Lionel Edwards Hunting, Horse Racing and Military Artist was born at Clifton in 1878. Lionel Dalhousie Robertson Edwards was the son of a Chester Doctor. He studied under A. S. Cope at South Kensington, Heatherleys and Frank Calderon. A keen hunting man, Lionel Edwards spent his life combining hunting and painting and most of his paintings were worked from sketches made on the spot. During the First World War, Edwards worked in the army Remount Service.
Lionel Edwards illustrated for many periodicals including The London News, The Graphic, The Sphere, The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, Country Life etc. and made a living painting sporting pictures.
Many hunting prints were produced after his paintings, the early ones were of a caricature type, but as time progressed his work became more traditional.
In the 1920’s Lionel Edwards painted a series of pictures of named hunts entitled ‘Shires & Provinces’ or Lionel Edwards Hunting Countries as they were also known, which were produced as limited edition prints. Watercolour was his favourite medium, though he used oils more frequently in later life.
After Munnings, Lionel Edwards was probably the most important sporting artist of the hunting field of the first half of the twentieth century. Lionel Edwards also illustrated more than 100 books and is described by Stella Walker in her book ‘British Sporting art in the twentieth Century’ as the “The grand old man of sporting art”.
His career spanned more than six decades.
Lionel Edwards died in 1966.
