Biography
Henry Silk (b. UK 1883 - d. 1948) has been described as an ‘unmarried basket maker’ who ‘lived in London’s East End’ and who worked for a time for his uncle, Abraham Silk, who had a factory/shop at 226 Bow Road. He was the brother of the artist Elwin Hawthorne’s mother and lived with his nephew's family in Rounton Road, Bow, where many of his paintigs were executed. Silk was a member of the East London Group of artists, started by John Cooper (1894 - 1943) through his classes at Bow and Bromley Evening Institute, along with Walter Steggles (1908-1997) and his younger brother Harold Steggles (1911-1971), his nephew Elwin Hawthorn(e) (1905-1954), William Coldstream (1908-1987), Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), Brynhild Parker (1907-1987), Phyllis Bray (1911-1991) and Grace Oscroft (1903-1970), with whom he initially showed at Bethnal Green Men’s Institute show in 1927 and contributed twelve pieces to the East London Art Club exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1928, three of which were shown at National Gallery, Millbank in early 1929. They later exhibited at Alex. Reid & Lefevre gallery from 1929-36). He also exhibited at Agnew's and had a solo exhibition of watercolours at Walter Bull & Sanders, in Cork Street, London, in 1931. Silk was gassed during Army service in World War I which had a lasting effect on him when he returned to civilian life. Views done then in France and on holiday and Edinburgh were among his non-London works. The poet and artist Laurence Binyon was among collectors of Silk’s work. Hat on a Table (1932) was gifted by the Englsih artist and poet Clive Ali Chimmo Branson (1907-1944) and presented to Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, now the Danum.
