Malcolm Osborne

A former professor of engraving at the Royal College of Art (RCA), Sir Malcolm Osborne was educated at the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College in Bristol, and later the Queen’s Road School of Art, also in Bristol. Having obtained a scholarship in 1901, he then went to the RCA. He originally studied sculpture before venturing into architecture and then finding his true vocation of engraving. He graduated in 1906 and soon found publishers prepared to accept his engravings.

Osborne joined the Artists Rifles during World War I and served with them in France, Salonika and Palestine, eventually rising to the rank of captain. After the War he replaced Sir Frank Short as chairman of engraving at the RCA in 1924. He also succeeded Sir Frank as president of the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers, a position he held for 25 years. Perhaps unusually for such a talented engraver, Osborne never painted in either oils or watercolours.