William Tom Warrener and his love of golf ...

On 4th February 2016 a letter written by William Tom Warrener went on display at the Usher Gallery, 116 years after it had been written.  This charming letter was addressed to Warrener's friend and fellow artist Arthur Heseltine, who lived in Marlotte, Seine at Marne.

The notepaper and envelope have mourning borders, as the Warrener siblings were still in mourning for the tragic loss of both their mother and father in close succession.

After his studies in Lincoln, London and Paris, Warrener toured the continent with his former headmaster at the Lincoln School of Art, AG Webster.  He then went again to Paris and became friends with William Rothenstein and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, famously being the model for Lautrec's poster 'L'Anglais au Moulin Rouge' and one of the figures in the poster 'Jane Avril Dansant'.  Warrener spent time in the artists' colony at Grez sur Loing (Seine et Marne), and would have known Arthur Heseltine from that time.  The period he spent in Paris particularly influenced his work, which became much more impressionistic from his earlier style. 

Warrener returned to Lincoln to run the family coal merchant business but continued to paint and be active in various societies.  He was a founder member of the Lincolnshire Drawing Club 1906, which became the Lincolnshire Artists' Society in 1930. 

In this letter, written on 4th February 1900, he outlines a few details for Arthur of his life in Lincoln; he says he has taken up golf and been elected captain of the 'Lincoln Club'.  He also suggests although he hasn’t been actively painting as much as before he still paints and exhibits, especially at the Royal Society of British Artists.

Heseltine perhaps in a previous letter had invited Warrener over to stay but Warrener replies he hopes he might come over a little later.  Heseltine was an English painter and engraver, living in Bourron-Marlotte and he produced a series of etchings and paintings of Fontainebleau and its surroundings.

There is a transcript of the letter alongside it in the display, and several of Warrener's paintings are currently on display in Gallery 1 (portraits) and Gallery 6 (landscapes).

The letter was acquired for the collections with a generous donation from the Friends of Lincoln Museums and Art Gallery, which is greatly appreciated.

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