Chris Beetles Gallery

(click image to enlarge)

Gilmer in October 1911

Henry Mayo Bateman (1887-1970)

Price

£1,750

Signed

Signed and inscribed with title

Medium

Watercolour with pencil

Dimensions

10 x 7 ½ inches

Literature

Anthony Anderson, The Man Who Was H M Bateman, Exeter: Webb & Bower, 1982, page 45 (which illustrates a similar image)

Exhibited

'The Illustrators. The British Art of Illustration 1870-2010', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, 2010, no 190

The subject of this caricature is, almost certainly, the publisher and literary agent, John William Gilmer (1865-1933). From 1895, he worked as a reader for the publisher, William Heinemann (and while there, in 1899, came to know James McNeill Whistler). In 1911, he was appointed Managing Director of the literary agency, Sprigg Pedrick. Then, by 1913, he was Director of the Authors’ Syndicate. The clubbable Mr Gilmer was on the committee of the Savage Club by 1916 (and its honorary librarian in 1919), and also a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.

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