Steven Sykes (artist)

Steven Sykes
Artists at war: Edwin Galligan, Steven Sykes, Fred Pusey, Western Desert June 1942
Born	Steven Barry Sykes 30 August 1914 Formby
Died	22 January 1999
Nationality	British
Education	Royal College of Art, Herbert Hendrie
Known for	Stained glass, ceramics, mosaics, sculpture
Notable work	Gethsemane Chapel in Coventry Cathedral
Spouse(s)	Jean Judd

Steven Sykes (born Steven Barry Sykes; 30 August 1914 – 22 January 1999) was a British artist, known for his Gethsemane Chapel in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral. He was active in the British desert camouflage unit in the Second World War, and was responsible for the dummy railhead at Misheifa and for the effective camouflage and large-scale military deception in the defence of Tobruk in 1942.

Sykes was born in Formby, Lancashire. His father was a family doctor, A. B. Sykes of Ashhurst, Formby. He went to the Oratory School in Caversham, Berkshire and studied stained glass design at the Royal College of Art. He won a travel scholarship to France and Italy in 1936 and on his return he joined Herbert Hendrie's stained glass studio in Edinburgh.

Sykes married artist Jean Judd in February 1940.

Sykes's RCA tutor, Barry Hart, who knew Freddie Beddington, founder of the Camouflage Development and Training Centre at Farnham Castle, suggested he become a camouflage officer. Richard Buckley, one of the Farnham lecturers, promptly recruited Sykes as an officer in the Royal Engineers. He was posted to France in March 1940 and evacuated from Dunkirk in May. Only then did he go on a camouflage training course at Farnham.

Sykes had a difficult start to his next posting, in the Middle East. He was almost killed in a car accident on a steep road to the Horns of Hattin in Palestine. His car was fired on by a French warship as he drove to Sidon; he noticed tiny flashes blinking on the side of the ship, shortly followed by explosions on the road in front of him. He was violently sick on an aerial reconnaissance flight, and he became ill with malaria, ending up in hospital in Jerusalem.

Sykes quickly realised that camouflage in the desert would need to use different techniques from what he had learnt at Farnham. He described how military units arrived in North Africa "with camouflage nets garnished in greens and browns suited to European landscapes and, as good disciplinarians, they had pegged them out stiffly over the pale sand round their halted vehicles".