The Beach at Walberswick, 1889 by Philip Wilson Steer

Philip Wilson Steer was born at Birkenhead in 1860 and his father was a teacher of painting. He studied at the School of Art in Gloucester and then went to Paris in 1882 where he studied at the Beaux Arts where he was greatly influenced by the French impressionists. On his return to England he set up a studio in London and began to develop an impressionist style in which he depicted beach scenes and seascapes in a silvery translucent light. He often stayed in the Suffolk coastal town of Walberswick which had been a haven for artists since the early nineteenth century and the works he painted there are remarkable for their freshness and depiction of light and shade. His sea and landscape paintings made him a leading figure in the Impressionist movement in Britain but in later years he spent more time painting in the countryside than on the coast. In 1893 he was appointed Professor of Painting at The Slade School of Fine Art in London where he influenced generations of young artists.