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James Bolivar Manson

1879–1945

Pinks in a Vase c.1940
  • Artist biography
  • Wikipedia entry

Artist biography

Wikipedia entry

James Bolivar Manson (26 June 1879 in London – 3 July 1945 in London) was an artist and worked at the Tate gallery for 25 years, including serving as its director from 1930 to 1938. In the Tate's own evaluation he was the "least successful" of their directors. His time there was frustrated by his stymied ambition as a painter and he declined into alcoholism, culminating in a drunken outburst at an official dinner in Paris. Although his art policies were more advanced than previously at the Tate and embraced Impressionism, he stopped short of accepting newer artistic movements like Surrealism and German Expressionism, thus earning the scorn of critics such as Douglas Cooper. He retired on the grounds of ill health and resumed his career as a flower painter until his death.

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Camden Town Group

Artworks

  • Michaelmas Daisies

    James Bolivar Manson
    c.1923
  • Self-Portrait

    James Bolivar Manson
    c.1912
  • Pinks in a Vase

    James Bolivar Manson
    c.1940

Artist as subject

  • The Opening of the Modern Foreign and Sargent Galleries at the Tate Gallery, 26 June 1926

    Sir John Lavery
    exhibited 1929
  • Self-Portrait

    James Bolivar Manson
    c.1912

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