Philip Wilson Steer

Born in 1860, Philip Wilson Steer first went to Paris in 1882, where he studied with one of the key academic painters, Bouguereau, at the Academie Julian. He returned to London in 1884 and exhibited with the New English Art Club, which was newly formed by a group of young artists who were dissatisfied with the Royal Academy in London. By 1888 Steer had incorporated into his work certain Impressionist techniques such as the use of broken colour and a higher keyed palette. A year later he was included in an exhibition in Brussels with Les XX, a group which included Seurat and Signac. In 1892 Steer first painted at Cowes, where he was particularly attracted by the motif of racing yachts. Steer's involvement with Impressionism was short-lived because of the unfavourable attitude towards the new developments in England. However, his works of the brief Impressionist period (1891-95) reveal that he understood a great deal of the Impressionists' techniques. By 1895 Steer was beginning to leave the more radical aspects of Impressionism behind in favour of a style which would be more acceptable to his critics, who were very opposed to any French influence. He died in 1942.