Eric Henri Kennington (1888 - 1960) was a sculptor, illustrator and an Official War Artist in both World Wars.
Born in Chelsea, Kennington first debuted his painting at the Royal Academy in 1908 and by 1914, had exhibited at the International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers. He was conscripted into the army during World War One, fighting on the Western Front but after injury in 1915, returned to England. While recovering, Kennington pursued his artwork, recalling the harsh conditions he and his fellow soldiers experienced on the front line. He was commissioned to France as an Official War Artist to document the remainder of the conflict where he created over 170 works on paper. Having established his reputation as a war artist, on the brink of the Second World War, Kennington was tasked to designed camouflage for Britain’s public buildings, alongside other artists including Leon Underwood. He also painted several RAF crew portraits through the Air Ministry, creating over 100 works between 1940 and 1942. Compared to his austere 1920s war imagery, Kennington portrayed the pilot with a sense of glamour and strength, showing their importance and heroism towards the war effort. Several of these portraits are held in London’s Imperial War Museum collection.
Outside of national service, Kennington befriended archeologist and military strategist T.E. Lawrence, travelling to the Middle East to document their time there. His drawings accompanied Lawrence’s book Seven Pilars of Wisdom and Lawrence also sat for Kennington’s later sculpture.
Kennington created his first sculptural relief work in the 1920s. Controversially titled PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry), the work was valued as an important and realistic depiction of war. Later interaction with artists Frank Dobson and Edward Wadsworth inspired Kennington to sculpt by hand in stone, a medium that he used primarily after the Second World War for larger architectural works, war memorials and epitaphs. Kennington’s work can be found in various public locations, including the façade of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, inside St Paul’s Cathedral, London (T.E. Lawrence’s memorial bust), St Martin’s Church, Wareham (T.E. Lawrence’s effigy), Battersea Park, London (24th Division War Memorial) and Soissons, France (The Soissons Memorial).
Kennington became an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1951 and a fully appointed member in 1959.