Charles Smith maritime painter extraordinaire

Charles Smith (1913-2003) was a maritime painter who was a member of the Royal Society of Artists and The Wapping Group of Artists of whom he was president between 1987-1992. The group was formed in 1946 and continues to be one of the oldest working groups of artists in the country. Originally set up to illustrate London's vibrant docklands this has extended to include the length and breadth of the Thames and the land surrounding it. Further information about this group can be found on their website at:

 http://thewappinggroupofartists.co.uk/index.php

The paintings I have seen of Smith are almost exclusively of a maritime nature. He had a studio in Sussex and painted well into his 80's. This painting was completed in 1999 so was one of his later works. What we like so much about this painting is its impressionistic nature and yet it retains a sense of realism. This picture is a 'sea' of blue and though the water remains calm the viewer is drawn to the clouds as they move across the sky bringing drama to an otherwise tranquil scene.

Speelman Mahlangu

This is a fascinating picture by Speelman Mahlangu (1958-2004) who was a black South African artist. It's a picture that you can see something different in each time you look at it and seems able to evoke both the ancient and the futuristic at the same time.

It conjures up feelings of life, evolution of birth and re-birth. Which came first the chicken or the egg?

'Speelman’s painting incorporate symbols and patterns from Ndebele murals and Egyptian hieroglyphics. They often describe things that one cannot see but can only feel. His themes include an exploration and spiritual mythical ideas of the world to come.' (www.henrytaylorgallery.co.za/artists/81-speelman-mahlangu.html)

Speelman Mahlangu 1993

Jerzy Faczynski

Picked up this painting recently by Jerzy Faczynski (1917-1995) a Polish born British based artist who lived and worked for a time in Liverpool and painted and sketched street scenes including churches using a variety of media. He also designed book covers for Penguin notably Pnin by Nabakov in 1960.

What we love about this picture is that it has a spooky, magical story type feel to it straight out of the Brothers Grimm. What's in those woods and where is that path going? You can imagine it in a story book or as a still from an animated film. Fabulous.

Jerzy Faczynski

Artists prints 2

Historically many artists have provided original prints to illustrate books. Known as book plates and often originating from etchings, engravings, wood and lino cuts they have become very collectable works of art in their own right. We have examples from the 1930's by two artists who were renowned for their book plates.

Clare Leighton (1898-1989) worked in wood and is generally regarded as being one of the finest exponents of wood engraving/wood cuts of the 20th century. She also used to write books as well as illustrating them and is particularly known for her work depicting rural life and the harsh nature of the work that men and women often had to endure. One of her most famous and enduring works is a book from 1935 entitled Four Hedges-A Gardener's Chronicle which she wrote and illustrated with prints from wood engravings. Perhaps the most well known of Leighton's images, this picture is of women collecting apples. What stands out is the sense of movement but also of how hard the work is as illustrated by the woman carrying the apples in her apron. 

Clare Leighton from Four Hedges - 1935

A similar picture is this one of women picking fruit. Again she depicts how physical this work can be but also of their total concentration on the matter in hand. In both pictures the faces of the workers cannot be seen and there is no communication between them. A desire to 'do a good job' or the dehumanising nature of work?

Clare Leighton from Four Hedges - 1935

A second artist known for his book plates is Australian artist George David Perrottet (1890-1971) who signed his work GDP. He worked in lino cutting and etching and was known for illustrating  an early version of the novel The Blue Lagoon. Our print is a lino cut believed to be from the 1930's entitled Past the Park and is of a limited edition of 75. It is unclear if this was a book plate or stand alone print but the picture conjures up an image of a developing suburbia with the straight lines of the houses, walls and fences bringing both a modern look and neatness to the scene.

Artists prints 1

One of the most fascinating aspects of collecting art is discovering the many different techniques used by artists to create pictures and in particular the methods used to create prints. By prints I don't mean the mass-produced reproductions of Van Gogh's and Monet's that adorn many a wall but those pictures that have been printed by the artist from their own design whether etched onto a metal plate, drawn onto a stone or carved from wood or lino. 

