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Cecil Gordon Lawson, 1851-1882

Nationality: English
Date of Birth: 3 December 1851
Place of Birth: Wellington, Shropshire
Place of Death: West Brompton, London

Identity:

Cecil Gordon Lawson was a painter. In the summer of 1879 he married the painter Constance Philip, who was the younger sister of Whistler's wife Beatrix.

Life:

At first, Lawson painted detailed oil studies of fruit and flowers, but he later became a landscape painter. He was also known as a watercolourist. In 1882 his address was next door to that of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at 15 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. He was nominated a member of The Arts Club on 16 June 1876, being proposed by Hubert von Herkomer seconded by Charles Samuel Keene. He shared a studio, owned by Mrs J. B. Philip, with Constance, at Merton Villa, 280A Kings Road. It was subsequently occupied by the sculptor Thomas Sterling Lee.

Bibliography:

Gosse, Edmond W., Cecil Lawson: A Memoir, exhibition catalogue, Fine Art Society, London, 1883; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980; Walkley, Giles, Artists' houses in London 1764-1914, Aldershot, 1994; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995.