{{Short description|British artist (1899–1984)}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Rodney Joseph Burn | birth_date = {{birth date|1899|7|11|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Palmers Green]], London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1984|8|11|1899|7|11|df=y}} | death_place = | field = Landscape & portrait painting | training = {{unbulleted list |[[Slade School of Fine Art]]|}} }}
'''Rodney Joseph Burn''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|RA}} (11 July 1899 – 11 August 1984) was a British artist who painted landscapes, portraits and figures and seascapes.<ref name="RAburn">{{cite web |author=Royal Academy|url=http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5554 |title=Rodney Burn, RA |access-date=22 December 2015|work=The Royal Academy}}</ref><ref name="GMWaters">{{cite book|author=Grant M. Waters|publisher=Eastbourne Fine Art|year=1975|title=Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950}}</ref> During his long career he also worked in America and painted in the Channel Islands and Venice and was elected a member of the [[Royal Academy]] in 1962.
==Life and work== [[File:Dr R E Stradling, CB, MD, FRS (Art.IWM ART LD 3559).jpg|thumb|''[[Reginald Stradling|Dr R E Stradling]], CB, MD, FRS'' (1945) (Art.IWM ART LD 3559)]] Burn was born in [[Palmers Green]] in London and attended [[Harrow School]].<ref name="BCbio">{{cite web|url=http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/rodney-joseph-burn-1899|title=Artist biography;- Rodney Joseph Burn|publisher=British Council|access-date=13 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518091936/http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/collection/artists/rodney-joseph-burn-1899|archive-date=18 May 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> His father was Sir [[Joseph Burn]], who was the chairman of the [[Prudential plc|Prudential Insurance]] company.<ref name="BytheLake">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burn-by-the-lake-t03214/text-catalogue-entry |title=Catalogue entry; ''By the Lake''|publisher=Tate |access-date=12 May 2015}}</ref>
After military service in the British army in World War One, Burn entered the [[Slade School of Art]] where he studied between 1918 and 1922.<ref name="Benezit3">{{cite book|publisher=Editions Grund, Paris|year=2006|title=Benezit Dictionary of Artists Volume 3 Bulow-Cossin|isbn=2-7000-3073-7}}</ref> At the Slade Burn won six major prizes, featured in an article in ''[[The Burlington Magazine]]'' and met his future wife, the sculptor Dorothy Sharwood Smith.<ref name="BuckmanVol1">{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=1998|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L |isbn=0-95326-095-X}}</ref> Burn was among a number of London artschool graduates selected by the [[London County Council]] to produce a large work for a series showing scenes from London parks, that was intended for the newly built [[London County Hall|County Hall]].<ref name="WPark">{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burn-waterlow-park-highgate-t06497/text-technique-and-condition|author=Roy Perry |title=Technique & condition; ''Waterlow Park, Highgate''|publisher=Tate |date=1996 |access-date=12 May 2015}}</ref> Burn exhibited with the [[New English Art Club]] from 1923 and held a joint exhibition, with [[Stephen Bone]] and [[Robin Guthrie (artist)|Robin Guthrie]], at the Goupil Gallery in 1926.<ref name="Benezit3"/> From 1929 to 1931 he taught as a tutor at the [[Royal College of Art]].<ref name="Spalding">{{cite book|author=Frances Spalding|author-link=Frances Spalding|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1990|title=20th Century Painters and Sculptors |isbn=1-85149-106-6}}</ref> From 1931 to 1934 he was, with Robin Guthrie, the joint director of painting and drawing at the [[School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].<ref name="BuckmanVol1"/> During the Second World War, Burn was among the artists who worked at the Civil Defence Camouflage Establishment based in Leamington Spa. Later during the war he completed a number of short commissions for the [[War Artists' Advisory Committee]], including a portrait of Dr Stradling, a Director of the Camouflage Establishment.<ref name="WAACrjb">{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050001278 |title=War artists archive|publisher=[[Imperial War Museum]]|access-date=12 May 2015}}</ref> After the war Burn returned to the Royal College of Art and taught there as a Senior Tutor until his retirement in 1965.<ref name="Spalding"/> During his career he also taught at both the [[Camberwell School of Art]] and at the [[City and Guilds of London Art School]].<ref name="BCbio"/> Dorothy Sharwood Smith also taught at Camberwell for several years.<ref name="Hassell">{{cite book|author=Geoff Hassell|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1995|title=Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts Its Students and Teachers 1943-1960 |isbn=1-85149-180-5}}</ref> Burn spent his later years teaching in Europe and sailing. For a time he lived on the south coast of England near [[Chichester]] and his last studio was on the bank of the Thames at [[Chiswick]].<ref name="BuckmanVol1"/>
==Memberships== Burn was a member of or affiliated with the following organisations:<ref name="Marine">{{cite book|author=RSMA|publisher= Bounty Books|year=1996|title=A Celebration of Marine Art -Sixty Years of the Royal Society of Marine Artists|isbn=978-0-7537-2468-2}}</ref>
* 1924: Member, later Honorary Secretary, of the [[New English Art Club]], * 1954: Elected associate of the [[Royal Academy]], * 1962: Elected full member of the Royal Academy. Burn was also a member of the [[Royal West of England Academy]] and President of the St. Ives Society of Artists
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Rodney Joseph Burn}} * {{Art UK bio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, Rodney Joseph}} [[Category:1899 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century British war artists]] [[Category:20th-century English male artists]] [[Category:20th-century English painters]] [[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Art]] [[Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art]] [[Category:Artists from the London Borough of Enfield]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Camoufleurs]] [[Category:English male painters]] [[Category:Painters from London]] [[Category:People educated at Harrow School]] [[Category:People from Palmers Green]] [[Category:Royal Academicians]] [[Category:World War II artists]]