'The Streets of London' H.E. Tidmarsh

I found an exciting book in Greenwich Oxfam shop this weekend which featured an artist i have never heard of but who painted a number of London scenes in the late 19th and early 20th century. The book was published in large sized clothbound edition on heavy paper by Red Scorpion in association with London Guildhall Library in 1993 and the works are held in the Guildhall Library.

The painting above of Westminster Palace {1896) could have been painted by one of the Glasgow Boys and the carriages remind me of the work of Joesph Crawhall.

In the cover notes Bamber Gascoine writes 'it is no shame in not having heard of H.E.Tidmarsh. Why not? Because nobody has.'

Tidmarsh recorded London during a period of radical change, between the late Victorian horse drawn vehicles and the emergence of the motorcar and telegraph wires. The pictures are full of every day life and some capture the same vista some twenty years apart. It truly is an amazing collection of social history.

As a painter he clearly is up with the best of the day and capable of capturing the architecture in fine detail whilst mixing in the street scenes in a more fluid and impressionist style. I will treasure this find in my library of art books.

Two different views of Fleet Street. On the left looking East in 1898 and on the right looking West in 1899. One is drawn to the level of activity and characters of the age.

To the left we see Trafalgar Square in 1912 which is reminiscent of Pissaro's painting of Parisian Streets and again shows the mix if horse and motor vehicles and open topped bus.

Above is the Bank in 1927 an interestingly there still is a horse drawn carriage and hand cart amongst the motor vehicles. One year later he paints several scene around the Bank and Mansion House and there are only motor vehicles to be seen.