John Laviers Wheatley

Biography

Wheatley was born in Abergavenny in Wales and attended the Slade School of Art during 1912 and 1913, having previously taken art lessions from both Stanhope Forbes and Walter Sickert. During World War One, Wheatley served in the Artists' Rifles and later in the War was an official war artist. The British War Memorials Committee appointed Wheatley to record the work of the Royal Navy in the British home ports. After a short, and miserable, few days at Rosyth Wheatley was sent to Southampton where he recorded the work of the Salvage Service. He produced over 40 paintings there including a large canvas for the proposed, but never built, national Hall of Remembrance. After the War, Wheatley was commissioned to paint a portrait of James Crichton, a recipient of the Victoria Cross.

After the War, Wheatley taught at the Slade for five years from 1920 until 1925 when he, and his wife the artist Grace Wheatley, moved to South Africa. The couple remained there until 1937, during which time John Wheatley was the Michaelis Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and Director of the National Gallery of South Africa. On his return to England in 1937, Wheatley was appointed director of the Sheffield City Art Galleries. During the Second World War, the War Artists' Advisory Committee commissioned Wheatley to paint several portraits of workers involved in the war effort. From 1948 to 1950, Wheatley was curator of the National College of British Sports and Pastimes.