William Russell Flint

© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
William Russell Flint
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.

William Russell Flint

Scottish painter, printmaker, and illustrator, 1880–1969
BiographyScottish artist and illustrator who was known especially for his watercolour paintings of women. He also worked in oils, tempera, and printmaking. Flint was born in Edinburgh. From 1894 to 1900 he apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman while taking classes at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh. From 1900 to 1902 he worked as a medical illustrator in London while studying part-time at Heatherley's Art School. He also studied independently at the British Museum.

He worked for The Illustrated London News from 1903 to 1907. He also produced illustrations for editions of several books, including W. S. Gilbert's Savoy Operas (1909) and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1912). Flint was elected president of Britain’s Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours (now the Royal Watercolour Society) in 1936 to 1956, and knighted in 1947. During visits to Spain, Flint was impressed by Spanish dancers, and he depicted them frequently throughout his career. He enjoyed considerable commercial success but little respect from art critics, who were disturbed by a perceived crassness in his eroticized treatment of the female figure. Flint was active as an artist until his death in London on 30 December 1969.
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
  • artists
  • male