WILLIAM RATCLIFFE (BRITISH, 1870-1955)

Born in 1870, Ratcliffe was raised in Manchester and began studying practical design at Manchester School of Art. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts ethic, in 1894 Ratcliffe began working as a wallpaper designer before moving to London in 1901. However, it was only after his move in 1906 to Westholm Green in Letchworth Garden City that Ratcliffe began to fully dedicate himself to painting.
Letchworth was the brainchild of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) and was home to numerous artists, including Harold Gilman (1876-1919), who Ratcliffe became close with. In the surroundings of the countryside and encouraged by Gilman, Ratcliffe shifted his focus from practical design to fine art, enrolling in the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 1910. Shortly after his enrolment, Ratcliffe was vouched for by Gilman to become a member of the Camden Town Group. In Ratcliffe’s obituary in The Times, he was praised for having ‘domesticated Post-Impressionism in England as Impressionism had been domesticated by the original members of the New England Art Club’ (The Times, 8 January 1955, p. 9).