EDWARD SEAGO - A PAINTER OF GROWING REPUTATION

Edward Brian (Ted) Seago RBA ARWS RWS (31 March 1910–1974) was a Norfolk artist who painted in both oils and watercolours.

He was born in Norwich, the son of a coal merchant. Seago was an entirely self-taught artist, although he received advice from Sir Alfred Munnings. He enjoyed a wide range of admirers from the British Royal family and The Aga Khan to the common man. His works have included landscapes, seascapes, skyscapes, street scenes, his garden and portraits. He painted a particularly large numbers of oils of Norfolk and Suffolk scenes, typically Norfolk beachscapes and seascapes, and views of the River Orwell around Ipswich, where he depicted river scenes and their unique sailing barges.

At fourteen, he won an award from the Royal Drawing Society, and from then on knew what he wanted to do in spite of his parents' initial disapproval. At the age of eighteen, Seago joined Bevin's Travelling Show and subsequently toured with circuses in Britain and throughout Europe.

His heart problems, identified at the age of seven, dogged him all of his life. He had to resort to subterfuge to join the army at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was commissioned as a Major in the Royal Engineers and advised on camouflage techniques for Field Marshal Auchinleck, with whom he had a lifelong friendship.

Such was his popularity that those who wished to buy one of his paintings had to queue at his various annual exhibitions around the world (with the single exception of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother).

The Queen Mother bought so many that eventually the artist, who died in 1974, gave her two a year – on her birthday and at Christmas. Prince Philip invited him on a tour of the Antarctic in 1956, and his subsequent paintings, considered to be among his best, hang at Balmoral.

Seago also created the solid silver sculpture of St George slaying the Dragon, which serves as an automobile mascot for any state limousine in which Queen Elizabeth II is travelling. The mascot or "hood ornament", as it would be referred to in the United States, can be transferred from car to car. When the monarch is not aboard, it is substituted for the symbol of the manufacturer, such as the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy or the Bentley "B".

Seago died of a brain tumour in London on 19 January 1974. It is not widely known but in his will he requested that one third of the paintings from his estate were to be destroyed. There remain about 19,000 water colors and 300 oil paintings worldwide although it is rumoured that some of the "destroyed" paintings may still be in existence. This is an enigma which may never be resolved.

Seago remains one of Norfolk's best known painters, ranked alongside Cotman and Munnings, and he is still accessible and affordable. The amazing new young Norfolk painter, Kieron Williamson, aged 6 and reckoned to be a rising star as widely reported in the press, has said that Edward Seago is his inspiration.

Telephone : 01328 730 675 Address : Storm Fine Arts, Market Place, Burnham Market, Norfolk, PE31 8HD

02:14 - Sunday 26 May