Randolph Schwabe was born in Barton-upon-Irwell near Manchester, England on 9 May 1885 and was the son of a British-born father and German-born mother. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London in 1899; the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London from 1900 to 1905; and, with the benefit of a Slade scholarship, at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1906. He then spent some time travelling in Italy before returning to England where he pursued a career as a painter etcher, etcher and lithographer. During World War One he was an Official War Artist and made drawings of the Women’s Land Army.

Following the war Schwabe worked for a period with the dance historian and publisher Cyril W. Beaumont (1891-1976), during which time he made wooden figures based on dancers in Diaghilev's ballets and illustrated books published by the Beaunont Press. He also illustrated books for other publishers.

Schwabe exhibited extensively including at the Beaux Arts Gallery, Barbizon House, Carfax & Co. Gallery, Chenil Gallery, Cooling & Sons Gallery, Fine Art Society, Grosvenor Gallery, Goupil Gallery, Leicester Galleries, and the New English Art Club in London; Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; Manchester Academy of Fine Arts; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.

He was admitted a member of the London Group in 1915 and the New English Art Club in 1915. He was also elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours (ARWS) in 1938, and a full member (RWS) in 1942

From 1918 Schwabe taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and was Drawing Master at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1930 he was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art, University of London.

During World War Two he was tasked with organising the evacuation of Slade School of Fine Art to Oxford. He was also appointed an Official War Artist again, and in this role recorded war damage.

Schwabe's address was given as 40 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1901; 12 Museum Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire in 1939; and 22 Drawton Court, Kensington, London in 1946. He died at his daughter's home, home in - Auchenteil, 25 Suffolk Street, Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, Scotland on 19 September 1948.

A memorial exhibition of his work was held by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1951, and a major retrospective of his work was held at Chris Beetles Gallery in London in 1994.

_{Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)}