Important work by John Aldridge RA tracked down by Blondes Fine Art

The oil on board pictured below has recently been found by Mark Ponting , the owner of Blondes Fine Art . It had been in the hands of a collector in South Wales for its entire life but following her death the opportunity arose for it to be returned to the Herts/Essex borders from where it originated. 

 

Here at Blondes Fine Art we have long been great fans of the Great Bardfield group of artists. In a combination of proximity to the village itself , the wonderful Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden , and the iconic work of the artists themselves we find ourselves constantly drawn to the imagery of such greats as Edward Bawden, Richard Bawden, Eric Ravilious , Michael Rothenstein, Walter and Denise Hoyle and George Chapman to name but a few. Indeed, the group was larger than the few mentioned above and changed over time as they ebbed and flowed from the village over a period of some 50 years, however, one of their number remained there throughout his life.

John Aldridge RA first moved to Gt Bardfield in 1933 the same year that John Piper identified him as one of the young up and coming artists of the era who had "unprejudiced vision" and he remained living at Place House until his death in 1986.During the 1950's the artists held open house exhibitions in 1951,54,55 and 58 which attracted thousands of people from all over the country. Following the commercial success of these they sent an exhibition down to the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol in 1959. This particular work pictured here called ' The Moors, Great Bardfield' dates from March 1955 and depicts a set of trees that was previously a subject of Aldridge's work in 1947 "Burnt trees in snow" which is reproduced on page 20 of the new  book on the Bardfield artists edited by Gill Saunders and Malcolm Yorke. Clearly it was a winter image that had an interesting structure and in many ways defines the light and landscape of rural Essex on a crisp winters day.

What makes this image of particular significance is that it was the one chosen by John Aldridge to have displayed on his  easel when his photographic portrait was taken in his Great Bardfield studio by ,one of the leading photographers of the time ,Geoffrey Ireland.Geoffrey Ireland was a photographer and writer born in 1923. He studied at the Lancaster School of Art under Ronald Grimshaw and then at the Royal College of Art, where in 1953 he was appointed the tutor for graphic design. With Bawden, Ravilious , Rothenstein and Aldridge having strong teaching links to the RCA it is perhaps not a surprise that Ireland came out to photograph them . The collection of these iconic photographs and of other RCA artists are now in the National Portrait gallery collection.

So this painting was subsequently sold in an exhibition and led a quiet life in Wales for the last 60 years,until recently found by Blondes Fine Art  of  Much Hadham , Hertfordshire. It has been subject to a professional light clean to remove surface dirt and now , still in its original frame , looks like it was painted last week! We feel privileged to now have in our personal collection what is perhaps the most important work by  John Aldridge.

 

The great Welsh art represented at Blondes Fine Art

Given that here at Blondes Fine Art, we are proud stockists of much of the very finest Welsh art, we thought it appropriate to explore some of the relevant artists that we periodically stock - namely John Elwyn, John Knapp-Fisher and Josef Herman, who together did so much over their careers to inform the sensibility and concerns of modern Welsh art.

Foremost among those artists is John Elwyn, whose gentle depictions of the landscapes of his native west Wales have gained immense popularity among collectors as his reputation as a painter has risen to match that of such greats as Kyffin Williams.

Born in Newcastle Emlyn in south Cardiganshire - the son of a woollen mill owner - Elwyn attended Carmarthen School of Art and the Art School of the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, from which he won a Royal Exhibition Scholarship to London's Royal College of Art. From 1948 he was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and taught at Portsmouth and Winchester Schools of Art, retiring in 1976. He died in 1997.

Those looking to collect a true Welsh master watercolourist, meanwhile, simply couldn't do better than investing in the rich landscapes of John Knapp-Fisher. Born in London in 1931, the son of an architecture professor at the Royal College of Art, Knapp-Fisher studied graphic design at Maidstone College of Art and later worked in exhibition and theatre design.

After five years spent living and exhibiting from his sea-going fishing boat, in 1967, Knapp-Fisher relocated to Pembrokeshire, Wales, and was soon inspired by its coast. The following decade, the largest ever exhibition of his works - including more than 60 paintings - was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1992, he was elected a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy. We were greatly saddened to hear of his death in February, aged 83.

Finally, we are also delighted to be able to stock works by the Warsaw-born realist painter who will nonetheless always be strongly associated with Wales - Josef Herman (1911-2000). Unquestionably one of the greatest Jewish émigré artists, Herman is celebrated on Welsh shores on account of his brilliant depictions of local mining communities, although on his arrival in Great Britain after escaping the Nazis, he lived at first in Glasgow before moving to London.

Only in 1944 did Herman set up home in the South Wales mining community of Ystradgynlais, where he became affectionately referred to as 'Joe Bach' and collaborated with the Neath-based artist Will Roberts. By 1948, Herman had become a naturalised British subject.

Herman is just one of the many English, Welsh and Scottish artists whose high quality works we can offer to discerning collectors here at Blondes Fine Art in Hertfordshire. Please contact us today to enquire about any of the Welsh art that we offer in our present stock.

 

Our 'magnificent seven' Scottish artists

As proud as we are here at Blondes Fine Art to offer quality work from a highly comprehensive selection of the finest English and Welsh 20th century art, we also routinely see the works of many of the last 100 years' greatest Scottish artists enter our stock.

