Tag: fine art

Designer Desire: Douglas Pittuck

Montage of artworks by Douglas Pittuck

Douglas Frederick Pittuck (1911-1993) was an accomplished fine art painter. Born in South East London, he attended Wallington Grammar School. This was followed, between 1931 & 1939, by part-time study at Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford and then full-time between 1946 and 1948.

Douglas Pittuck soon made his home the market town of Barnard Castle in Teesdale, County Durham. From 1948, he taught art at Barnard Castle School for a quarter of a century, was a founder of Barnard Castle Art Society and was one of the ‘Four Teesside Painters’.

In 1958, Pittuck created a mural on the east wall of the newly-built St Mary’s Parish Hall, in Barnard Castle. It has recently undergone a successful restoration by local restorer, Luke Jordan (it’s shown – pre-restoration – at the top of the montage above).

He seemed to develop a number of different styles during his career; the pair of paintings at the bottom of the montage remind me of the works by the Grosvenor School.

His work is in the collections of The Science Museum, The Bowes Museum, New College, Oxford and Durham County Council.

Self-portrait by Douglas Pittuckcredit

Additional image credits:
ArtUK | Invaluable | Run Ing

Designer Desire: Ogwyn Davies

Montage of Ogwyn Davies artworks

Born in Trebanos, Neath Port Talbot, Ogwyn Davies (1925-2015) was a Welsh fine artist, ceramist and school teacher. He attended Swansea School of Art between 1947 & 52 before going on to teach at Tregaron Comprehensive (Ysgol Uchradd) from 1955 to 1985. He was one of the founder members (along with Hywel Harries) of the Cardiganshire Art Society which was established in 1963.

I find farm buildings interest me greatly. Very often, the human association of several generations can be seen in the barns and sheds and a sense of poetry seems ever present. They record so graphically the passing of time as it leaves its marks on the walls. For decades many Welsh walls have become part of the world of protest and my interest in walls and marks have resulted in works reflecting this. The use of the words of our National Anthem came about I think after regular attendance at the Arms Park in Cardiff and hearing choirs of over fifty thousand voices singing the words so movingly [credit]

His most famous work is probably Soar y Mynydd (top left in the montage above) the Grade II listed, Calvinist Methodist chapel in Llanddewi Brefi near Tregaron, Ceredigion. Built in 1822, it’s claimed to be the remotest chapel in all of Wales.

Examples of his work can be found in the permanent collections of National Library of Wales, National Museum Wales, Ceredigion Museum and Aberystwyth University.

credit

Additional image credits:
ArtUK | MOMA Cymru | Mutual Art

Auction alert: The Welsh Sale, Cardiff

IFOR PRITCHARD, "Y Gafael Tyner" (The Gentle Touch)

The Welsh Sale, Cardiff takes place three times per year at Rogers Jones. The next one will be on 6 Nov 2021, from 9:30am. It is known for selling the highest quality fine art and antiques from Wales and by Welsh artists.

There are a number of works coming under the hammer by some of the Welsh artists that we’ve previously featured in our Desire Desire series; including Paul Peter Piech, Muriel Delahaye, Hywel Harries, Kyffin Williams and Ifor Pritchard. We’ve included some of them below.

There’s a buyer’s premium: 28.80% (inc. VAT) on top of the hammer price. If you bid online via The Saleroom there’s an additional commission of 5.94% (inc. VAT/sales tax).

There is a 4% levee (sic) charged to the buyer on original works of art by EEA and UK artists who are living or have died in the last 70 years of the auction, and which sell for an auction hammer price over 1000 Euros (equivalent to GBP).

PAUL PETER PIECH, two colour lithograph

Lot 146: PAUL PETER PIECH two colour lithograph
Candle and two opposing faces in the flame, typography by Robert H Shaffer (1915-2017), ‘We must view students not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit’, signed and dated 1998,
Auctioneer’s Note: Shaffer was an American pioneer in the field of student affairs
Provenance: please see Lot 141
Comments: unframed, excellent condition overall
Estimate: £150 – £250

MURIEL DELAHAYE, "Walking The Dog"

Lot 152: MURIEL DELAHAYE limited edition (67/275) colour print – ‘Walking The Dog’
Signed in pencil, 37 x 47.5cms
Provenance: private collection Ceredigion
Comments: no problems, mounted, not framed
Estimate: £200 – £300

HYWEL HARRIES, dry-mounting print - Chalybeate Street, Aberystwyth

Lot 155: HYWEL HARRIES dry-mounting print – Chalybeate Street, Aberystwyth
With Salvation Army Building and Shell petrol station 1970s, 26 x 38cms
Provenance: private collection mid-Wales
Comments: mounted, unframed, printing fault
Estimate: £80 – £120

SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS, Ynys Mon Farm, Penrhyn Du, Aberffraw

Lot 199: SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS RA limited edition (65/150) colour print – Ynys Mon Farm, Penrhyn Du, Aberffraw
Signed and numbered in pencil, (I) 55 x 73.5cms
Provenance: Private collection, Cardiff
Condition: excellent, framed ready to hang
Estimate: £1,000 – £1,500

GWILYM PRICHARD, "Farm Houses, Pembrokeshire"

Lot 409: GWILYM PRICHARD – ‘Farm Houses, Pembrokeshire’
Oil on canvas – white washed farm in autumnal landscape, signed and dated 77, with exhibition list, 50 x 60cms
Provenance: private collection Ceredigion, consigned via our Carmarthen office
Comments: no apparent problems, framed
Estimate: £1,800 – £2,500

IFOR PRITCHARD, "Y Gafael Tyner" (The Gentle Touch)

Lot 411: IFOR PRITCHARD – ‘Y Gafael Tyner’
Oil on board. Slate worker splitting on a blue background, entitled verso ‘Y Gafael Tyner (The Gentle Touch)’, signed, 46 x 35cms
Provenance: private collection Cardiff
Comments: framed, no problems
Estimate: £800 – £1,200

1843 WELSH WOOL SAMPLER TO ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Lot 503: 1843 WELSH WOOL SAMPLER TO ELIZABETH EDWARDS
Containing a series of flowers in vases around a house or school house, religious passage above, below in cartouche ‘Elizabeth Edwards, her work in the year 1843 aged 14 years – fear the Lord and depart from evil’, size including frame 54 x 52cms
Provenance: private collection, Gloucestershire, believed from the vendor’s ancestral town of Llanelli, bequeathed from vendor’s aunt
Comments: good example, colours have held, aged but not extensively discoloured, old frame with glazing
Estimate: £150 – £200

19TH CENTURY SYCAMORE CARVED LOVE-SPOON

Lot 505: 19TH CENTURY SYCAMORE CARVED LOVE-SPOON
Decorated with pierced treskelion motif over a pierced flower-head over a smaller geometrically carved flower circle, surrounded by chisel-point carving and with two scratched hearts, the reverse with crudely scratched 1854, 30cms
Provenance: private collection, formerly with Tim Bowen Antiques, Carmarthenshire
Auctioneer’s Note: similar at Swansea Museum donated by Col. W E Llewellyn Morgan and described as Carmarthenshire in origin (postcard photo showing this example to accompany produced by Royal Institute of South Wales)
Comments: chip to edge of bowl but without other fault, very good rich chestnut colour, good example
Estimate: £400 – £600

 

Designer Desire: Robert Brumby

Montage of Robert Brumby artworks

Although Robert Brumby predominantly paints these days, for this post we’re going to concentrate on his mid century and later sculpture and ecclesiastical works.

Brumby is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. He set up a studio and Gallery in The Shambles in York city centre. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and, after many years working in art education and lecturing, he became head of the York School of Art and Design in 1990.

He was commissioned by Desmond Williams Associates to create the ceramic reredos (altar screen) of Christ in Glory for the Church of St Augustine’s, Manchester. The brief was that “the piece should not contrast against the dark brick interior if it were to be of such a scale; for fear that it would dominate the space.”

The church interior embellishments by Brumby included the external plaque and statue, holy water stoups, wall light brackets, circular font with ceramic inset and aluminium lid, altar table with bronze inset and, most likely, Stations of the Cross sculptures. Also by him was a memorial plaque fashioned from mangled plate, damaged in the Blitz, commemorating the earlier parish church which this replaced.

He designed the 3-metre high ceramic Madonna and Child statue for the Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool (affectionately refereed to as “Paddy’s Wigwam” or sometimes the “Mersey Funnel”.

In addition, he’s responsible for the painted reredos for the Cathedral of St Mary’s, Middlesbrough.

Another Roman Catholic church where his work can be found is St Michael’s, Wolverhampton which was completed in 1968. Behind the altar the reredos (Grade II listed) of The Ascending Christ is formed by a large, full height abstract ceramic relief of the Cross and the Crown of Thorns. He also designed the stone font. The work is described thus:

An abstract design was chosen deliberately in order not to distract the eye from the Altar ceremonies. Its purpose is to aid concentration not compete for it. as to what it depicts, the artist is naturally reluctant to say, for his is not a literal artist. As a painter he communicates his ideas by means of the images he creates; understanding is in the eye of the beholder. However, here are the signposts he offers to guide our eye and our understanding.
What the painting is ‘about’ is the resurrection. It symbolises the story of our human struggle; our spiritual development, our materialistic desire, our hunger for knowledge and truth, our ache for peace.

Portrait of Robert BrumbyFor a number of years, Robert Brumby divided his time between painting in Yorkshire and the Languedoc in the south of France, while recent works have included seascapes inspired by the Northumbrian coast.

There’s a lovely write up by Rachael Fraser of what Brumby is doing currently; she’s a photographer and he is her grandfather.

 

 
 
credit

Additional image credits:
Invaluable | Mainstream Modern| Rachael Fraser Photography