Jerry Critchlow

British painter and poster artist Michael Critchlow studied somewhat sporadically at Wolverhampton Art School and became a freelance illustrator in the 1930s. At the end of World War II, he produced posters for the Ministry of Information, which led to illustration work for magazines and periodicals. Critchlow returned to formal painting in oil and, within a few years, his work was being exhibited by The Royal Academy and The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Critchlow later contracted Parkinson’s disease.

Critchlow sent his sons, including Keith, who later became an even more famous artist, to the controversial educational institution, the Summerhill School. The painting A Wet Day at Summerhill School was at the time in the possession of Ivor Montagu, an English zoologist, filmmaker and critic, author, communist activist, and successful table tennis player.