Tribute to Robert Gillmor MBE PPSWLA (1936 - 2022)

The loss of Robert Gillmor in May has been felt deeply. It is impossible to quantify how many artists owe Robert huge thanks for their careers in wildlife art. Whether it be through individual guidance, advice and friendship, or through the broader umbrella of the Society of Wildlife Artists community which would not have existed without him, he has directly affected the lives of many.

Robert Gillmor was an extraordinary man. As an artist he was an undisputed master in his chosen field, yet his achievements went far further than the maker of beautiful illustrations, paintings and prints. In a career that fledged in the 1950s and continued until shortly before his death, his endeavours for seventy years encompassed the worlds of ornithology, conservation and art. His efforts to promote and encourage natural history themed art have made a lasting impact and have shaped the visions of future generations, and his contribution to wildlife art in Britain is unparalleled.

With a society of artists in mind Robert, with the enthusiastic support of Sir Peter Scott, Keith Shackleton and Eric Ennion, organised an exhibition of contemporary bird paintings in the Reading Art Gallery in 1960. Maurice Bradshaw, then Director of the Art Exhibitions Bureau, joined the organising committee and as a result the Bureau took this exhibition on tour for a year, and such was the interest shown by provincial galleries that the tour was extended for a further year.

Robert invited Richard Talbot-Kelly and Maurice Wilson to help plan a society and invite founder members. The inaugural exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) was held in London and opened by prominent ornithologist James Fisher in August 1964. The exhibition featured 149 works by 35 founder members. The annual show now boasts about 350 works and the Society currently has over 60 elected members.

From its inception Robert was the energy and guiding hand of the SWLA. He initially took the position of Secretary to the society (1964-1974), then Chairman (1974-1984). He was elected President and served two terms from 1984-1994. (For the years 1964-1994 all notes, circulars and newsletters were handwritten by RG.)

Under his Presidency, the SWLA enjoyed both a boom in popularity and an enhancement of status, with ever-increasing numbers visiting the annual exhibition. Robert was directly responsible for raising the profile of the society with a new logo (his design) and the forging of close ties with many conservation groups as sponsors of awards at the Mall Galleries show. New awards were offered to artists from the RSPB and The Natural World, the magazine of the Wildlife Trusts.

Robert was always eager to encourage young artists and he approached Lloyds Private Banking with an initiative to foster new talent. Through a sponsorship agreement with Lloyds, a joint Bursary scheme was established in 1993. Since that inception the scheme has gone on, with different sponsors and, latterly, self-funded, to award nearly 100 bursaries to young, up-coming artists, many of whom have gone on to have successful careers of their own.

During his Presidency, in 1991, he also oversaw the SWLA becoming a Registered Charity for the purpose of fostering and encouraging all forms of visual art based on the world's wildlife.

From 1994 Robert was the Society’s Vice President and was an active member of the SWLA council. All catalogues to exhibitions up to 2009 were designed by RG, and until 2012 he oversaw the hanging of every exhibition.

Despite running the society for 30 years, and being intimately involved with it for much longer, he nevertheless found the time to produce a full complement of wonderful paintings every year. He has shown his amazing work for every one of the 58 years the society has been in existence and the ‘Gillmor wall’ was always one that drew everybody to it.

Above all else Robert was an artist. He saw his first image in print at the age of 13. It was a design for the 1949 Annual Report for the Reading Ornithological Club and he illustrated every cover until his death – that’s sixty designs. In 1952, still only 16, his bird illustrations appeared in national publications for the first time when he submitted a series of black and white figures of shearwaters and magpies for the journal British Birds. Robert illustrated his first book, A Study of Blackbirds by David Snow in 1958, and he eventually contributed to over 200 books.

Many of these publications demanded monochrome figures, and as a black and white illustrator Robert Gillmor had no peers. His work showed a richness of tone and texture married with harmonious design that consistently delighted the eye and always met the exacting brief of authors.

Robert’s watercolours displayed a similar elegant design and his paintings for The Handbook of Herons of the World (1976) set new standards for bird illustration. His style has been much mimicked but never bettered.

Lino-printing was what he seemed to love best of all, especially in the later years. He had an exquisite design sense and his work always looked fresh and modern. Paring an image down to sometimes only three or four colours brought a simplicity to his work that belied the mastery behind its production. Equally he could produce a lino print in anything up to 24 colours for some of the Collin’s New Naturalist covers – his understanding of how colours worked next to and on top of each other was unparalleled. His solo book Cutting Away showcases a small percentage of the work he produced over 70 years and is a delightful addition to anyone’s bookcase.  

Robert has left behind him a legacy within the field of wildlife art that few will ever parallel. He is seen as the grandfather of modern, wildlife painting in the UK, and indeed his influence has extended beyond these shores. His stature and legacy lie alongside those of Thorburn and Lodge, and Tunnicliffe who he greatly admired, but it could be argued that the inspiration and encouragement he has given to others exceeds that of even those great figures of the past. His loss to the family of wildlife art is immense, but we have also lost one of the gentlest, kindest, modest, and wittiest men in the field of wildlife art, ornithology, and conservation.

'Blackthorn Blackbird' by Robert Gillmor MBE PPSWLA (1936 - 2022), featured in SWLA | The Natural Eye 2022