British portrait artist and caricaturist (1851?1922)
Sir Leslie Matthew Ward
(21 November 1851 ? 15 May 1922) was a British
portrait
artist and
caricaturist
who over four decades painted 1,325 portraits which were regularly published by
Vanity Fair
, under the pseudonyms "
Spy
" and "
Drawl
". The portraits were produced as
watercolours
and turned into
chromolithographs
for publication in the magazine. These were then usually reproduced on better paper and sold as prints. Such was his influence in the genre that all
Vanity Fair
caricatures are sometimes referred to as "Spy cartoons" regardless of who the artist actually was.
Early portraits, almost always full-length (judges at the bench being the main exception), had a stronger element of caricature and usually distorted the proportions of the body, with a very large head and upper body supported on much smaller lower parts. Later, as he became more accepted by his social peers, and in order not to offend potential sitters, his style developed into what he called "characteristic portraits". This was less of a caricature and more of an actual portrait of the subject, using realistic body proportions.
[1]
Background
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"Tommy" Bowles
, founder of
Vanity Fair
, caricatured by Ward in 1889.
Ward was one of eight children of artists
Edward Matthew Ward
and
Henrietta Ward
, and the great-grandson of the artist
James Ward
. Although they had the same surname before marriage, Ward's parents were not related. Both were well-known history painters. His mother came from a line of painters and engravers: her father was the engraver and miniature painter George Raphael Ward; her grandfather the celebrated animal painter
James Ward
. She was niece of the portrait painter
John Jackson
and great-niece of the painter
George Morland
. Both parents had studios in their homes in
Slough
and
Kensington
in London, where they regularly entertained the London artistic and literary elite. Ward's father was a gifted mimic who entertained
Charles Dickens
and other eminent guests. Although they never gave their son formal training, they and their artistic friends encouraged the young Ward to draw, paint, and sculpt.
[2]
Ward started caricaturing while still at school at
Eton College
, using his classmates and
school masters
as subjects. In 1867 his bust of his brother was exhibited at the
Royal Academy
in London. At school Ward had been an unexceptional student, and after he left Eton in 1869 his father encouraged him to train as an architect. Ward was too afraid to tell his father that he wanted to be an artist and he spent an unhappy year in the office of the architect
Sydney Smirke
, who was a family friend. The artist
W. P. Frith
spoke to Ward's father on his behalf, and after a great deal of arguing he finally agreed to support his son's training as an artist, and Ward entered the
Royal Academy Schools
in 1871. In 1873 he sent some of his work to
Thomas Gibson Bowles
, four years after
Vanity Fair
was founded. This led to him being hired to replace "Ape" (
Carlo Pellegrini
), who had temporarily left the magazine after falling out with Bowles. As his
nom de crayon
, Ward suggested to Bowles that he use the name "Spy", meaning "to observe secretly, or to discover at a distance or in concealment".
[2]
Ward's
Spy
signature was similar to Pellegrini's stylised
Ape
.
Vanity Fair
[
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]
Leslie Ward
caricatured
in 1889 by
'Pal'
Ward drew 1,325 cartoons for
Vanity Fair
between 1873 and 1911, many of which captured the personality of his subjects. His portraits of royalty, nobility, and women, however, were over-sympathetic, if not sycophantic. Later, as he became a member of
Society
himself, he became even more of a complimentary portraitist, moving from caricature to what he termed "characteristic portraits", a charge he acknowledged in his autobiography
Forty Years of "Spy"
, published in 1915.
[1]
Ward worked methodically, often from memory, after observing his 'victims' at the racecourse, in the law courts, in church, in the academy lecture theatre, or in the lobby of the
Houses of Parliament
. Sometimes they came to his studio to pose in their robes or uniforms. A caricaturist, Ward believed, was born, not made. He observed, "A good memory, an eye for detail, and a mind to appreciate and grasp the whole atmosphere and peculiarity of the 'subject' are of course essentials."
[2]
A caricature, he noted, should never depend on a physical defect, nor should it be forced. "If I could sum up the art in a sentence it would be that caricature should be a comic impression with a kindly touch, and always devoid of vulgarity."
[3]
In an 1897 interview given by Oliver Armstrong Fry (editor of
Vanity Fair
) to Frank Banfield of
Cassell's Magazine
, it was reported that Ward received between £300 and £400 per portrait. Ward was the most famous
Vanity Fair
artist; indeed, the whole genre of caricatures are often referred to as "Spy cartoons". He worked for
Vanity Fair
for over forty years, producing more than half of the 2,387 caricatures published.
Later years
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]
Ward's
clubs
included the
Arts
, the Orleans, the Fielding, the Lotus, the Punch Bowl, and the
Beefsteak
, where he was one of the original members. There he sketched many of his victims. In 1899, years after her father had refused him permission to marry her, Ward married the
society
hostess Judith Mary Topham-Watney, the only daughter of Major Richard Topham of the
4th Queen's Own Hussars
. They had one daughter, Sidney.
[1]
Ward's last cartoon for
Vanity Fair
appeared in June 1911 as he had recently begun to contribute his "characteristic portraits" to
The World
and
Mayfair
. He supplemented his income by painting portraits. In 1918, he was
knighted
.
[4]
Ward prophesied that "when the history of the
Victorian era
comes to be written in true perspective, the most faithful mirror and record of representative men and spirit of their times will be sought and found in
Vanity Fair
".
[2]
After a nervous breakdown Ward died suddenly of heart failure at 4 Dorset Square,
Marylebone
, London on 15 May 1922 and was buried on 18 May at
Kensal Green Cemetery
in London.
About 300 of his original watercolours for
Vanity Fair
are in the
National Portrait Gallery
, London.
[1]
Gallery
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See also
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References
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Publications
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External links
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