W H Allen 1863-1943

WH Allen's life as a working artist spanned more than fifty years, from the late 1880s to the early 1940s and during that time painted many thousands of mainly watercolours of the surrounding countryside.

He never tired of depicting the subtle changes of light and colour that continually transformed the countryside, and returned time after time to the same spots to capture their essence and ever-changing moods.Particular favourites included Farnham Park and water meadows, Tilford Bridge, Waverley Woods, Moor Park and Mill, the Bourne Valley and Binsted.

Many of the paintings were produced out in the 'field' and are bold and immediate in their depiction of light and shadow, or changing weather conditions.He also worked up pictures in his studio which are usually of a slightly larger scale and show a higher degree of detail and finish.Very few were sold on the open art market, although he did exhibit regularly at the major galleries and annual exhibitions. Born in 1863, William Herbert Allen was for many years Director of the Farnham School of Art.

His love of the border countryside between North Hampshire and Surrey resulted in the production of several thousand watercolours, chalk and pencil sketches of the local landscape and its buildings, craft traditions and people. Many of Allen's pictures show men, machines and animals working together in a reasonable degree of harmony and balance. He captures this brilliantly in a clear, unsentimental style.

This unique record of country life was supplemented by material from other parts of the British Isles and the Continent, which he visited frequently from the early 1890s onwards.

Born in 1863, William Herbert Allen was for many years Director of the Farnham School of Art. His love of the border countryside between North Hampshire and Surrey resulted in the production of several thousand watercolours, chalk and pencil sketches of the local landscape and its buildings, craft traditions and people. Many of Allen's pictures show men, machines and animals working together in a reasonable degree of harmony and balance. He captures this brilliantly in a clear, unsentimental style.This unique record of country life was supplemented by material from other parts of the British Isles and the Continent, which he visited frequently from the early 1890s onwards.

Allen embraced many styles and techniques during his long artistic career, ranging from extremely vivid, almost abstract watercolour sketches made in the field, to more traditional "finished" oils and watercolours for the general art market.His field sketches and studies are particularly successful and were painted in all weathers and conditions.

W H Allen was an intensely private and modest man. Virtually everything we know about him comes from oral and written testament provided by family and friends. There is nothing from the artist himself. There are no impassioned artistic manifestoes, secret diaries or published volumes of letters and correspondence. What we have instead is an amazing pictorial legacy of everyday life and landscapes.

His personal philosophy and approach to life, based on a profound religious faith and love of what was good and honest, in the context of integrity of design and production, was communicated to a wider audience through a lifetime of teaching and painting.

WH Allen was one of a small group of visionaries, who almost single-handedly began to change peoples' perception of their surroundings. In this task he was helped by fellow Farnham resident and friend George Sturt (1863-1927), whose writings closely mirror Allen's approach to the recording of rural life and change. Thanks to their work, urban and rural landscapes began to be preserved at a time when 'progress and modernisation' were sweeping all before them.

Allen's unsentimental portrayal of everyday landscapes and rural activities ensured that the fledgling preservation movement got off to a sound start, based on reality, and not on some folksy, half-baked romanticised view of the countryside and the people who lived and worked in it.

His personal integrity was reflected in his paintings. To him all landscapes were special. He concentrated on 'ordinary' countryside scenes and left the honey pot tourist attractions to other more commercially orientated artists, returning time after time to record their ever-changing light, colour and seasonal activity.

In the 1880s, the depiction of life and work in the countryside was subject to two very different approaches, the traditional rural romanticism/sentimentality; basically chubby happy children, thatched cottages with roses around the door and contented happy harvest scenes, and that of social realism - recording child labour and exploitation, agricultural depression, bad weather, hard work and hard labour.

By the time Allen started recording the countryside around Farnham in the 1890s, Britain was in the grip of a severe agricultural depression which continued until the late 1930s, mirroring his artistic output.

The main canon of Allen's work was therefore produced during a period of agricultural hardship and change, so how does he line up in terms of recording these events - is he on the one hand over-sentimental like Myles Birkett Foster or does he celebrate the nobility of labour and the hardship of rural life like Sir George Clausen and Henry Herbert la Thaugue? On the whole Allen comes down on the side of the social realists.

He always paints pictures in his present, never the past, and never sentimentalises subjects, especially people at work or children. He shows a variety of rural crafts and activities. His depiction of landscape is unsentimental and more related to light, mood and atmosphere. He constantly experimented with different styles and techniques, from traditional watercolours to impressionism. His sincere religious beliefs and commitment to a simple lifestyle is reflected in his pictures.

Art School and early study tours, 1884-1889
WH Allen entered the Royal College of Art in 1884, where he came under the influence of its Director, Thomas Armstrong (1835-1911), a disciple of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.

This was to have a profound effect on Allen's artistic development, and remained the predominant stylistic influence throughout his long working life as an artist and teacher. His college work was of a sufficiently high standard to win a number of prizes, including four Queen's prizes, a gold medal for drawing and painting and numerous class awards. In 1888 he was given a silver medal and a travelling scholarship of £50, which enabled him to travel to Europe. This was the first of many continental trips and resulted in the production of some of his finest work.

Teaching, 1889-1927
Allen's legacy as an artist owes much to his work as a teacher and lecturer. He was still a student at the Royal College of Art when he became an evening lecturer in Design, being awarded the college's Diploma of Associateship at the same time.

He then became master of the Sydenham Art Class, after receiving a glowing reference from his college principal, John Sparks, who considered him '… the most successful lecturer and instructor I have known …'

In November 1889 Allen was appointed Master of Farnham Art School, which was then situated in South Street, Farnham. Originally set up sometime in the 1860s in an upper room of The Bailiff's Hall in the Borough, Farnham Art School was attended by local author and rural commentator George Sturt, who has left a vivid description of mid-Victorian Art teaching methods in his numerous writings. He later became a friend of Allen's and was the subject of several portraits.

Originally set up sometime in the 1860s in an upper room of The Bailiff's Hall in the Borough, Farnham Art School was attended by local author and rural commentator George Sturt, who has left a vivid description of mid-Victorian Art teaching methods in his numerous writings. He later became a friend of Allen's and was the subject of several portraits.

Allen's abilities as a teacher were soon recognised by Farnham Urban District Council and later Surrey County Council, as he was made Director of the Art School, a post he retained until his retirement in December 1927.

In 1904 Allen became responsible for the teaching of Art in all primary and secondary schools in the Farnham area. He was an inspirational teacher and encouraged his students to tackle a wide range of art and craft activities, from watercolour painting, to pottery and wood carving.

Allen gave private wood carving lessons to Harold Falkner who later became an architect and leading light in the preservation of Georgian Farnham. Falkner later wrote that Allen gave lessons in order: '… to get money to buy things to equip his school, as he never had the slightest interest in money for himself …'

Home and Garden
By 1897 Allen was sufficiently settled in the Farnham area to commission Harold Falkner to design a house for him. Situated on the Tilford Road, 'Strangers Corner' was to remain Allen's home until 1932 when he moved to Wiltshire.It was firmly based on Georgian principles of design and proportion.

Falkner later paid tribute to Allen's contribution to the early building conservation movement in an article published in Country Life in July 1942: ' … Allen transformed our outlook, which thought nothing of our Georgian past and relegated its furniture to the attics if it were not sawn up. Allen furnished his house with local Chippendale and Sheraton, opening our eyes to a new world. I began to realise there was a good deal in the craftsmanship and general design of Georgian buildings which suited it to the requirements of the modern householder …'