Glyn Philpot – the Cult 20th-Century Artist Who Collaborated with Edwin Lutyens and Painted his Daughter-in-Law, Eva Lutyens

By Dominic Lutyens

Glyn Philpot (1884-1937) was an accomplished British portrait painter who initially made a name for himself as a relatively conventional Edwardian society painter. His earlier, highly acclaimed portraits have a touch of John Singer Sergeant-style bravura about them. But at the height of his success, circa 1930, following his heart, he took a major gamble and embraced a modernist style.

In his lifetime, he was appointed a Royal Academician and was feted, particularly at the start of his career. However, the risqué nature of some of this gay artist’s work, which resulted in some of his paintings being withdrawn from Royal Academy exhibitions, saw his popularity dwindle and led to financial hardship. The last major exhibition of his work was held at the National Portrait Gallery in 1984. For decades, he seemed destined to be deemed a minor artist.

But last year, Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex boldly mounted a comprehensive show of his multi-faceted work, entitled “Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit”, which I saw. It featured over 80 paintings, sculptures and mural designs.

Over the years, I’d seen a few of his paintings but was largely unfamiliar with his work. One of his most famous images is his portrait of poet Siegfried Sassoon that hangs in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The Pallant House show proved eye-opening, not least because I learnt that he and Edwin Lutyens worked together on several occasions. In 1923, Lutyens asked Philpot to contribute to Queen Mary’s Doll’s house: the artist, who painted a scene of putti frolicking among clouds on the ceiling of the Queen’s bedroom, was in exalted company: the fully furnished miniature palace was crammed with work by other well-known painters, from William Nicholson to Paul Nash.

That year, Lutyens also commissioned Philpot to paint an overmantel for a fireplace in the library of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Entitled The Creation of Man, it depicted Adam on a craggy summit, his creator’s hands hovering above him amid a halo of flames. From October to December, 1930, Philpot created modern murals with Classical themes  for Lord and Lady Melchett’s home in Mulberry House in Smith Square, London, a building designed by Lutyens. The murals included Leda and the Swan and Oedipus Addressing the Sphinx.

Also in 1930, along with Henri Matisse, Philpot was a judge at the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh; the Gold Medal was awarded that year to Picasso, whose work Philpot hugely admired. In 1932 The Scotsman ran a headline highlighting this move – “Glyn Philpot ‘goes Picasso’”. Philpot wrote about this new direction as his pursuit of “the instincts and the spirit” rather than the creation of art as luxurious status symbols. Compared with the rich, tonally contrasting hues of his earlier work, his new approach saw him go for matt, powdery, cooler tones, his paint applied more sparingly.

Philpot attracted as much attention for his socially progressive subject matter – he painted many black subjects, including Paul Robeson, the bass-baritone concert artist, actor, footballer and activist and the tenor and composer, Roland Hayes. He also often painted Henry Thomas (pictured above), a young Jamaican man.

Philpot embarked, too, on a series of striking, elegant portraits of confident, modish women, including the Russian-born fashion designer Eva Lutyens (née Eva Lubrynska), who was married to Edwin’s son, Robert. She was known for designing the dress that Wallis Simpson wore for her first meeting with the then King and Queen. In 1935, Philpot painted her in a high-collared, plum-coloured jacket, accessorised with twin jewelled cuffs. The painting was chosen to be exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1936.

While I was researching this article The Lutyens Trust’s Trust Manager Cathryn Spence kindly put me in touch with her friend Charlotte Doherty, great-great niece of Philpot, who loaned the Philpot painting, Sisters of the Artist (that she owned at the time) to the recent exhibition. This depicts the artist’s sisters – the figure in black is Charlotte’s maternal great-grandmother, Gertrude Cross (née Philpot), the other is Daisy Philpot, Charlotte’s great-great aunt.

Daisy, says Charlotte, had effectively been her brother’s “right-hand woman”. She kept records of paintings and handled his accounts and, after his death, lent his paintings to exhibitions. “Daisy made sure his flame was kept alive; later my great-aunt, Gabrielle (Gertrude’s elder daughter and so niece of Daisy and Glyn) picked up that baton,” Charlotte told me. “She was very upset that he’d fallen out of favour and her quest was to get his name and work recognised again. She’d have been thrilled by the Pallant House show and how it had brought Glyn’s name and work to the attention of a wider following and the huge appreciation shown by a contemporary audience.

“Simon Martin, the gallery’s director, has been fascinated with Glyn’s work for years,” she continues. “Simon saw a painting by him when he was a student and wrote his thesis on him. While doing his research for it, he met my grandmother, Rosemary (Gertrude’s younger daughter), who was able to give him helpful background as Gabrielle had died a few years earlier. Simon was most certainly the driving force for this show. I myself became aware of Glyn’s work as a child – I’d been particularly impressed that he’d been involved with Queen Mary’s Doll’s House – his murals in the Queen’s bedroom – and by the fact the record player played “God Save The Queen”. I later grew to appreciate his wider significance and range of his talent. I love his portrait of Eva Lutyens. It’s so stylish. You could wear those clothes today.”

Simon Martin has written a monograph about Philpot to accompany the show, which is as rich in detail about the artist’s life and work as the exhibition is in terms of his artistic output. The book, Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit (Pallant House Gallery, £35), can be ordered from the Pallant House Gallery’s bookshop (www.pallantbookshop.com).