Born in Chelsea in 1868, the artist, traveller and memoirist Ronald Gray studied at the Westminster School of Art under the influential Professor Fred Brown. He was elected a member of the NEAC in 1923.
At this time Westminster School was a nursery for artistic genius and among Gray’s fellow students were Henry Tonks, Walter Russell and Aubrey Beardsley, along with the landscape artist Wilson Steer who became a lifelong friend.
Gray also studied with Percy Jacomb-Hood in his studio, and at the Académie Julian, Paris. He was a founding member of the Chelsea Arts Club in 1890.
Gray visited America several times during the 1900s and spent time in Australia and New Zealand. He had a one-man show at the Goupil Gallery (1923) and exhibited with the RA, NEAC, RWS, Fine Art Society and at the Paris Salon, where he won a silver medal.
Gray was 46 in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, and he writes in his memoirs:
‘Remembering that I was considered too old for the Boer War I hardly expected an active job in this, and besides, I was groggy in one leg. Soon after my return, I dined with Lady Agnew. Temple Franks was there also, a tall good-looking barrister who was at that time head of the Patent Office. He told me that a corps was being formed to protect London from Zeppelin attacks. It was to be a part-time job for professional men, with pay. Franks had been enrolled as Chief Petty Officer, and said that he would try to get me into his crew as an A.B. A few days later I took the oath and was enrolled as a member of his crew.’
Their first pitch was on the roof of Cannon Street Station, and Gray started making sketches from which he developed paintings of the action. Two of these are now in the Imperial War Museum.
Gray’s work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
He died on 16 November 1951. Here is an excerpt from his obituary in The Times:
‘Ronald Gray, who died in London on Friday, was one of the last surviving painters of the small but select “Steer circle” in Chelsea, and probably the most faithful disciple of the master. [He] was in close contact with the moving spirits, consisting of Brown, Steer and Tonks of the New English Art Club though he did not become a member of the Club until 1923.
As a painter, he was distinguished by subtlety and refinement rather than by force. He seemed to be content to work in the background as a member of a school, and seldom made any public appearance, preferring the appreciation of his colleagues to more general recognition.’
Find out more about Ronald Grey, and view images of his paintings on the following websites, which were the sources of the information in this article: