Featured Golf Watercolour from 1927 “ This for the half “

Please can anyone help me , trying to find out information about this painting which I picked up at an Antique Shop in Liverpool last week .
It is by C W Thomas ARWA , purchased from the RWA’s 22nd annual exhibition in 1927 .
I’d love to know more about the artist and what the abbreviations stand for .
It’s title is “Optimism “ which is going to be my word of the year for 2023
Would love to know more !!

 

Apparently, RWA stands for Royal West of England Academy. The artist was from Portbury, near Bristol, according to the internet. ARWA probably indicates he was an elected Academician there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_West_of_England_Academy

Debora

 

Looks more illustrative than fine art to my eye. "This for a half" meaning, to halve, or tie the hole in golf terminology. The horrible lie in the sand trap relates to the "optimism" title.

 

Yes, a cartoon rather than fine art. And very much of its time.

Debora

 

Watercolor, with maybe a little gouache, very skilfully executed. Rebacked at some point - that grainy plywood looks like lauan, not common until the 1980s, with some of the original (and important) data wisely preserved. Also, the mat board looks acidic, so if it was mine, since it's already not original, I'd have it remounted in archival materials. It will fade in bright light - it's been in the shadows for many years to still be so nice.

 

I assume caption also has something to do with the other player being a woman.

Debora

 

Optimism ........ HA......I've made shots like that to the green , on several occasions....
& ya....the boys all loose their shit !!!

 

how so?

 

I tend to go from one trap to one on the other side of the green making everyone duck...

 

"The other half." Serves no purpose to make the other player a woman unless there's some play of words at work.

Debora

 

bin there....done that too.....to the chagrin of some.....& the ' grins ' of others !!!

 

naaahh, read @sabre123 post #4....

& it doesn't say the other half....

also, it was popular to show men and women playing together.....

 

Thank you Debora , did you find the artists full name , I haven’t been able to find it

 

I’m a golfer myself and this is a term in matchplay , a half is to say that you had a draw on that hole depending on handicaps and how many shots you have compared to your partner ….. all quite confusing to a non golfer

 

Yes it has been skilfully painted as a cartoon like watercolour I’ve sent it to be remounted today , so it should look a lot nicer on my wall

 

Ha ha ha , ladies tend to disguise their frustration better