Eric Kennington 1888-1960

Eric Kennington was an English sculptor, artist, and illustrator, best known as an official war artist in both World Wars. His work captured the endurance and character of ordinary soldiers and airmen, while his later sculpture and portraiture made him one of the leading British artists of his generation.

The son of painter Thomas Benjamin Kennington, a founder of the New English Art Club, Eric first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1908. Before the First World War he gained recognition for paintings of working-class Londoners, notably costermongers, which allowed him to establish his own studio.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Eric Kennington enlisted with the 13th (Kensington) Battalion, London Regiment. Wounded in 1915, he was discharged and painted The Kensingtons at Laventie, a powerful group portrait of his platoon, now in the Imperial War Museum. Appointed an official war artist in 1917, he spent seven months on the Western Front, producing 170 works depicting the endurance of ordinary soldiers.

During the Second World War, he again served as a war artist, portraying Royal Navy and RAF personnel. Postwar, he sculpted 1940, a memorial to airmen, became portrait painter to the Skinners’ Company, and was elected a Royal Academician in 1959.