Sydney Shorthouse, miniature portraitist

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Hilliard Society Gallery of Miniature Art

Sydney Shorthouse PVPRMS HS MAA MASF

English artist

Isabel Gibbs Watercolour on ivorine Actual size 7 x 9 cm [2.75 x 3.5 ins]	Vivienne Cawson [daughter of the artist] Watercolour on ivorine Actual size 9.5 x 7.5 cm [3.74 x 2.95 ins]
Sir Conrad Swan CVO PhD FSA Retired Garter Principal King of Arms Watercolour on ivorine	Rebecca Hunt Watercolour on ivorine

Sydney Shorthouse was born in Leicester. His earliest influences in art came from the maternal side of his family, and especially from an art teacher who wrote and illustrated wildlife books. Growing up in the countryside inspired his choice of subjects which were painted in the finest possible detail in an endeavour to make them "live". He was, in fact, practising the technique of miniature painting unconsciously in those early years.

After wartime flying in the Royal Air Force Sydney followed a career in commercial design in the Gas Industry, heading a design team at the Headquarters of the East Midlands Gas Board. At the age of forty he founded City Design, which provided a broad based design service for both manufacturers and retailers in the footwear industry in Britain and Europe.

Sydney began miniature painting in retirement in 1983 was a past Vice President of the Royal Miniature Society, a Council Member of the Hilliard Society and a Signature Member of the Miniature Artists of America. He was also a member of the Miniature Arts Society of Florida and exhibited there and in Washington D.C. for a number of years.

His awards included seven Gold Bowl Honourable Mention diplomas and the Mundy Sovereign Portrait Award from the RMS, and the Bell Portrait Award from the Hilliard Society. Sydney won various prizes in the United States, including First in Portraiture at the MPSG in Washington, D.C. in 1989 and Award of Excellence in all Entries at the MASF exhibition in Florida in 1995

Sydney Shorthouse died on 11th March 2009.

ABBREVIATIONS: RMS =Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers; MASF = Miniature Arts Society of Florida; MPSG = The Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, D.C.