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Benjamin Williams Leader Biography
English Naturalist artist
born 1831 - died 1923
Worcestershire's leading artistic son.
Leader was born Benjamin Leader Williams in
Diglis in Worcester City in March 1831. His father was involved in the
management of traffic on the River Severn, in those days before Great Britain
developed the obsession with road transport, which has ultimately proved so
mistaken. Williams senior knew and was a great admirer of John Constable, and
himself was a keen amateur artist. |
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Benjamin Leader Williams
changed his name to Williams Leader, to
distinguish himself from the legion of
artists called Williams.
He attended the Royal Grammar School in the
city, and studied in the evenings at
Worcester School of Design. In 1854,
following a number of years working for his
father ( a mistake the writer made too),
Benjamin Williams Leader enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools.
During his first year at the RA Schools,
Leader had a painting in the Summer
Exhibition, and, more importantly, sold it.
From the outset his
interest was in landscapes, early Benjamin Williams Leader painting,
in it's detailed painting and bright colours
showing the influence of the
Pre-Raphaelites. Later in his career
the artist gradually changed to a looser, less detailed
style of painting. Unusually for the time
Benjamin Williams Leader painted out of doors, if only at the initial
stages of work on Benjamin Williams Leader art.
He married, in 1876, Mary Eastlake a
niece of Sir Charles Lock Eastlake,
President of the Royal Academy in the mid
19th century. In 1883 Benjamin Williams
Leader artist became ARA, and in
1898, at the age of sixty- seven a full
Academician. In 1888 Benjamin Williams
Leader had moved to Surrey,
then a beautiful county close to London, and
as a result much favored by painters.
Leader was masterly at painting winter
scenes, with bare trees, and an atmosphere
of bleakness, and cold the viewer can almost
feel. Most famous Benjamin Williams Leader painting of this type
is February Fill-Dyke, now in Birmingham Art
Gallery. In 1914 the painter became a Freeman of the
City of Worcester. The painter exhibited three Benjamin Williams Leader paintings at the RA in 1922, at the age of
ninety-one years, an indefatigable worker to
the last.
The dead artist was the son of Mr E Leader
Williams, and his education was received at
the Royal Grammar School Worcester, the
Worcester School of Design, and the Royal
Academy Schools. Benjamin Williams Leader was a Chevalier of the
Legion of Honour. The Freedom of the City of
Worcester was conferred on him in 1914. |
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