Artists

William Ware "Ports Of Call" paintings for SS OLYMPIA's Olympian Hall tourist class restaurant gathered in a row. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2010.

Born in Fulham, London, U.K. in February 1915, William Ware was a well known landscape painter. He fell from a ladder and broke his back at age 3 and while convalescing for the next thirteen years, decided to pursue a passion for painting. Once mended, he went to the Putney School of Art ad later the Richmond Art School, which he attended under Patrick Millard and Albert Houthuesen. His painting of the London Blitz was purchased and displayed by the Imperial War Museum, which eventually bought more of his works for their permanent collection. Ware's first gallery exhibition was in 1940 at J. Leger and Son, where they were shown alongside those of contemporaries Mogdigliani, Sickert, John Piper, Augustus John and Duncan Grant. � Ware's studio was located at 226, Fulham Road, where he was also employed as a restorer for national museums and galleries. In 1953, he was hired by The Greek Line to paint the permanent artwork for the SS OLYMPIA and additional works of his were displayed in the ship's art gallery during her maiden voyage. MidShipCentury was fortunate in being able to purchase all of the surviving works except for two card paintings in the former Card Room on forward/starboard Upper Deck. Another large painting in the ship's dining room was destroyed by a fire in 1993. Ware also furnished a number of works for the SS ARKADIA (ex MONARCH OF BERMUDA), which was broken up in 1966. The first William Ware Gallery was opened at 160 Fulham Road in 1965, moving once until settling in East Sussex in 1978. More exhibitions followed, including one at Tower Art Gallery where his "The Enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury" -- now at Kings School -- was featured. Other venues included The New English Art Club, Royal Academy, Royal Portrait Society, Royal West of England Academy, Haworth Gallery in Accrington, Ogle Gallery in Cheltenham, and the Upper Grosvenor Galleries and Christopher Hull Galleries in London. In 1986 he was part of an exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery " Artists Painting between 1935 and 1955", and in 1994 he was represented at two separate exhibitions of war paintings at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and at Barcelona. Ware died in 1997 in East Sussex. His son is well-known painter Martin Ware. With thanks to James Holder.

Ware's 10 foot long painting of New York Harbor on board the former SS OLYMPIA. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2008

William Ware Artworks For Sale: