William Bowyer (1926 - 2015)
Early Life and Training
Born in Leek, Staffordshire, William Bowyer was a sportsman from an early age, originally playing cricket for Leek and swimming daily at Burslem Baths. During his studies at The Burslem School of Art (1940-44), he trained under Gordon Forsyth and Reginald Haggar, and studied alongside fellow Stoke school painters Arthur Berry, Norman Cope, and John Shelton.
Royal College of Art and Teaching Career
In 1945, Bowyer went to the Royal College of Art in London, where he met tutors Carel Weight and Ruskin Spear, who became great friends. Many of his fellow students had recently been demobilised and were typically five or six years older than him. He soon began to make a living from education, teaching the future pop artist Peter Blake at Gravesend Technical College and School of Art until 1951. Bowyer rose to Head of Fine Art at Maidstone College of Art and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1973 and full member in 1981. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and served as President of the New English Art Club for thirty years. His work was regularly seen at the RA Summer exhibition and New English exhibitions.
Wartime Service and Personal Life
During World War II, Bowyer worked in a colliery in Stoke on Trent as a Bevin boy, combining his day job in the mines with the creation of watercolours and life drawings at evening classes at Burslem School of Art. In 1951, he married Vera Small in his hometown of Leek, Staffordshire. His wife, a talented sculptor, presented St Edwards Church in Leek with a "wonderful sculpture" as a gift to honour their marriage and as a thank you to the Parish.
Artistic Practice and Notable Works
Bowyer often returned to his hometown of Leek into the 1970s to paint the Staffordshire Moorlands. He described painting the scenes freely in watercolour, placing the work on the back seat of his car, driving with the windows open until reaching his next viewing point. He became friends with Derek Higginson, whom he painted in his work "Short Back and Sides", which now stands in the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. Later in life, he combined his love of cricket with his art, painting a portrait of Viv Richards and Arthur Scargill (now in London's National Portrait Gallery). He is remembered for his many glittering paintings of the River Thames, Chiswick, Hammersmith, and his pictures of the Suffolk coast, which took on a post-impressionist feel. Explore works like Hammersmith Bridge.
Recognition and Legacy
Barewall were fortunate to meet William Bowyer at his studio in Chiswick in 2014, where he shared memories of the Potteries and The Burslem School of Art. In October 2017, one of Bowyer's artworks—a family portrait in oil—was appraised on The Antiques Roadshow and valued at up to £5,000.
