John Aldridge (1905 - 1983) - British oil painter, draughtsman, wallpaper designer

Moss wallpaper, by John Arthur Malcolm Aldridge (1905-83), made by Messers, Cole & Son. (V&A Museum)

Portion of 'Moss' wallpaper, an all-over diaper pattern of organic shapes and leaves by John Aldridge (V&A)

John Aldridge (1905 – 1983) was an oil painter, draughtsman, wallpaper designer, and art teacher from the United Kingdom.

He was mainly a still-life and landscape painter who also illustrated books such as Laura Riding’s The Life of the Dead (1933). Curwen’s Contemporary Lithographs published his prints in 1938 and 1939 editions. He lived in Great Bardfield, Essex, from the 1930s to the 1950s, where he met Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. He worked with Bawden on experimental hand-cut linoleum prints for commercial wallpaper created by Cole and Son of London in the 1960s, which had published his wallpaper designs since the 1930s.

John Aldridge's pen and ink drawing of San Severo and a pencil drawing of the same scene, circa 1944 or 1945. — John Aldridge’s pen and ink drawing of San Severo and a pencil drawing of the same scene, circa 1944 or 1945.

His work was included in exhibits at the Leicester Galleries in 1933, 1936, 1940, and 1947, as well as exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London beginning in 1948.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

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