Harold Sandys Williamson, 1892-1978

• Biography

  Attribute	Value
  Biography	Harold Williamson was born in Leeds, and studied at the Leeds School of Art, then the Royal Academy Schools (1911-14) where he won the Turner Gold Medal. He was a painter and poster designer whose paintings and drawings are characterized by a keenness for vivid detail. During WW1 he served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a war artist. After the War he exhibited at the NEAC and at the RA. Having been elected a member of the London Group in 1933, he served as Chairman of the Group from 1937 to 1943. During the 1930s he regularly served on the London Group hanging committee and designed several catalogues and posters for the Group exhibitions. He produced commercial work for a number of organisations including Shell, as well as for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (forerunner of the Arts Council), formed in 1945. He was Headmaster of Chelsea Chelsea School of Art between 1930 and 1958, employing Henry Moore as the head of a new sculpture department in 1932.
  Place of birth	Leeds, United Kingdom
  Education	Leeds School of Art, Royal Academy Schools, 1911-1914
  Employment	Designed posters for the Underground Group and London Transport, 1922-1939
  Role	Artist,