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Artist able to work in any medium, born in Liverpool, brought up partly in Kenya, then in Sussex where he attended Brighton College. Went to Goldsmiths’ College School of Art, 1934–7, studying under James Bateman, Clive Gardiner and Stanley Anderson. The son of a naval officer, Worsley in 1939 joined up and became a midshipman on the armed merchant cruiser Laurentic, in which he was sunk off Ulster, but survived to paint a picture of the incident. By this time he was contributing work to the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, and after further active service he was appointed as a war artist attached to the commander-in-chief, Mediterranean. Taken prisoner, Worsley ended up as a prisoner of war in Germany and made a valuable record of life in Marlag O camp, managing to bring most of his drawings – with much difficulty – back to England after his release.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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