Tony Herbert (1927-2024)

'The Art Class', signed, watercolour; 'At The Exhibition', signed, 20 x 25cm, both framed, and 29 further watercolours and sketches, mostly unframed. (31)

Frederick Anthony Herbert, known as Tony Herbert, was born 24th April 1927 and died 24th April 2024. He signed his work as either “FA Herbert” or “Tony Herbert”. On leaving school in 1943 Tony worked in the art department of National Screen in Wardour Street producing film trailers. This was interrupted when he reached 18 and was conscripted for the final months of WW2. He was demobbed in 1947 and used the small government grant to pay for a fulltime place at Ealing School of Art. From there he went into advertising , working at various London studios, before settling as a freelance illustrator focusing on children’s books. Though he remained a children’s illustrator for decades, he never dropped his passion for watercolour landscapes; presenting one man shows in galleries around the south of England, including, Dorset, East Anglia, Suffolk, Barnes, Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing. In later life he started to travel further afield – regularly taking his sketchpads to Venice, Paris and Normandy. By the late 1980s Tony moved away from illustrating and spent the next 40 years focussed entirely on watercolour landscapes.