Thomas Ablett, circa 1920
Although he was not born in Bradford, Thomas Robert Ablett, was a pioneer in teaching art began to develop his ideas whilst working as an Art Master at Bradford Grammar School. This led him to be a leading light in the formation of The Royal Drawing Society. He was also a painter who exhibited work at the Royal Academy and with other prestigious institutions.
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Thomas Ablett was born in June 1848 in Somers Town, North London, the son of a book-seller. It is believed he studied art at Leeds College of Art and his first teaching appointment was in 1862 at Beverley Grammar School, later moving to teach at the West Country School, Parkham, near Bideford, Devon. However, by 1875 he was living in Bradford and working as an art master at Bradford Grammar School. The photograph below depicts a group of masters at the Grammar School in 1878. Thomas Ablett is shown third on the left (Image: Bradford Grammar School, Archives).
Influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin, Thomas encouraged his pupils to move away from the traditional practice, common in schools at that time, of drawing hard outlines from observed subjects, toward drawing more spontaneously. By encouraging children to observe a subject closely, then interpret the subject from memory, children would become more independent of imposed conventions in art. The observation of nature, particularly plants, because of their assemblies of elementary shapes, forms, and colours, was a recurring subject of study in his classes. He was able to expand on these ideas for the Royal Drawing Society later in his career (see later).
Ablett is credited with expanding the art department at Bradford Grammar School and for making the subject well-regarded both within the school and with the local community – and particularly the community of local artists or art collectors, many of whom lived close to the school, including. the Rothenstein family, and Frank Suddards. He believed that art should be more accessible, not just for commercial/design advantage, but because individuals could make a more vital contribution to their community if their observation and retentive faculties were fully developed. To this end he opened up the Grammar School in the evening for part-time art classes for local people, including separate evening classes for local women.
Thomas also began to exhibit his own landscape and figure painting. From 1880 onward he is recorded as showing work at prestigious shows nationally, including those: at the Grosvenor Gallery, London; Royal Academy (RA); Royal Institution of Painters in Water-Colours (RI); Royal Society of British Artists (RBA); Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI); and with The Royal Society of Arts (RSA).
Trees on a shoreline. Image: in a private collection.
By 1882, Thomas had married, moved to London, and had been appointed an art education adviser with the London School Board. In 1888 he read a paper to the Society of Arts on the importance of art in education. This was well-received and led to the establishment of The Royal Drawing Society (RDS) to promote art education and in particular to restore the pleasure of drawing for its own sake. Thomas was its Founder Member and Art Director, and Princess Louise, a daughter of Queen Victoria and a keen amateur artist, became the Society’s President and remained so until her death in 1939.
He was also a prolific writer with 13 books and pamphlets published on the subject of art education, including the instructional book for teachers, ‘How To Teach Drawing in Elementary Schools‘, published by Blackie & Son in 1889, and running to seven editions.
The RDS gained many influential supporters, including Lord Leighton, Holman Hunt, Lewis Carroll, Sir John Tenniel, Viscount Bryce and Lord Baden-Powell. One of the earliest exhibitions of children’s art was organized by Ablett in 1890 at the RDS, and the Society subsequently ran an annual children’s art exhibition from 1895 to 1980, and from 1892 encouraged new artists with the award of scholarships.
During his time at the RDS, Thomas drew heavily on his own experience teaching, particularly at Bradford, and promoted drawing in schools, based on a system that he titled, ‘drawing from delight’. This was founded on his belief that art should be a pleasurable sensation for the child if it was to develop its creativity. He argued that this produced a more creative interpretation of a subject and led him to encourage the use of art materials that were easy and fun for a young child to handle. These included tactile brushes and watercolour paints, rather than chalks and pencil.
Thomas Ablett is credited with two particular contributions to advancing art education. Firstly, his concept of ‘written design’ arose from his conviction that a child would exercise imagination and creativity from drawing by using letters of the alphabet as motifs for imaginative design.
Secondly, his ‘snapshot drawing’ technique, as outlined earlier, encouraged children to observe an object carefully but quickly, and then draw it immediately when it was removed from view. He argued that this allowed a much freer interpretation of the subject than might have been the case if the child was constrained by having to copy a viewed image. Lord Baden Powell subsequently introduced ‘snapshot drawing’ for tests for the Scout’s artist’s badge and appointed Thomas as principal examiner.
He also demonstrated how blind people could be encouraged to draw, using their previous visual memory or imagination of a subject (see image below, April 1920).
Thomas also introduced graded art examinations in schools and the RDS, with their exhibitions, encouraged many emerging artists of that time, including Sir William Rothenstein, Rex Whistler, Sir Gerald Kelly, Edward Halliday, Claude Rogers, A. R. Thomson, Robert Austin, and Anna Zinkeisen.
Thomas Ablett’s ideas also influenced other pioneers in the field of art education, particularly Marion Richardson, and the modern practice of making letter patterns in junior schools today stems from his work at Bradford Grammar School and at the RDA.
He lived at Addiscombe, Surrey, with his wife and children and in 1922 was granted the Freedom of the City of London for his work in education. He also became an Honorary Member of the Royal Institution of Painters in Watercolours (RI) in 1932. He died in 1945.