Randolph Schwabe RWS

1885 - 1948

Randolph Schwabe was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester, the youngest of two sons to Octavie Henriette Ermen and Lawrence Schwabe, a cotton merchant whose father had emigrated from Germany in 1820. The family moved several times before settling in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, where Lawrence Schwabe opened a printing and stationery business. Randolph was educated at a private school in Hemel Hempstead and from an early age showed a talent for drawing. In 1899, aged fourteen, he was enrolled at the Royal College of Art but was unhappy there and within a few months had transferred to the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1904, Schwabe won a Slade Scholarship, which enabled him to study at the Académie Julian in Paris before travelling to Italy in 1908. Working in Rome and Florence, he gained a deep knowledge of Italian art and architecture. Work by Schwabe was shown at the New English Art Club in 1909, and he became a member in 1917, having already become a member of the London Group in 1915. In 1938 he was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society. Schwabe was an official war artist in World War I, and in 1930 succeeded Henry Tonks as Principal of the Slade School, where he was an influential teacher. As well as being an accomplished watercolourist and draughtsman, Schwabe designed for the theatre.