Self-portrait, W.A. Stewart. Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries
William Arnold Stewart (1882–1953) was born in Ilkley. He became a noted expert on Egyptian arts and crafts, an influential crafts education adviser for Palestine, and a successful painter, noted particularly of scenes from the Middle East
He was one of five children to John Reich Stewart, a local Superintendent of Buildings, and his wife, Naamah.
William studied art at initially at Bradford School of Art and in 1902 founded the Loft Club in Bradford (later renamed the Bradford Arts Club), which encouraged the creative arts across the city.
From Bradford School of Art, he gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Arts, where the Principal at that time was the Silsden-born artist, Augustus Spencer.
After graduating from the Royal College, William returned home to Ilkley and in 1911 found employment in the design department at the Lister Mills in Bradford. His own paintings were exhibited, including at the Bradford Open Exhibition at Cartwright Hall in 1906, and he was on friendly terms with artists in the flourishing Bradford art community at that time including James Arundel, who became a good friend
William emigrated to the Middle East in 1911, to become an Inspector of Arts and Crafts in the Egyptian Ministry of Education, where he established and became the first Principal of the Cairo School of Arts and Crafts. Under William’s direction, the School became an important education and training centre for Egyptian painters and craft designers and makers.
William’s own artwork was recognised by the Royal Society of Arts, who made him a Fellow in 1916, and he continued to paint throughout his time in the Middle East. He maintained his links with the art world in Britain and became a member of the Art Workers’ Guild and exhibited mainly watercolours at the London Salon, Royal Academy, and Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
Fountain Court, Jaffa. Image: Calton Gallery, Edinburgh.
In 1918, at the invitation of the military governor of Jerusalem, he was seconded for several months to Palestine to advise on the renewal of crafts and light industries destroyed during the war, and worked closely with C. R. Ashbee, the governor’s civil adviser and secretary to the Pro-Jerusalem Society.
Around 1920, in Cairo, William married Kathleen Beardshaw, a relative of Ashbee, and they made a home in Egypt and raised three children.
In 1926, William started working with Dr George Reisner, director of the Harvard–Boston expedition, on the restoration of the furniture, discovered in 1925 in a tomb at Giza, of Queen Hetepheres of Egypt, who had reigned during the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2600 BC).
Reisner asked William to make a painting of the interior of the tomb before anything was touched and then to lead the task of reconstructing the disintegrated woodwork in the furniture. This included the Queen’s throne, carrying chair, bed, sitting chair, footstool, and neck rest that had been covered in gold leaf.
After three years of work in a primitive working space near the tomb site, and involving making replica tools used specifically for the job, the restoration was completed, and the objects were eventually removed in 1932 to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, where they are still on display.
Sedan Chair of Queen Hetepheres. Image: Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
In 1930 William left the restoration of the Queen Hetepheres artifacts before the completion of the work to take up a post as Supervisor of Technical Education in Palestine, based in Jerusalem, responsible for the training of Arab craft and design teachers and the introduction of craft subjects to schools in the region.
In this role he was actively involved in the preservation and revival of local crafts, including glass-blowing, leather-work, dyeing, spinning, and weaving, particularly of traditional costume. He travelled widely in the region observing and learning from the ancient techniques from craftsmen and women. From his observations he was able to make suggestions how techniques could be improved and new designs introduced.
He also helped to establish the Palestine Conservatoire of Music and was Chairman of its Board of Directors (1932–47). In July 1942 during World War Two he was appointed technical adviser to the Controller of Light Industries in Palestine, helping to ensure the region became as self-sufficient as possible after the war. During his time in Jerusalem he also reorganised the Bezalel School of Art in the city.
The Ruins at Karnak (1947). Image: in a private collection.
In 1948, and disheartened by the heightening Arab-Jewish tensions, he retired from the Middle East and returned with his family to Britain to live at High Wycombe.
Back in Britain he concentrated on his own painting. Despite living in High Wycombe, William renewed his association with the Bradford Arts Club and became an art critic for The Yorkshire Herald.
He died in 1953.
After his death his artwork was displayed at the 1986 Edinburgh Festival at the Calton Gallery in Edinburgh.In the same year, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, mounted a special exhibition of his artwork from the Middle East and elsewhere; and in 1989 a selection of his work was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
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See also the biography of Stewart in Wikipedia