Our Daily Dead

The Independant
Hugh McKenzie with his watercolour sketches made a particular contribution in recording the streets of the City and south-east London. For many years he could only practise his art in his spare time, yet his output even into old age remained prodigious.

Many examples can be seen in the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Maritime Museum, public galleries in Exeter and Nottingham, the Goldsmiths’ College permanent collection and the collections of various London boroughs. In addition, he sold well to private clients in galleries in the Blackheath, Greenwich, Deptford and Lewisham area where he lived. McKenzie was a key member of the Blackheath Art Society and a familiar figure with his sketchbook.

Hugh McKenzie was born in 1909 in Cromarty, in the north of Scotland, one of three children of William Ewart Gladstone McKenzie, a surveyor of taxes. Hugh showed early talent, exhibiting his first public work at the age of 10 - a picture of the Sherwood Foresters returning to a civic reception at the end of the First World War.

He attended the Slade School of Fine Art under Professor Henry Tonks, but hopes of making a living as a full-time artist during the Depression were slim. He became a clerk with the British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation, which had offices near the Guildhall. He later worked for a firm of stockbrokers nearby in Austin Friars.

Hugh McKenzie spent his lunchtimes looking around the City streets and buildings, occasionally making rapid sketches. He began to return at weekends or during summer evenings, later washing in the drawings at home. McKenzie cited several London topographical draughtsmen among his formative influences, including Sir Henry Rushbury and Sydney Robert Jones. He continued to improve his skills, studying part-time at Goldsmiths’ College, St Martin’s School of Art and in Woolwich.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 at 12:00 am and is filed under ODD Guests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.