1920s Art Deco Myles Birket Foster Art
Ink, Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Lithograph
1890s Art Nouveau Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor, Ink, Paper
1930s American Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Drypoint, Watercolor, Paper
1680s Realist Myles Birket Foster Art
Paper, Ink, Gouache
1950s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Lithograph
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Watercolor
The Master Smith. 1895. Lithograph. Way 84; Levy 123; Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 120.i/ii. 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 (sheet 76 x 5 3/8). Only 15 lifetime impressions (in 2 states) were listed by Way; Goulding printed 38 impressions on 14 December 1903. The stone was erased in 1903. Printed on cream wove proofing paper. Monogrammed with the butterfly in the stone. A fine impression of this extremely rare lithograph.
Tedeschi, Stratis, and Spink write, page 366: As originally transferred to stone, the image includes trial marks made with a pointed crayon to the left of the sitter's shoulder. There is also a smudge at lower right below the image and a small stry mark upper right. Only one impression of this state has been located. Now in the Britigh Museum, London, it once belonged to Thomas Way and is illustrated in the Levy (1975) catalogue.' The impression illustrated above lacks the stray mark on the right, as the sheet is too small to accommodate it.
Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink write, page 366: 'This portrait of George Govier, was drawn ad the master smith conversed with the artist during a break from his work. Govier was born in Lyme Regis...
Late 19th Century Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Lithograph
2010s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Giclée, Watercolor
1930s Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
19th Century Impressionist Myles Birket Foster Art
Board, Oil
Late 19th Century Victorian Myles Birket Foster Art
Canvas, Oil