Charles Edward Wilson was a British watercolourist known for his sensitive depictions of rural life and childhood scenes. Born at Whitwell, Derbyshire, he was the son of the village schoolmaster and showed artistic promise from an early age. He trained at the Sheffield School of Art, where he developed the technical and observational skills that would characterise his mature work.
Later in life, Wilson settled in Witley, Surrey, where the surrounding countryside provided an inspirational subject matter. His watercolours typically focused on the everyday activities of countryside figures especially women and children, accompanied with careful draughtsmanship, a lightness of touch and detail, and a sense of nostalgia. His palette was delicate yet vivid, and his compositions were praised for their rhythmic design and graceful line.
He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1891, submitting a work entitled Sweet Content, and went on to contribute seventeen works there, as well as thirteen to the New Watercolour Society.
He also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, among other notable venues. His reputation grew steadily during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with his images frequently reproduced on postcards and posters to meet public demand. Wilson often repeated the figures in the compositions of his paintings almost creating a narrative, using his neighbours as models. It was said that the magpie that so often appears in his paintings, was reared by him and after it died he had it stuffed by a taxidermist so he could continue to paint it.
Charles Edward Wilson moved within a wide artistic circle that included David Burliuk, a pioneer of the Russian avant-garde, Marc Chagall, celebrated for his dreamlike imagery, Albert Goodwin, known for his visionary landscapes, as well as Helen Allingham, whose depictions of English cottages and gardens closely aligned with his own subject matter. Most significantly however, he was a very close friend with Carlton Alfred Smith, with whom he shared a studio at Smith’s House in Haverstock Hill near Hampstead before moving to Surry. The duo often used the same models. Though his style remained rooted in the British tradition of rural genre painting, these associations reflect his awareness of broader artistic movements.
His work is represented in public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, and he remains regarded as one of the foremost exponents of sentimental watercolour painting in the Edwardian era.
