Oscar Wilson (artist)

Oscar Wilson RMS ARBA (1867 – 13 July 1930)[1] was an English painter and illustrator who trained in both London and Belgium.

[note 1] Wilson exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888 and 1889 with his address in Park Cottage, Lee Road, Blackheath, London.

[6] Benezit reports that Wilson travelled to Africa,[7] it is not certain when this was, but he had an illustration in The Graphic in 1910 showing the call to prayer in Cairo.

[8] The 1901 census shows Wilson living at 19 Colville Road, Notting Hill, London with his wife and son.

[5] Benezit and Micklethwait list him as a genre painter and illustrator of books, magazines and newspapers, and state that he was particularly known for his pictures of pretty women.

[10] Wilson also engaged in commercial art, producing illustrations, together with others, for two promotional publications by the Great Eastern Railway Company.

A special feature of this publication was the large number of colour illustrations from drawings by Wilson, "showing better than any description could do the luxuries of the Harwich steamboat service.

The Yorkshire Post considered that the painting was "admirable in tone, and full of sound workmanship, while if the figure introduced some respects rather jarring note, it gives a humorous turn to the spectator's thoughts by reason of the contrast it affords.

Among the books that Wilson illustrated was Two Adventurers in Search for El Dorado (Samuel Low, Marston and Co., London, 1915) by Harry Collingwood.