Frank Wootton (artist)

Frank Wootton OBE PPGAvA (born 30th July 1911 in Milford, Hampshire, England - died 1998) was primarily an aviation artist, famous for his works during the Second World War.

Childhood

At Prep school Frank Wootton was once asked the typical question, ‘So what are you going to be when you grow up?’ His classmates would say ‘I want to be an engine driver or I’m going to be you know something else.’ But he said ‘Well, I’m going to be an artist,’ and his teacher rubbished the idea and that’s what put the spark in him. He was already very good at drawing and proceeded onto art school when he was twelve. He won a travel scholarship and a gold medal from Eastbourne School of Art and a prize of £25. He took this and went to Germany and marched up and down the Rhine drawing for 3 months.

Career

In the 1930s he was commissioned by Edward Saunders to do art and book illustrations along with learning to fly. In 1939, he volunteered for the RAF but instead was invited by the commander-in-chief of the Allied Air Forces to accept a special duty commission as official war artist to the R.A.F. and Royal Canadian Air Force. He painted RAF subjects from England to France and Belgium before travelling to South East Asia at the end of WWII. He emerged from the war as the most famous aviation artist and is still among them today.

He was also the official R.A.F. artist for the period 1944-46 which led to many commissions, including one from King Ibn Saud and B.O.A.C.

When he came back from Germany, he got a job in a studio in London and did commercial work. He got the first Ford advertising contract from the agency he worked for. He then made ‘How to draw cars,’ studio books and ‘How to draw planes.’ But then he got fed up and hired a studio in Eastbourne which he used to cycle down to every weekend from Wimbledon and then cycle back the sixty miles on the Monday morning. He couldn’t completely stop though, as he still had to earn a bit of a living, so he turned to doing the stuff he liked and painted the landscapes around the family home in Alfriston in Sussex. He also continued his aviation art. In 1985, he was awarded the OBE for his services to the RAF during the war.

He has been an inspiration to generations of artists, collectors and enthusiasts and all have treasured his outpourings of magnificent artwork, whether simple advertisements or outstanding illustrations. In 1971, the British Guild of Aviation Artists was founded with Mr. Wootton as President and allowed him to give his dedicated efforts to encourage and individually help anyone in the Guild who asked for his assistance. He has artwork in pretty much every aviation museum and has had exhibitions at the National Air & Space Museum as well as exhibits all over the world from Canada to Canberra.

He is renowned for his masterful technique, beauty of line and composition, and powerful use of color, whether painting aircraft or landscape or horses. Anyone interested in aviation art, worldwide, is acquainted with his exceptional work and several books have been published featuring his paintings.