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Sir Alfred East (1844-1913) is Northamptonshire’s most famous artist, and a landscape painter of national importance. Yet no full account of his life and works had appeared in print up till now. This situation has been happily remedied with the publication of Alfred East: Lyrical Landscape Painter. The book is the result of the combined labour of two authors: Paul Johnson, whose father was East’s son-in-law, and the respected academic Kenneth McConkey, who has written extensively about British, Irish and French art at the turn of the 20th century.

The book contains essays by the two authors and over seventy coloured illustrations. Johnson’s well documented and referenced contribution focuses on East’s early life, his training, and his friendship with the other artists of his native town, Kettering. Johnson points out that by the end of the 19th century, East, T.C. Gotch and J.T. Nettleship had established themselves as artists of eminence and distinction, causing a national art publication to remark that ‘the air of Kettering breeds artists’. This section of the book also details East’s national and international travels, with revealing insights into his journey to Japan and his frequent trips to France, Spain, Italy, North Africa and America.

McConkey’s contribution is to place East in the context of the history and development of British and European art, at a time when intrepid artists were able to expand their experiences through worldwide travel, courtesy of steam ships and the protecting arm of the British Empire. East’s paintings in oil and watercolour are compared and reviewed, as is his work as an etcher.

This book is a must-have for those with an interest in landscape painting, or anyone with a curiosity to understand how East, the son of a Kettering cobbler, was able to achieve such eminent standing as an artist and reach a global audience.

Book Review

Paul Johnson & Kenneth McConkey,

Alfred East: Lyrical Landscape Painter (Sansom & Company, 2009)