Finberg, A. J. (Alexander Joseph), 1866-1939

Born in London, 1866; educated at the City of London College, and King's College London; studied art at the Lambeth School of Art and in Paris; worked for the Graphic and Illustrated London News , and as art critic for several papers including the Manchester Guardian and the Saturday Review ; commissioned by the Trustees of the National Gallery to complete the arrangement and inventory of the Turner bequest, begun by John Ruskin, 1905; brought to light a large number of unknown paintings by Turner, which led to their exhibition at the Tate, 1906, and the building of the new Turner Gallery by Sir Joseph Duveen; founded the Walpole Society, to encourage the study and promotion of British art, 1911; Honorary Secretary and Editor of the Walpole Society, 1911-1922; Art Adviser to the Board of Inland Revenue for picture valuations, 1914-1919; Lecturer on the History of Painting to the Education Committee of London County Council, and the University of London; died 1939. Publications: The English Water Colour Painters (1906); Drawings of David Cox (George Newnes, London, Charles Schribner's Sons, New York, [1906]); A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest 2 vols, (Stationery Office, London, 1909); Ingres (1910); The Turner Drawings in the National Gallery, London (no publication details); Turner's Sketches and Drawings...With 100 illustrations (1910); Turner's Water-Colours at Farnley Hall ('The Studio', London, 1912); Some Reflections on the Art Editor and the Illustrator (London, 1912); The Development of British Landscape Painting in Water-Colours edited by Charles Holme, with text by A J Finberg and E A Taylor ("The Studio", London, 1918); Early English Water-Colour Drawings by the Great Masters edited by Geoffrey Holme, with articles by A J Finberg ("The Studio", London, 1919); Notes on four Pencil Drawings of J M W Turner (Chiswick Press, London, 1921); The First Exhibition of the New Society of Graphic Art (Alexander Moring, London, 1921); The History of Turner's Liber Studiorum. With a new catalogue raisonn (Ernest Benn, London, 1924); Modern Painters. Abridged & edited by A J Finberg by John Ruskin (G Bell and Sons, London, 1927); An Introduction to Turner's Southern Coast (Cotswold Gallery, London,1929); In Venice with Turner (Cotswold Gallery, London, 1930); The Life of J M W Turner, RA (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1939).

From the guide to the FINBERG, Alexander Joseph (1866-1939), 1902-1915, (Courtauld Institute of Art)