Our gallery's current Scottish contingent includes Sir Robin Philipson, Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston, Victoria Crowe, Alberto Morrocco, David McClure and George Devlin, and we can think of few more befitting ways to describe this group than as the 'magnificent seven'. But of course, it is always instructive to learn more of these artists' respective artistic practices, not least as the histories of each have been so often intertwined.

Of these, the best known is undoubtedly Blackadder. Born in Falkirk in 1931, the artist who continues to enjoy great recognition and success in London, while also being one of Scotland's most significant printmakers, studied at Edinburgh College of Art between 1949 and 1954 under the tutelage of Robert Henderson Blyth and William Gillies.

By 1956, Blackadder had married Houston and began a teaching career in Edinburgh, with Blackadder, Houston, Crowe and Philipson all holding staff positions at the College of Art - the latter as Head of School of Drawing and Painting. Indeed, Sir Robin had been a lecturer there as far back as 1947, having been a student of the College himself from 1936 to 1940.

For more than three decades, Philipson - born in Broughton-in-Furness in 1916 - was one of the most influential figures on the Scottish art scene, eventually becoming President of the Royal Scottish Academy and receiving a knighthood for services to the arts in 1976. He died in 1992.

Victoria Crowe, by contrast, is a member of a much younger generation of Scottish portrait and landscape painters, with works in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Royal Scottish Academy. In many ways, she can be seen as having taken over from Blackadder, particularly in terms of botanical drawing.

That leaves, of our 'magnificent seven', Morrocco and McClure, the former born in Aberdeen in 1917 and later a student of the city's Gray's School of Art, and the latter born in Lochwinnoch in 1926 and graduating from Edinburgh College of Art - a contemporary of Blackadder and Houston - in the early 1950s.

Morrocco and McClure were great friends and colleagues, and it was the former's position as Head of Painting at Dundee College of Art that the latter took over and eventually retired from in 1985.

With such tightly associated histories, it is no surprise that these great Scottish artists are so closely linked in the public mindset, and we couldn't be happier to offer many fine works by them all here at Blondes Fine Art.

                                           

John Knapp-Fisher

For Sale now at Blondes Fine Art  are two new watercolour paintings by John Knapp-Fisher. Both are in fabulous condition and date from 1960. This was the first year that the artist had left his job designing for a theatre and began his career as a full time artist. There was a short period when he painted various locations in and around London and the home counties before purchasing a boat and exploring the eastern coast of the UK before finally settling in Pembrokeshire in 1967.These two recent acquisitions are from that early period and depict Hampstead Heath and Rye in Sussex. 

They were both with a private collection of work by Knapp-Fisher and bear personal Christmas dedications verso in the artists own hand. They have clearly been displayed out of sunlight as the colours are still rich and strong. 

The artist was influenced in his early years by  John Piper , Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood. He liked to use a limited palette seeking what he called "the edge of colour", where earth colours and touches of primary colour emerge from the darks and where tonal relationships, quality, texture and contrasts are all important.

Elizabeth Blackadder

We are finally packed and ready for the Cambridge Art Fair. We have been fans of the Scottish Artist Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RSA RA for a long time and presently have five fabulous early paintings for sale from the 1960,s and they can all be seen on our ELIZABETH BLACKADDER pages. We will have 3 at the Cambridge Art Fair so pop along and see what we have on the stand. They include a work exhibited at the RA in the Summer Exhibition.We also have a large oil painting for sale by her husband and fellow Scottish Artist John Houston and while this is not going to Cambridge it can be seen on the website. Here.

 

New John Knapp-Fisher watercolour paintings -Coming Soon

Two new John Knapp-Fisher watercolours will be added to the website in the coming weeks. These are early works from 1960 - the first year he became a professional artist- and are in fantastic condition. They are currently being remounted to ensure the condition stays good and both are signed and have the location and a hand written dedication verso. They are much larger than his later work.

Knapp-Fisher's work can almost be grouped into 4 phases.

1. Post Theatre design from 1960 - These works date from 1960 and depict landscapes in Sussex, Kent ,London and the home counties.

2. The East Coast era.  For a number of years he toured the East coast in a sea going vessel painting as he went. Many of these depict Suffolk.

3. The Pembrokeshire era. This is the bulk of his output right up until his death earlier this year.

4. The South African work. These date from the 1970's when he and his partner spent much time there.

...............................................................which ever the era we think his work is wonderful!

John Knapp - Fisher

We presently have a lovely collection of 3 John  Knapp - Fisher watercolours for sale . They date from the early 1970's and are all in good condition . Since his passing , earlier this year, the auction prices for his work just seem to go up and up. I notice that last weekend in the Rogers Jones and Co Welsh sale that watercolours were making £4,000 inc. com.  He is certainly an artist to watch! We love his work .

Clare Winsten's work in major Ben Uri London exhibition.

We are delighted  that the Clare Winsten oil that we sourced and supplied to The Ben Uri Gallery is now on show in their fantastic centenary exhibition "Out of Chaos"at Somerset House , London. It hangs along side Bomberg's and Girtler's "Merry-go-round" and looks like it has finally come home. Well done Ben Uri ! View more work by Clare Winsten here on her artist pages. Click here to visit " Out of Chaos"