Philip Connard

British (1875-1958)

Philip Connard was born in Southport, England in 1875.   He was awarded a scholarship in textile design to the Royal College of Art, where he won a prize that allowed him to study in Paris.  He returned to London and worked as an illustrator and later teaching at the Lambeth School of Art.  During this time he submitted several works to the New English Art Club and became known as a painter of romantic decorative landscapes.  

Connard was appointed as an official war artist to the Royal Navy during World War I.  The paintings and drawings completed during his deployment are in the Imperial War Museum in London.  After the war, the artist completed several important decorative commissions, including murals at Windsor Castle and a large panel for the RMS Queen Mary.  

Connard became a full academician of the Royal Academy in 1925 and was Keeper of the Royal Academy school from 1945 to 1949. He was also a full member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours.  In 1950 he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.  In addition, Connard was the founding President of The Southport Palette Club, established in 1921 to hold annual exhibitions of the work of local artists.

Connard’s works can be found in the collections of the Tate Gallery, Musée d’Orsay, the National Gallery of Australia, the Royal Academy in London, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the National Museum of Wales.