| AdminHistory | William Coldstream (1908-1987) was Slade Professor of Fine Art from 1949-1975.
Coldstream was a realist painter whose early years were characterised by an engagement with socialist ideals and the pursuit of a non-elitist form of art. He studied at the Slade from 1926-1929, joined the London Artists' Association in 1931 and the London Group in 1933. In 1934 he joined the GPO Film Unit making documentary films but he returned to painting in 1937 and co-founded the Euston Road School later that year. He saw active service during WWII and in 1943 accepted a full time commission with the War Artists Advisory Committee. In 1945 he became a visiting teacher at the Camberwell School of Art and later its Professor. Then in 1949 he returned to the Slade as Principal and Professor of Fine Art. |