Don't get me wrong reproductions have their place and it's right to see these wonderful paintings being replicated for a wide audience to get to know and appreciate and important that they are remembered and enjoyed by new generations of people for whom it will be their first introduction to art. But it is the craft of the artist as printer that is so captivating. That the picture you see in front of you started life with a piece of lino, stone or metal and has gone through a whole range of techniques to produce a work of art that is a revelation and one every bit as enthralling as the ceation of an oil or watercolour.

Indeed many artists known primarily for their painting from Rembrandt to Picasso have also produced prints. Sometimes the artist will work with somebody who is a printing specialist but for many they undertake the whole process from conception to the end product.

Usually the artist will produce a limited number of these prints, which makes them very collectable. The fewer in the edition the more sought after and valuable they are. Sometimes the edition can be as few as 10 or 25 but more often between 100 and 250. What is intriguing about these prints is that although they are printed from the same original piece, be it a plate or piece of wood, no two prints are exactly the same as each time ink is re-applied there can be a variation in the colour. 

Joan Hodgkiss does her own printing from etching onto a metal plate and produces colourful pictures of landscapes, trees, bird and flowers influenced by her Suffolk surroundings. Her website gives a fascinating insight into the etching and printing process and can be found at www.joanhodgkiss.com We have a print of hers entitled Benacre from a print run of 50 she produced in 1983 that really depicts the intricacies and creativity of the natural world she portrays.   

Benacre by Joan Hodgkiss 1983

Another artist who was known for his printing was Stan Rosenthal who died in 2012. His work was characterised by wonderfully bright colours particularly of the South Wales and Sussex coastlines. He employed a number of printing techniques but the print we have is a screen print (or serigraph) of Porthgain Harbour in Pembrokeshire, South Wales from an edition of 250. A screen print uses a screen usually of silk or nylon through which ink is pushed onto the paper with stencils used to block out the ink. This can then be applied several times with different colours and stencils to build up the picture. 

Porthgain Harbour by Stan Rosenthal

What we love about this picture is the vividness of the colours and the contrast this produces particularly of the sun soaked sky and blue sea. 

The third example and another favourite again due to its vivid colours is Le Printemps a lithographic print  by French artist Andre Minaux (1923-1986). Minaux was a renowned lithographer and this print is from an edition of 150 believed to be from the 1970's.

Lithography is a process where the artist draws an image on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy or oily substance that the ink, when applied, will stick to whereas the other areas repel the ink. 

Le Printemps by Andre Minaux

Like the previous print we love this picture because of the striking colours that burst into the picture like the arrival of the Spring that it portrays.
           

Japanese wood block prints

One of the fascinating things about collecting art is the different media artists use to express themselves. We have become very fond of different types of prints that artists have created from lino to etchings and screen to woodblock or woodcut prints. Japanese artists have a tradition of woodblock printing and we have collected several from different periods. The oldest is from the late 19th century by Toshikata and is a hand-coloured print called 'A spring walk' from a series entitled 36 elegant beauties. 

Toshikata

The picture is quite delicate as often the prints were on very fine paper like rice paper but the colours that are hand painted remain really vivid and stand out against the black and white background. 

The Heron Girl by Suzuki Harunobu is an example of Nishiki-e, which is multi-coloured woodblock printing. Previously printing was in black and white with hand colouring but this new method saw woodblocks developed for each colour that allowed them to be overlaid.

   

Heron Girl bySuzuki Harunobu

Although the artist created the image in the 18th century this print is more recent however it is unclear when it was created as woodblocks are often re-carved from time to time with a series printed. Nevertheless the colours in this print are stand out and true to his original intention particularly the use of red that characterises his work. 

   

Painting of Sitges by Spanish artist Angel Badia Camps

Picked up this fabulous little oil painting yesterday of Sitges near Barcelona. Painted on canvas and signed Camps we believe its by Spanish artist Angel Badia Camps who was well known in the 1960's as an illustrator for comic books. More can be found on this work at;

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/angel-badia-camps-without-doubt-top.html

Sitges by Angel Badia Camps

The colours on this painting are wonderful and evoke the fishing village Sitges must have been in the 1960's. At the time it was a place that attracted many artists and writers and became a focus for the counter culture against Franco's dictatorship. A marvellous find. 

Calvin Burnett

Calvin Waller Burnett - An artist with a unique style

This is an absolute gem of a picture that we found in a second hand shop one Saturday afternoon amongst a pile of prints propped up against a wall. From first sight it was so unique a style in terms of imagery, texture and colours. It's by Calvin Waller Burnett an African American artist (1921-2007) who was based in Boston, Massachusetts and taught at the Massachusetts College of Art for over thirty years.  This is from a series of paintings believed to be from the 1970's and although it's in oil he liked to work in a range of styles and media gaining a reputation as a very eclectic artist. 

What we love about this painting is the way he has used a pallet knife to accentuate the subjects and their shape to give a sensual fluidity to the picture. 

Calvin Burnett

For more information about the life and work of this artist see his obituary from the Boston Globe at;

http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2007/10/12/calvin_burnett_eclectic_introspective_artist/

There is also a fascinating interview with the artist as part of the Smithsonian Institute's archives of American arts entitled Oral history interview with Calvin Burnett, 1980 June 13-1981 January 6, Archives of American art, Smithsonian Institution.

It can be found at; http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-calvin-burnett-11452

Unknown artists

One of the most exciting and fascinating aspects of collecting art is finding out about the painting and the artist. Who painted it? Is the artist known? When was it painted? What is known about the painting? What sort of medium has been used? Does it have any value? So we often find ourselves with a new purchase eagerly delving into google and surfing across websites to find out what we can - how did people manage before the internet we ask ourselves?

Sometimes the artist is not obvious and ends up being tracked down through geographical association or by similar looking pictures. Often there can be several artists with the same name in which case the signature is all important. Trying to enhance the signature on a painting from a website on a computer screen can at times however be a challenge. Still we like the challenge!

What can be frustrating though is not being able to identify the picture or the artist. Actually the most frustrating thing is not being able to decipher the signature at all which can lead to much speculation and guesswork often unresolved or if there's no signature at all. Here are three examples that fall into this category.

Balinese dance Dullah by unknown artist

The first is a picture of a Balinese dancer called Dullah. We know this because her name is on the picture (at first we thought it was the painter's signature). In addition there is a label to the rear of the painting indicating that she was painted by a 'state artist' under president Sukarno of Indonesia and purchased in Singapore in 1965. It's a beautiful painting (though it probably needs a clean) and the artist his really captured something in her eyes that goes beyond the portrait.

Snowy peaks 

The second is an artist's proof print of some sort (maybe a screen print) that has lovely shades of colour from the water to the mountains. Its called snowy peaks though we can't decipher after that perhaps the name of the range or of a sound and we haven't been able to decipher the signature. It could be Turnbull but there are numerous artists called Turnbull and we haven't been able to match up the signature. It looks like it could be Scotland or Canada but there are several Canadian and Scottish artists with that name so it doesn't really help. The only thing that we do know is that it was produced in 83 (1983) so that gives a further clue - the search continues!

Venice by unknown artist

Finally is this oil painting, which is a big and bold impressionist style picture of a waterfront town. It could be Venice or another Mediterranean port. It seems to be signed D4 Rici Not sure what the D4 means and we can find no trace of Rici so it's puzzling. Anybody got any ideas? Please let us know. It's a fabulous picture though as are each of these featured pictures and just because we don't know who painted them doesn't change our appreciation of them. We love them all.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

W. Eric Thorp & W. Lambert Bell

The Two W's -  Eric Thorp and Lambert Bell

These two artists have similarities in that they lived during the same period, W. Eric Thorp (1901-1993) and W. Lambert Bell (1904-1983) and both were landscape artists. 

W. Lambert Bell lived in Stoney Middleton in the Derbyshire Peak District and also in Cornwall and painted in oils. This picture seems fairly typical of his work and is perhaps of the Peak District. This is a fine landscape painting and the length of it especially draws you to the river as it flows from the left to the right of the picture.

