Little Totterington Home
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Characters ] [ Joining the Game ] [ Rules ]

Mr. Andrew Sterling R.A. (1910 - 1995)

A founder member of the High Tea group of artists in London in the 1930s, Andrew Sterling's reputation has now been eclipsed because of the very detailed, realistic style of his oil paintings.  They frequently showed fanciful landscapes, particularly in later years, although his earlier works were rooted in the English landscape tradition.

He was the second son of a vicar of Little Totterington, and showed early evidence of his artistic talent. The family was determined to foster his ability, and sent him to live with an aunt in London in the aftermath of the Great War. She was able to introduce the child prodigy to several members of contemporary art circles, and the young Andrew had an eclectic and rather turbulent education.  He is known to have met several of the most influential painters in London in the 1930s, including Walter Sickert and Augustus John, and is mentioned in Vita Sackville-West's diaries.

During the Second World War, Sterling enlisted and fought in the Far East.  He was presumed dead for several months, but had in fact been captured by the Japanese and imprisoned in the notorious Chang-La camp.  He was one of only 10 men from his unit to survive, and suffered from the effects of this experience for the rest of his life.  He was in poor physical and mental health on his return, and spent several months in hospital. 

After the war, he returned to live quietly in Little Totterington, inheriting the Old Vicarage after his father died, and continuing to paint.  His style did not match popular tastes and his reputation sank to the point where the 1987 exhibition 'British Art in the 20th Century' did not include even one of his paintings.  One critic commented 'the painterly brilliance of his early work degenerated into chocolate-box kitsch, and the second half of his long career added little to his achievement'. Some of his later work nevertheless found its way into private collections in the UK and abroad.

The art gallery in Dearlcastle has a small representative collection, as well as the Sterling family papers, donated by his heirs. He never married, and on his death in 1995, all his possessions, including several unfinished works, passed to a distant member of the family.

The Lady of the Lake, 1980 (Private collection, R. Cox Foundation, USA)