Dennis Flanders

Dennis Flanders RBA RWS (2 July 1915 – 13 August 1994) was a British artist and draughtsman who specialized in pen and ink drawings, often of English landscapes and buildings. He is notable for his meticulous depictions of the impact of aerial bombing upon historic buildings during World War Two.

Biography

Flanders was born in Walthamstow, East London to Bernard Flanders, a pianist, and Jessie, a skillful painter of miniature flower scenes. The young Flanders was a naturally gifted artist who began drawing at an early age. Aged seven, he won the Princess Louise Gold Medal for the arts. He worked for a firm of accountants, for the interior decorator Maurice Adams and then in a print works before, in 1937, taking the decision to attempt to establish himself as a freelance artist and illustrator. In later life, he claimed he was inspired to do this after seeing a copy of Muirhead Bone's book of illustrations, Old Spain.

After the War, Flanders became a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and in several other galleries. He held his first solo exhibition at Colnaghi's in 1947. Between 1956 and 1964 he regularly produced drawings and sketches for publication in the Illustrated London News. Flanders was active in a number of art societies and in 1975 served as Master of the Art Workers Guild. Flanders illustrated several books and published two volumes of prints from his own drawings of the British landscape and its architecture, which had been the dominant theme of his artistic career. Both the publication of Dennis Flanders' Britannia, in 1984, and Dennis Flanders' London, in 1986, were supported by public exhibitions, at the Fine Art Society and the Guildhall Library respectively. The former volume contained over 200 drawings created over a span of forty years.

Memberships 1970 Elected Associate member, Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours 1970 Member, Royal Society of British Artists 1975 Master, Art Workers Guild 1976 Elected full member, Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours

Selected works Books illustrated by Flanders included Yorkshire Sketchbook by C. Wade, illustrated by Flanders and others, 1947 A Visit to Bolton Priory by J.R Walbran, 1948 Land of Scoth by A.M.Dunnett, illustrated by Flanders and others, Scottish Whiskey Association, 1953 Chelsea: From the Five Fields to the Worlds End by R. Edmonds, Phene Press, 1948 East and West of Severn by C.V. Hancock, Faber and Faber, 1956 Soho for East Angelia by M. Brander, 1963 A Westminster Childhood by J. Raynor, Cassell, 1952 Dennis Flanders' Britannia, 1984 Dennis Flanders' London, 1986