Photo of J R G Exley, 1912. Image: Celia Austin
James Robert Granville Exley (1878–1967) was a teacher, painter, etcher and printer. He created artworks of a range of subjects, including landscapes, but was particularly well-regarded for his etchings of poultry, as well as his portraits of influential members of Yorkshire society.
He was born in Bradford on the 16th May 1878, one of four children that had survived infancy to parents, father, also named James, and mother, Hannah; two other children had died early in their lives. The family lived at 87 Kingswood Street, Great Horton, Bradford, and James senior had initially moved to Bradford to work as a weaver. However, he had become increasingly interested in photography and gave up the textile trade to open a studio, initially from home, then later in Shipley.
The Exley family, late 1890s. James Robert is shown second left behind his father.
James Robert won a scholarship to study at Bradford Grammar School. At school he won prizes for the accuracy and detail of his drawing and was invited by Bradford Grammar to stay on as pupil-teacher in their art department. The post enabled him to, not only teach younger students, but develop his own artistic talents, including wood carving and portrait drawing. The post gave him a first taste and experience of teaching, which was to be a recurring and staple feature of his subsequent art career.
In 1897 James senior retired and the photography studio was taken over by another son, John. The family moved home to Kelbrook, North Yorkshire, where the Exley family had their roots, and James Robert transferred to work at Skipton Art School, where he taught, won prizes for his own artwork, and eventually qualified as a Senior Art Master.
In 1902 at the age of 24 he was awarded a West Riding County Council scholarship of £60 a year to study at the Royal College of Art (RCA), where he spent five years and made a special study of etching and printing under the tutelage of Sir Frank Short. In 1905 Short encouraged James to submit artwork to become an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (RE), as well as work to the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy (RA). The RE accepted him as an Associate and three of his engravings were accepted by the RA for the show.
James etchings often featured images of poultry, particularly the more exotic breeds of fowl. This stemmed from a lifelong interest in poultry rearing that he had gained from his time living in the Kelbrook district of Yorkshire.
Old English Game Fowl. Image: Celia Austin.
After graduating from the RCA, Exley found employment as Deputy Principal of the Ryeland Memorial School of Art in West Bromwich, He only stayed a year at West Bromwich, as in 1909 he was appointed Principal of the newly opened combined School of Arts and County School for Girls in Cambridge.
In 1911 he married Elizabeth Shuttleworth from Earby, North Yorkshire; a daughter, Constance Mary, was born the following year. She appeared years later in adulthood as ‘The Young Falconer’ in one of his best portrait paintings (see below):
Constance Mary Exley, ‘The Young Falconer’. Image: in a private collection.
In 1912 Exley also became an elected member of the Royal Society of Artists and was appointed Head of the Hull Municipal College of of Art.
He stayed in Hull until 1920, and acting on the advice of his former tutor, Sir Frank Short, he and his family returned to London to live at Hammersmith. Short had advised him to move back to London to be closer to the main publishing houses and to seek freelance work as an etcher/engraver.
In London, throughout the 1920s, Exley found a profitable niche with his etchings of rare poultry breeds, which sold well, both in the UK and the USA. However, during this time he also produced a range of other etchings, including architectural scenes, landscape and portraits, including the stipple etching of ‘Joan’, and unknown sitter, circa 1922.
Exley exhibited work at the Royal Academy, Glasgow Institute, Connell & Sons Gallery, London, the Redfern Gallery, London, and for the Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers. In 1921 he was also commissioned to provide small scale models of a Golden Pheasant and chicks to accompany a doll’s house that was being made as a gift for Queen Mary. He also painted a miniature watercolour of the birds, sized only 1″ x 1.5″ , to go inside the doll’s house.
From 1930 onward, with a downturn in the economy and freelance work opportunities in etching declining, he returned to teaching part-time and worked as a Senior Visiting Drawing Master at the City of London School for Boys. He did, however, manage during this period to secure commissions to design bookplates for use in the libraries of prestigious institutions, including St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
By this time though, he had developed friendships with leading businessmen in Yorkshire, including the art supporter and collector, Frank Green, who became a patron of Exley’s work. Green, who was a wealthy director of his family’s engineering firm, offered Exley the commission of producing oil paintings of himself and Green’s ancestors, to be hung in Green’s house in York. Exley subsequently painted a range of portraits for Green, including him shown in his Hunting Pink and silk top hat, as well as seated at his office desk (see below; images: National Trust, York).
Exley lived in London until 1946, when he and his family then returned to Yorkshire to live in a house at Threshfield overlooking the River Wharfe and the Dales town of Grassington. The house contained a large studio, where he continued to paint and caring for his collection of prized Japanese bantams.
In failing health, he moved to his daughter’s home in Buckinghamshire, where he died on 1st October 1967.
James Exley’s artwork can be found in the collection of the British Museum, V&A Museum, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, the National Trust (York) and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Source: JRG Exley: A Yorkshire Artist (2021) by Celia Austin.