William Martin Conway
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Sir William Martin Conway (April 12 1856 - April 19 1937), English art critic and mountaineer, was the son of Reverend William Conway, afterwards canon of Westminster. W.M. Conway was born in Rochester, England, and educated at Repton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became interested in early printing and engraving, and in 1880 made a tour of the principal libraries of Europe in pursuit of his studies, the result appearing in 1884 as a History of the Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century. His later works on art included:
- Early Flemish Artists (1887)
- The Literary Remains of Albrecht Drer (1889)
- The Dawn of Art in the Ancient World (1891), dealing with Chaldaean, Assyrian and Egyptian art.
- Early Tuscan Artists (1902)
- Art Treasures of Soviet Russia (1925)
- Giorgione as a Landscape Painter (1929).
From 1884 to 1887 he was professor of art at University College, Liverpool; and from 1901 to 1904 he was Slade professor of the fine arts at Cambridge. He was knighted in 1895 for his efforts in mapping 5,180 square km of the Karakoram Range in the Himalayas three years earlier.
Conway became an early member of the Alpine Club, of which he was president from 1902 to 1904. In 1892 he beat the then current climbing record by ascending to a height of 23,000 ft. (7,010 metres) in the Himalayas in the course of an exploring and mountaineering expedition undertaken under the auspices of the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association. In 1896-1897 he explored the interior of Spitsbergen, and the following year he explored and surveyed the Bolivian Andes, climbing Sorata (21,500'/6,553m) and Illimani (21,200'/6,461m). He also ascended Aconcagua (22,831'/6,959m) and explored Tierra del Fuego. At the Paris exhibition of 1900 he received the gold medal for mountain surveys, and the founders medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1905. His expeditions are described in:
- Climbing and Exploration in the KaraKoram Himalayas (1894)
- The Alps from End to End (1895)
- The First Crossing of Spitsbergen (1897)
- The Bolivian Andes (1901)
- No Man's Land, a History of Spitsbergen from its discovery in 1596 to the beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country (1906)
- Mountain Memories (1920)
W.M. Conway died in London at the age of 81. His autobiography of 1932 is called 'Episodes in a Varied Life', while 1914's 'The Sport of Collecting' explains his passion for collecting artworks, photographs and so on.
Martin Conway's photograph collection formed the basis of the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
For a biography see 'The Conways' by Joan Evans.