For further information about the artist and of the history of art in Stoney Middleton see the article by Jed Lowe at  http://smhccg.org/uncategorized/art-in-stoney-middleton/

W. Lambert Bell

W. Eric Thorp used oils and pastels and was mainly known for his marine paintings so this painting, which is entitled 'Nr Llanberis north Wales' is more unusual. Its painted in pastels, of which we have very few pictures in this medium, and is both colourful and has tremendous movement. Note in particular the smoke from the chimneys. The painting has a label to the rear showing it was exhibited by the Pastel Society and originally cost 20 guineas, though we are not sure when it was painted. W. Eric Thorp has paintings in a number of public galleries and museums in the UK.

For further information about the artist go to http://www.tudorgalleries.co.uk/artists/william-eric-thorp/

W. Eric Thorp

   

George Johnson

George Johnson

This painting was one of the earliest original pieces we bought. Its an oil on canvas wrapped around a slate by New Zealand born, Australian based artist George Johnson. We found it on a window ledge nestling behind a couple of wardrobes in a second hand shop and felt it just had to be rescued and shown off as the fabulous painting that it is. It's dated 1973 and now sits it what has become our retro room. Johnson is a painter who has concentrated on abstract geometric designs throughout his career and what we love about this picture is that every time you look at it you see something different. There is also a spiritual element to this picture and interestingly he apparently visited Peru in 1972 and this influenced his work during the period when this was painted. For further information about George Johnson and his work, check out the Charles Nodrum Gallery where he is a featured artist  www.charlesnodrumgallery.com.au

So why collect art and why D'Oyly John?

Well in terms of the collecting I guess both my partner and I have always been collectors of one thing or another - anything and everything from pieces of furniture, ceramic pots, metal figures, ash trays, glass, clocks, plates, watches in fact almost anything that has a bit of age and a lot of character that decorates our home. Our children on the other hand have tended to lament that it's been more like living in a museum! 

My own collecting started as a youth with records, or vinyl as is now the preferred term! I can distinctly remember the excitement of going to buy a new single that had just been released or flicking through the plastic sleeves on the shelves of second hand record shops looking for nuggets be they old, imported, deleted, coloured vinyl, a 12" version, a different limited edition cover or a gate-fold sleeve - the 70's offered such variety whether heavy rock, prog rock, punk, new wave, soul, reggae, ska and the list goes on. It's probably the same now and I am just well out of the loop - but can you get quite as excited about downloads? And isn't there something about holding a record in your hands and crucially looking at the artwork whether singles or LPs the cover was as important as the record.

So this is where I think my interest in art started and I recall blu-tacking these covers to the walls of many a rented flat over the years usually in a pretty shabby state with no sign of any of the chic! And although I have enjoyed visiting art exhibitions of both established and newer artists over the years I never thought I would find myself collecting art, particularly original art but so it has been that over several years we have developed our collection by searching through second hand shops, junk shops, charity shops, boot fairs and the occasional auction, to find art that we love at an affordable price.

So why D'Oyly John. Well actually it doesn't have to be. It could be any number of artists we search for or any number of pictures but there's something I love about his colourful mediterranean scenes and this print was an early one we found. It's probably from the 1960's and what we have discovered since starting to collect is the range of media and editions that are out there from oil to watercolour, pastels, mixed media, screen prints, lino, woodblock, etchings and the list goes on. Moreover there's originals, artists prints, limited edition prints, those that are signed others that aren't, that make the buying of art and then trying to identify who its by, when it was created, how many are out there etc. all the more exciting. Particularly if you come across a gem and we have found one or two - at least we think so!

Crucially though is that we don't buy art because we think it might be valuable we buy it because we love it whether it's by a known artist or not, whether it's in the best condition or not and whether it's likely to increase in value or not. The essential rule to collecting we think has to be that you like it and want to hang it on your wall to be enjoyed every time you look at it.

Having said that I'm still searching for an original D'Oyly John at a price we can afford. My partner would prefer a Russell-Flint - but that's another story. We'll keep you posted but in the meantime here are some of the pieces we love and acquired at an affordable price.

( Ventimiglia by C.R. D'Oyly John - vintage print probably 1960's)