STEER

Steer's sea and landscape paintings made him a leading figure in the Impressionist movement in Britain but in time he turned to a more traditional English style, clearly influenced by both John Constable and J. M. W. Turner, and spent more time painting in the countryside rather than on the coast. As a painting tutor at the Slade School of Art for many years he influenced generations of young artists. In 1927 Steer began to lose the sight in one eye but he continued to paint, although mostly in watercolours rather than in oils, and his compositions became much looser, at times almost abstract but by 1940 he had stopped painting.[9] In 1931 he was awarded the Order of Merit.Harwood C. Laurence (1869-1949) was a stockbroker and Art Collector so, despite the spelling of the surname, he is almost certainly the recipient of this letter.