Writer and Syringa

Edmond Xavier Kapp was born in London, the son of a German-born wine merchant. A portrait painter, draughtsman and caricaturist, during his career he depicted many of the famous politicians, artists and caricaturists of his time. He was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he studied Medieval and Modern Languages. Whilst at Cambridge he made many caricatures which resulted in his first one-man exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. During World War I he served with the Royal Sussex Regiment on the Western Front and at the later part of the war worked in Intelligence at General Headquarters. After the war he continued his art studies in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, returning to hold a one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1922. Between 1933-35 he worked at the League of Nations in Geneva where he made a series of lithograph portraits of its members for the British Museum and National Portrait Gallery. In the Second World War he receied several short commissions from the War Artist’s Advisory Commettee, most notably for a series called Life under London of people sheltering in the London Underground and crypt of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields during the Blitz. In 1945 he was commissioned by UNESCO to produce portraits of the delegates at the first international congress in Paris. Kapp held a number of one-man exhibitions in London as well as on the continent, Canada and America. A retrospective exhibition was held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1961. Works by him are held in many public collections including those of the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.