Sir William Russell FLINT
Edinburgh 1880 - London 1969
Biography
Born in Scotland, the son of a commercial artist, William Russell Flint began his career in the same field. One of his first jobs was as an artist on the staff of the Illustrated London News, where he worked between 1904 and 1907. His reputation as an illustrator was such that after four years he could leave the full-time employ of the Illustrated London News and work freelance, receiving commissions from other magazines such as the Pall Mall Magazine, Pearson’s and several others monthly periodicals. Since 1905 he had been exhibiting his work in the watercolour section of the Royal Academy exhibitions, and sat about this time also began to receive commissions for book illustrations. He mounted an exhibition of his landscape watercolours – all done, as he wrote, ‘direct from nature and not too comfortably’ - at the New Dudley Gallery in London. In 1914 Flint became an Associate member of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours, becoming a full member three years later. In 1936 he was elected President of the Society.
