λ George Bissill (British 1896-1973)Miners Oil on canvasSigned (lower left)34 x 41cm (13¼ x 16 in.)George Bissill was born in Fairford Gloucestershire, but the family soon moved to the mining village of Langley Mill in Derbyshire where his father worked as a railway brakesman. At 13 George was sent down the mines, where he worked, initially with pit ponies, then at the coal face, until 1915 when he joined the Kings Royal Rifles (First Battalion) to fight in the First World War. He had hoped to escape the underground life but as an ex-miner he was immediately trained to be a sapper, tunnelling, defusing mines and laying mines under enemy lines. While working near Béthune in France, he suffered a catastrophic tunnel collapse and later in the war he was badly gassed. In 1918 he was invalided out of the army.With his army pension, he spent a few months at Nottingham School of Art, but he had already developed his own distinctive style and subject matter, saying later that the pit was the only art school he needed.He arrived in London in 1922 and took a pitch as a pavement artist outside Bush House, which was just being constructed. There he was 'spotted' by a member of the Arts League of Service, who in 1924 took a portfolio of his mining drawings around the country for exhibition.Soon after this, the newly established Redfern Gallery in Bond Street offered him an exhibition, which opened to great critical acclaim in April 1925. Bissill immediately became extremely famous causing a sensation with his pictures of miners toiling underground, a subject matter which was new to the London Art Scene and was ten years before the Pitmen Painters came to fame. The show was reviewed by all the major art critics and newspapers. Other exhibitions at The Redfern Gallery followed and Bissill worked successfully in London for the next 5-6 years.Soon after the first exhibition opened in 1925 Bissill met the ballet critic, writer and art collector Arnold Haskell, who took him on a visit to Paris. Here Bissill learnt the art of wood engraving, producing some of his finest work, and expanded his subject matter to include ballet dancers, harlequins, set designs and pictures of Parisian life.