WALTER ERNEST WEBSTER (1877-1959)
Portrait of a Lady
Oil on Canvas
Signed lower right
Measurements: 17 inches by 22 inches
 
Walter Ernest Webster was a portrait and figurative artist born in Manchester in 1878. Three time medal winner at the Paris Salon. He specialised in painting portraits of young ladies in a soft, fluid style, which later became compared to other modern British artists such as Sir William Russell Flint. By the age of 23 he was living in Putney, London. Around this time he started exhibiting works at the Royal Academy including 'Sunday' (1907), 'Awakening of Pan' (1920) and 'Pantaloon' (1920). He exhibited at the Royal Institute and Royal Institute of Painters in Oil and also at the 1920 Carnegie Institute International Exhibition in Chicago with a work entitled 'Sarah'. He produced illustrations for the front covers of several publications including 'Ladies' Home Journal' and 'Etude'. Many of these reflected the Art Deco style of the period. He also produced illustrations for books, including 'Champion' by John Colin Dane (1907) and 'For Treasure Bound' by Harry Collingwood (1910). Around 1953-1955, Webster painted a portrait of the Queen, 'Queen Elizabeth II (b.1926) Queen Regent', which is now held in the Government Art Collection. Another of his paintings can also be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum.