The Edge of the Harvest Field

East was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire where he was educated at the local grammar school before going on to study at the Glasgow School of Art. After a first successful joint exhibition in 1888 with the Fine Art Society he travelled to Japan to paint the landscape and people which would be exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1890. He would thereafter make regular sketching trips abroad, going to France, Italy, Spain, North Africa and the USA. A painter of landscapes in the influence by the Barbizon School, he was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, becoming an associate member in 1899 and a full member in 1913. In 1906 he was elected President of the Royal Society of British Artists. In 1906 he published The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour. He was awarded a knighthood in 1910. Works by him are in many public collection both in this country and abroad. The Alfred East Art Gallery in Kettering, designed by John Alfred Gotch, was opened in 1913.