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JOHN ALDRIDGE, R.A. (1905 – 1983)

Inspired by the wonderful Summer Exhibition of pupils’ Art on display last week, we look back at the life of John Arthur Malcolm Aldridge, an Old Lambrookian who was elected to the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts in 1963, having become an Associate in 1954.
John Aldridge joined Form II at Lambrook in January 1916 and was soon making an impression on the life of the School – entering the Golf Competition and playing for the 3rd XI Cricket team during the Summer. By Christmas, his artistic talents had also become evident and his co-authored entry for the Story Competition was notable for its unusual inclusion of illustrations to accompany the text.

During the following year, Lambrook introduced five troops of Boy Scouts and John enrolled in the ‘Owls’, passing the Swimming Test and later becoming its leader in 1918. Other successes also came his way – including an unbeaten season playing at outside left in the 2nd XI Football team (‘Fairly fast, and centres well’) in addition to the prize for keenness and efficiency at Swedish Gymnastics. Once again, John’s joint entry in the Story Competition was remarkable for its artwork (‘a beautifully illustrated cover’) and his final year at Lambrook saw him achieving the ultimate reward of first place for an appropriately entitled story “La Fin Couronne L’Œuvre” – described by the Editor as ‘most beautiful in appearance.’

Alongside this artistic accolade were several sporting achievements, ranging from 1st XI Football, an unbeaten season in the 2nd XI Cricket team, top score in the Shooting Competition and a place on the ‘Gym Six’ board for two consecutive years. In the 1919 Peace Day Sports, John won both the Long Jump and Form Race prizes, also being runner-up in the open Obstacle Race. Other triumphs included leading his Troop of ‘Owls’ to victory in Lambrook’s first ever Scout Competition, becoming Dormitory Captain of ‘Fleur de Lys’ and being awarded a fine Academic Scholarship to Uppingham School, but the tribute that perhaps brought John the most pleasure came from his own schoolfellows in their ‘Lambrook Alphabet’:
Let us all hope we know the first letter is A,
And A stands for all sorts of things you will say;
For J. A. M. Aldridge, whose drawing is great…

During his Senior School years at Uppingham, John continued to flourish – playing House Football, Cricket and Hockey as well as representing the School at Rugby and making brilliant speeches at debates. Having reached the Classical Sixth Form, his interests broadened and he became Company Quartermaster-Sergeant in the Officers’ Training Corps, Uppingham correspondent for the Lambrook Chronicle, Editor of the School Magazine, Captain of his House (The Hall) and Captain of Classics. Modestly, John omitted to mention in his Chronicle letters that he had also won the School Prizes for Latin Prose, Latin Hexameters, and Greek Jambics but he did report being awarded the Sketching Prize and his successor as Correspondent quipped that ‘Aldridge nearly ruined the School by his aptitude for gaining prizes!’ As at Lambrook, John had clearly made the most of opportunities at Uppingham and, having joined the Choir on his arrival, much later in life he produced a wonderfully evocative painting of the School Chapel.

Art was clearly still on his mind when he went up to spend four years studying ‘Literae Humaniores’ (also known as ‘Greats’ or Classics) at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Finding himself as Lambrook Chronicle Correspondent once more, he remarked in 1925: ‘Classical Mods next term are the only obstacle on a landscape of otherwise uninterrupted canvas.’ In later years, his successors noted his contributions to College life as ‘an assistant theatrical producer’ and playing ‘with great dash for the Corpus Rugger XV’ but it was generally accepted that he was well on his way to becoming a successful artist. He certainly acted the part and was described as having ‘made an excellent start in life, for he may often be seen of an evening sitting in the cafés, wearing a flamboyant bow tie, a green velvet jacket and the usual hat!’

Later in life John clearly dressed much more conventionally, but at Oxford he kept company with the ‘Corpus Aesthetes’ – being described by his contemporary John Betjeman as ‘outstanding because he wanted to be an artist, and he used his rooms in Corpus as his studio… In those days John Aldridge had two qualities remarkable in an Oxford aesthete. He was good at games and he got a degree!’ While still at university, John also met Robert Graves and their friendship lasted a lifetime – regular visits being made to Mallorca, where the writer bought a house and settled from 1929 onwards. John produced cover designs for two very successful books by Graves, ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Claudius the God,’ in addition to painting many landscapes and interiors.

Following his graduation from the University of Oxford, John moved to London and was soon invited to join the ‘Seven and Five Society,’ an important group of artists working in England at that time. He exhibited with John Piper, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, amongst others, and held his first solo show at the Leicester Galleries in Central London during 1933 – also contributing a work to the British Pavilion at the 1934 Venice Biennale. By then, though, many of his fellow artists had adopted a less representational style (renaming themselves the ‘Seven and Five Abstract Group’) so several non-Modernists, including John, left the Society. He moved away from London to the village of Great Bardfield in rural Essex and settled at ‘The Place,’ near the homes of fellow artists such as Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, with whom he felt more in tune.

Following this move into the countryside, John’s inspiration continued to be drawn from the Post-Impressionist tradition but he now began to branch out into other forms of artistic expression as well. Working jointly with his partner Lucie, a specialist in costumes and fabrics, he produced the design for a rug which she then wove and the resulting floor covering can now be found in the Textiles Collection of the V & A Museum, London. John also undertook a similar collaboration with his neighbour Edward Bawden, but this time focusing on wallpaper designs. They created repeating hand-blocked linocut prints as part of a commercial project called the ‘Bardfield Papers,’ reminiscent of William Morris, but production was inevitably paused with the outbreak of the Second World War.

After enlisting as a recruit in the Service Corps, John’s enhanced visual skills led to him being transferred to the Intelligence Corps and tasked with interpreting aerial reconnaissance photographs. Serving mostly in the Mediterranean areas of North Africa and Italy, he rose to the rank of Captain but still found time to sketch, draw and paint. John returned to the Great Bardfield community of artists with renewed spirit following demobilization, unlike his friends Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious who had both been official War Artists and were still greatly affected by the events they had witnessed. He was soon appointed to a teaching post at the Slade School of Fine Art, part of University College London, and elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Art in 1954, subsequently becoming a full Royal Academician in 1963.

Alongside Slade School teaching duties and R.A. Council business, John continued to deliver a steady output of artistic works. His subjects were frequently local (Essex landscapes, Great Bardfield buildings or his garden at ‘The Place’) but they also included locations abroad – particularly Dejà in Mallorca, where his friend Robert Graves lived until his death in 1985. John produced relatively few portraits of people, but those whom he did paint were amongst the closest to him at the time: his first wife Lucie (pictured sitting with their cat in her lap) and Robert Graves, whose portrait now forms part of the National Portrait Gallery Collection. Other significant works are held by the Royal Academy, the Government Art Collection and the Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex – which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary year. John Aldridge R.A. died at his home in Great Bardfield in 1983 and an obituary of Lambrook’s most honoured artist was published later in the Lambrook Chronicle.