Albert Daniel Rutherston

1881 - 1953

Albert Rothenstein, the youngest of six children, was of German Jewish descent. In the 1860s, his father, who worked in the woollen cloth business, had immigrated to England and settled in Bradford. Two of his brothers were the painter and teacher Sir William Rothenstein and Charles Rutherston, who was an art collector, as was his sister Emily. Albert moved to London to attend the Slade School of Art from 1898-1902, becoming a close friend of Augustus John and William Orpen, and befriending Walter Sickert, who introduced him to Dieppe and the Normandy coast. He was to be a pivotal member of the Fitzroy Street and Camden Town Groups. He anglicised his surname to Rutherston in 1916 during World War I as a sign of patriotism, and to avoid anti-German feeling, and he served in Palestine from 1916-19. After the War, Rutherston wrote and edited influential art and theatre books. In 1927, he illustrated the Thomas Hardy book "Yuletide In A Younger World" and designed posters and tickets for the London Underground. He held the post of Ruskin Master of Drawing in Oxford from 1929-48. He also designed stage sets for Harley Granville-Barker's productions.