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Eric Kennington
Eric Kennington

Eric Kennington

1888 - 1960
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Place of BirthLondon
BiographyEric Kennington was a British sculptor, painter and illustrator. The son of portrait painter Thomas Benjamin Kennington, he studied at the Lambeth School of Art and the City and Guilds School. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1908. With the outbreak of World War One, Eric Kennington enlisted with the 13th London Regiment and fought on the Western Front, before being wounded and hospitalised for four months. Unable to continue as a soldier, he was discharged in June 1915. During his convalescence, Kennington produced a portrait of British infantrymen titled The Kensingtons at Laventie, Winter 1914. The portrait featured the artist with his platoon, exhausted, standing in a village street. It caused a sensation and led to Kennington’s return to the front in 1917 as an Official War Artist. He retained this title through World War Two, producing sculptures, lithographs and pastel portraits of airmen, seamen and soldiers.
Ruth Keating 2014