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Basil Ede (12 February 1931—29 September 2016) was an English specialising in avian portraiture, noted for the ornithological precision of his paintings.
Initially he trained as a Gunner with The Royal Artillery, but after being selected to attend the Mons Officer Cadet School he was commissioned into the RASC, serving as Second Lieutenant and then Lieutenant . On leaving the army at the end of 1951, Ede joined the Merchant Navy, and he set sail on his maiden voyage as a purser on board Orient Line's Empire Orwell in early 1952. The ship's established route was between Southampton and Japan, via Suez, Aden, Columbo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Pusan. In addition to these duties, the ship was at this time deployed to help transport British troops and equipment to and from the Korean War. Ede was to become fascinated by the Far East and in particular by its art. This was undoubtedly to have an influence on his later work. Coming ashore for good, Ede joined Cunard Line as a young executive in 1956. By now he spent most of his spare time painting and negotiating with galleries and publishers. His employers, far from being annoyed, actually commissioned him to design a series of covers for their first class menu cards on the RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary. In 1964 Ede left Cunard and became a full time artist.Interview with Judith A. Troops, Birders World, August 1989.
In 1964, Ede became the first living artist to be honoured with a one-man show at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C. The event was sponsored by the British Embassy, the English Speaking Union and the National Audubon Society.
In 1965, Ede's first book, "Birds of Town and Village" was published by Country Life Books, featuring thirty six plates of his work in full colour."Birds of Town and Village" Country Life Books 1965 The publication features a foreword written by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and text by Ornithology W. D. Campbell, republished by Chartwell Books in 2004."Birds of Town and Village" Chartwell Books 2004
In 1966, 1971 and 1979 one man exhibitions of Ede's work were held at the Kennedy Galleries in New York.Preface and flyleaf, "Basil Ede's Birds", Severn House Publications 1980 In 1971 Ede was commissioned by Walter Annenberg, then serving as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, to paint a series of eastern Pennsylvanian birds for his private collection. Also in 1971, a chance encounter with another American collector, Jack Warner, led to the commissioning of "The Wild Birds of America" series.Flyleaf, "Wild Birds of America, The Art of Basil Ede" Abrams 1991 Described as a "very ambitious project",Foreword by HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, "Wild Birds of America, The Art of Basil Ede" Abrams 1991 the commission was to paint every species of wild bird in North America, 650 in all, in life size."Four Centuries of Avian Portraiture" Robert McCracken Peck, Fellow, Academy of Natural Sciences, Abrams, 1991 Robert McCracken Peck, in his essay "Four Centuries of Avian Portraiture", says that the project "...has been compared in scope to John James Audubon's twenty eight year effort to document and celebrate the birds of North America", but adds, "so limited a comparison fails to put into proper perspective the much larger tradition of bird painting in America with which both Audubon and Ede are intimately interlinked." The project was cut short in 1989, after Ede suffered a serious illness. However, a total of ninety five life sized portraits of North American birds, in watercolour, were completed for the collection by Ede, between 1975 and 1989."Wild Birds of America, The Art of Basil Ede" Abrams 1991 Today they form part of the Warner Art Collection in the United States. In 1991, the book "Wild birds of America - the Art of Basil Ede" was published by Harry N. Abrams, featuring 103 colour reproductions from the Wild Birds of America series, as well as reproductions from Ede's field notes and sketches. In his foreword, Prince Philip, himself a collector of Ede's work, ranked the English painter among the world's great wildlife artists.
Basil Ede was one of the founder members of the Society of Wildlife Artists"Wildscape, The Journal of Wildlife Art and Conservation" volume 2 number 2 and a life member and active supporter of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Basil Ede died on 29 September 2016, at the age of eighty five, following a short illness, survived by his wife, and two sons.
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