The life and work of F.T. Steerwood

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F.T. Steerwood: The magazines and Adverts











Frederick Thomas (Fred) Steerwood was an English artist well known for his watercolours of motor cars. He painted all kinds of cars, but a lot of his work was done for the motor manufacturers Austin and Morris. He produced art work that was mostly used on the front covers of motoring magazines, like “The Motor Owner”, “The Autocar” and “Motor Transport”. Several motorcycle magazines, for instance “The Motor Cycle” and other magazines like “Country Life” and “Homes and Gardens” also published his watercolours.


Fred Steerwood probably started his career with “The Motor Owner”, a high class monthly magazine in the UK that started in 1919 and finished in 1931. The magazine had a lot of full colour advertising, which was quite unique in those days. The first magazine was issued in June 1919, but that one has no obvious artwork by Steerwood, unless he didn't sign his work. Probably his first artwork appears in the July 1919 issue, which he signed with a monogram: an “S” in a part circle, or a single “S” in which the “S” is quite similar as in his full signature of those days. There are several of his works with this monogram in 1919 and 1920.



Then from July 1919 followed several artworks that he signed with F.T.S.



And from November 1919 all his other -known- work bears his full signature.







The artist's of “The Motor Owner”, with (probably) Steerwood in the foreground. Although he has his head down, he is smoking a similar pipe as on the photo above. Fred Steerwood was the principal artist at the magazine so it is logical that he should be at the front of the picture.

photo published in “The Motor Owner”, November 1919

He worked for “The Motor Owner” as a staff artist up to around 1923. They probably paid him a salary but after “The Motor Owner” cut down on the original art, Steerwood became a free-lance artist and was paid for each illustration he made. He worked in part for “The Autocar” producing many front covers.

Painting the cover for a magazine is a specialist kind of art form. The artist not only has to create the painting, but he also has to make room for the logo’s of the magazine in a way that it does not interfere, but rather blend in with his painting.











Another picture of the artist's of “The Motor Owner”.  Fred Steerwood (as always with pipe) is working on the advert for "Clincher Motor Tyres" that was published in the December 1919 issue (click here for full advert).

photo published in “The Motor Owner”, November 1919


Apart from his work for “The Autocar”, Fred Steerwood made covers for the Dutch magazines “De Auto” and “Het motorrijwiel en de lichte auto”. Both magazines were published by the KNAC, the Dutch version of the RAC, and were sister publications of “The Autocar” and “The motorcycle and the light motorcar”. These front covers and special art work were not mere copies of his work for the British magazines. Most of them were made specifically as they depict typical Dutch landscapes with medieval towns and windmills (see below for several examples). In the 1928 Jubilee issue of “De Auto”, issued to celebrate the twenty-fifth year of this magazine, a picture of Fred Steerwood is published, along with the rest of the staff and he is described as “F.T. Steerwood, our English Artist”.

During the 1930s Steerwood produced much art work for “The Morris Owner”. This magazine was started in 1924 by Miles Thomas (later Sir Miles of BOAC-fame) who was given the task by William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) to “…consolidate the family feeling among owners of Morris cars and to give them advice on how to get best results from their purchases.” In his autobiography “Out on a Wing” (1964) Miles Thomas wrote (page 129): “…The Morris Owner was an initial success because I managed to bludgeon the various suppliers – Lucas, Dunlop, Rubery Owen and others – into buying advertising space, and equally I sold it through the chain of agents that had been created for the distribution of the Morris Car. And surprisingly enough the magazine became established with the public on the bookstalls, due perhaps to my utilisation of various artists and writers that I had contacted during my Temple Press days.”

Although Fred Steerwood worked for “The Autocar” at that time (which was published by a rival of Temple Press), he also contributed to “The Light Car & Cycle Car”, a magazine that was published by Temple Press, so I think that he was among the artists recruited by Miles Thomas, only at a much later date.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s the subject of Steerwood's art work changes due to the outbreak of World War II. In September 1939 “The Morris Owner” still has a picnic-scene on the cover, but February 1940 shows a clear change: a Portsmouth Harbour Scene with sailors and a Morris with Hartley headlamp mask due to the blackout. In September 1942 it’s a Blenheim Bomber prominently on the cover and the cars are hardly visible on the coastal scene.

On another page (click!) many of Steerwood’s watercolours are shown, but there must be many more, as in the 1920s Fred Steerwood was a very prolific artist. By 1930 photo sourced artwork started to be used for the front cover designs, which in part explains the fall of his output.

If you happen to know more about F.T. Steerwood, or have other examples of his work, please let me know by Dit e-mailadres is beschermd tegen spambots. U heeft Javascript nodig om het te kunnen zien. . I’ll be happy to include it in this webpage.