Butler, George

Biography

George Butler (1904 - 1999) was born and raised in Sheffield, where he studied at the city's art school .He graduated to the Central School in London where his teachers included Bernard Meninsky and A S Hartrick.

In 1925 he joined J Walter Thompson, working in Berlin and New York before returning to London as the agency's Art Director in 1932. He held this position until his retirement in 1962.

Throughout his busy career in advertising Butler devoted all his spare time to developing his own art, being an avid draughtsman of figure subjects and architecture as well as an enthusiastic landscape watercolourist. He also worked in oil and, in later life, pastel.

He had a one man show at the Redfern Gallery in 1927 followed by others including mixed shows, in England and France during the 1950s and 1960s. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions and was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1956. He was also a member of the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of British Artists and the London Group. In retirement he lived in Bakewell in Derbyshire with a second home in Aix-en-Provence where he was a member of the Societe des Artistes Independants Aixois. His work is in the City of Sheffield art collections (Graves Art Gallery) and in significant private collections such as Chatsworth House and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire.

See: JWT

Archive

Date range: 1920s-1960s

Scope/Formats

Mainly material relating to George Butler's career at JWT with some private artwork. Also correspondence, photographs and publications.

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