A master of watercolours
Sir William Russell Flint RA ROI was born in Edinburgh on 4 April 1880, the eldest son of a commercial designer and watercolourist. He was educated at Daniel Stewart's College and then Edinburgh Institution. At the age of 14, Flint was apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman while taking classes at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh. From 1900 to 1902 he worked as a medical illustrator in London while studying part-time at the Heatherley School of Fine Art. Flint furthered his art education by studying independently at the British Museum and in 1905 he married Sybylle Sueter.
Already a successful black and white draughtsman, Flint turned to colour illustration and was commissioned by the Medici Society to make illustrations for several of their de luxe editions. Flint was also an artist for The Illustrated London News from 1903 to 1907 and produced illustrations for editions of several books, including H Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, W. S. Gilbert's Savoy Operas, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
Experiencing enormous success early in his career, Russell Flint first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1906, in Venice from 1909 to 1914, and in Berlin. He was awarded a silver medal at the Paris Salon of 1912. Flint was one of the leading illustrators selected by Percy Bradshaw for inclusion in his The Art of the Illustrator (1917-1918) which presented a separate portfolio for each of twenty illustrators.
After serving as a lieutenant during World War I, Flint returned to pursuing art full time, establishing his reputation as a painter and became one of the most sought after artists of the day. Whilst his work won immediate favour with amateurs and connoisseurs alike, the exhibiting societies were also quick to give him official recognition. He was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1917 and in 1924 was elected Associate of the Royal Academy, receiving full membership in 1933. In 1931, Russell Flint was appointed a member of the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers. Flint then served as president of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour from 1936 to 1956, and was knighted in 1947. In 1962, Flint held an exhibition of his work in the Diploma Galleries at the Royal Academy, the highest distinction that an artist can achieve during his lifetime (and an honour shared by only five other Royal Academicians).
During visits to Spain, Flint was impressed by Spanish gypsies and dancers, and he depicted them frequently throughout his career. He enjoyed considerable commercial success but little respect from art critics, who ho denounced his treatment of the female figure as too eroticised, clearly borrowing inspiration from similar works by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
Flint was active as an artist and a writer until his death in London on 30 December 1969.
Today, Russell Flint’s work can be found in numerous institutions around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Galleries of Scotland, and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
