Letters from the artist, Albert Rutherston (formally known as Albert Rothenstein) to Mary Dowdall, with pen-and-ink drawings by Rutherston

This collection comprises letters, many of which are illustrated with sketches, sent from Albert Rutherston to Mary Dowdall (1881-1953). Accompanied by a small cache of pen and ink sketches of characters, as well as male and female figures by Rutherston (n.d.)

Albert Rutherston was the son of Moritz Rothenstein, a German businessman who emigrated to England, and the brother of the artist Sir William Rothenstein. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and at the Slade School of Art (1898-1902), where he held a Slade Scholarship. He exhibited with the New English Art Club from 1900 and held his first one-man exhibition at the Carfax Gallery in London in 1910. Rutherston served in Egypt and Palestine during the First World War and anglicized his surname in 1916. From 1929 to 1949 he was Ruskin Master of Drawing at Oxford. He was known for his decorative work and as an illustrator. He edited the series 'Contemporary British Artists' (1923-27). His publications include 'Decoration in the Art of the Theatre' (1919) and 'Sixteen Designs for the Theatre' (1928). Mary Dowdall (1876-1939) was a novelist. She was married to Harold Chaloner Dowdall, Lord Mayor of Liverpool (1908-09), and probably met Rutherston through her friend Augustus John. The earliest monograph, part of the 'Contemporary British Artists' series, was 'Albert Rutherston' (1925), by R. M. Y. G. [Reginald Gleadowe]. Further information can be found in 'Albert Rutherston, 1881-1953: An Appreciation' (1988), by Rutherston's son Max Rutherston.

The letters have been listed first in chronological order, followed by loose documents and sketches.

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The Archive holds a collection of Rutherston's drawings (TGA 7121) and letters sent to Rutherston can be found in TAM 52. Letters from Rutherston are included in the records of the Goupil Gallery (TGA 8314) and in the papers of Sydney Carline (TGA 8212), Lord Kenneth Clark (TGA 8812), John Fothergill (TGA 7121), J. B. Manson (TGA 806), Bernard Meninsky (TGA 8225), Cedric Morris (TGA 8317), to his nephew Sir John Rothenstein (TGA 7910; TGA 8726), to his parents, Moritz and Bertha Rothenstein (TAM 50), to his brother, Sir William Rothenstein (TAM 51), Lady Semphill (TGA 8424), and to Stanley Spencer (TGA 733).