Papers of R.H. Wilenski

R.H. Wilenski’s papers comprise files relating to Wilenski's published works and to notable artists such as William Blake, Edmund Dulac, Jacob Epstein, Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Walter Sickert and Stanley Spencer. These contain correspondence, notes, cuttings, obituaries, lecture notes, proof copies of articles and photographs. There are letters from, amongst others, Michael Ayrton, Cecil Collins, Charles Ede, Jacob Epstein, George Gershwin, Mark Gertler, Eric Gill, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Augustus John, Edward McKnight Kauffer, Eric Kennington, Walt Kuhn, Constant Lambert, André Lhote, Mortimer Menpes, Sir Alfred Munnings, Christopher Nevinson, Ben Nicholson, Charles Ricketts, John and William Rothenstein, Naomi Royde-Smith, Michael Sadler, Stanley Spencer, Edward Wadsworth and Ossip Zadkine.

The collection is an important resource for studies of 20th-century art, and for the history of art criticism.

Reginald Howard Wilenski was born in Paddington, London, on 7 March 1887. He was educated at St Paul’s School and went up Balliol College, Oxford, in 1905. He left without a degree and lived in Paris from 1907 to 1909, studying painting. Although he exhibited in London and Paris, he did not achieve great success as a painter, and it is thought that he was supported financially by his father. On 5 August 1914 he married Marjorie Isold Harland (1889-1965), a university graduate and daughter of Robert Wilson Harland, civil engineer. During the First World War, he worked in the intelligence department of the War Office.

In the 1920s Wilenksi began to devote himself to the criticism of art and became one of the foremost critics of his day, alongside Roger Fry and Clive Bell. Between 1923 and 1926 he submitted notes on exhibitions to the Evening Standard newspaper. In 1927 he established his reputation with the publication of The Modern Movement in Art (revised in 1957). He produced a series of books connected to the Royal Academy’s winter exhibitions of the art of different countries. These include: An Introduction to Dutch Art (1929); French Painting (1931); and English Painting (1933). In addition, he published The Modern Movement in Art (1927), The Meaning of Modern Sculpture (1932), John Ruskin (1933), Modern French Painters (1940, revised 1954), Poussin (1594-1665) (1948, revised 1958), and Flemish Painters (1960).

Wilenski became well known as a broadcaster and a series of his talks on the study of art was collected and published by Oxford University Press. In 1929-1930 he was Special Lecturer in Art at Bristol University and from 1933 until 1946 he was Special Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Manchester; Manchester awarded him an honorary M.A. in 1938. Wilenski was also the editor of the colour plate albums of The Faber Gallery and was a frequent contributor to The Times’s ‘Things Seen’ column. In 1967 he became a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur. He died on 19 April 1975.

Information primarily sourced from: Dennis Farr, 'Wilenski, Reginald Howard (1887–1975), art critic and historian', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/58904.

The archive has been arranged into four series:

• RHW/1: Papers relating to published books;
• RHW/2: Papers relating to journal and newspaper articles;
• RHW/3: Papers relating to notable individuals;
• RHW/4: Professional and personal correspondence.

The collection may include material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals. Some items in this collection may be closed to public inspection in line with the requirements of the DPA. Restrictions/closures of specific items will be indicated in the catalogue.

Around 1993-4 the archive was deposited in the Special Collections of the University of Manchester Library on permanent loan from the History of Art Department. This was arranged between Andrew Causey (Professor of Modern Art History) and Dr Peter McNiven (the then Head of Special Collections). With the permission of the then Pilkington Professor of Art History, Marcia Pointon, the papers were subsequently given to the University of Manchester Library although no paperwork relating to the gift survives.

None.

The files were formally numbered 1-35.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

The archive came to light in the History of Art Department and was rescued when the department moved from the Humanities Building (now known as the Samuel Alexander Building) to the Architecture Building during the 1980s. It is thought that it was bought by, or given to, the Department during Professor Reg Dodwell’s incumbency as Pilkington Professor of Art History and Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester.

No further accruals are expected.

King's College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, holds correspondence between R. H. Wilenski and Sir Basil Liddell Hart, 1960-1969, and with Kathleen Liddell Hart, 1960-1975; ref. Liddell Hart: 1/746.

Tate Gallery Archive, London, contains correspondence between R. H. Wilenski and Leon Underwood, 1928-1962; ref. TGA 819.

'Obituary: Mr R. H. Wilenski: A fertile critical mind', The Times, 22 April 1975, p. 16.

Dennis Farr, 'Wilenski, Reginald Howard (1887–1975), art critic and historian', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/58904.