Tag: Northern Industrial art

Auction alert: Northern Art

L.S. Lowry - "The Reference Library"

Ever since we lived in Todmorden, we’ve been great fans and collectors of contemporary Northern art and Northern fine art painters, in particular, such as Peter Stanaway, Will Turner, Geoff Key and Olivia Pilling. This is why we just had to highlight the upcoming Northern Art – Live Online auction.

It takes place on Thursday 10th March 2022 from 11am. It’s being held by Wilson55 Auctioneers & Valuers (previously Peter Wilson Fine Art Auctioneers) in Nantwich, Cheshire. There will be 187 lots and we’ve included a few by our favourites below.

Buyer’s premium inc. VAT/sales tax: 26.40%
Online commission inc. VAT/sales tax: 5.94%

Lots purchased online with the-saleroom.com will attract an additional charge for this service in the sum of 4.95% of the hammer price plus VAT at the rate imposed. You can register and bid live through their website at no extra charge.

We can offer UK in-house shipping for smaller items, please contact us.  For larger items and furniture please find our recommended couriers

Northern School (20th century) - "Miners"

Lot 5: Northern School (20th century) “Miners”
Unsigned, oil on board. Dimensions: 61cm x 67cm (24in x 26.5in)
Estimate: £300 – £500

L.S. Lowry - "The Reference Library"

Lot 13: L.S. Lowry R.A. (British 1887-1976) “The Reference Library”
Signed in pencil in the margin, with the Fine Art Trade Guild blind stamp, from the edition of 850, limited edition print. Dimensions: image size 24cm x 35cm (9.5in x 13.75in)
Estimate: £1,500 – £2,500

Liam Spencer - "Mancunian Way at Night"

Lot 68: Liam Spencer (British 1964-) “Mancunian Way at Night”
Initialled, oil on board. Dimensions: 19.5cm x 24.5cm (7.75in x 9.5in)
Estimate: £500 – £700

Geoffrey Key - Northern townscape

Lot 73: Geoffrey Key (British 1941-) Northern townscape
Signed and dated 28.6.19, pen drawing. Dimensions: 26.5cm x 17.5cm (10.5in x 7in)
Estimate: £300 – £500

Helen Bradley - "Early November at Blackpool"

Lot 87: Helen Bradley M.B.E. (British 1900-1979) “Early November at Blackpool”
Signed and with fly insignia (lower left), with the artist’s handwritten narrative on verso – “It was early November at Blackpool and the weather was still mild, so we went for our last walk through the Enchanted Garden and on to the lane. There George and I saw two rabbits, we would have liked to chase them, but Aunt Mary called to Mother to call us back. It was nearly tea time and Grandpa would be waiting for us and the year was 1907. Helen Bradley”.
Oil on board. Dimensions: 26.5cm x 34.5cm (10.5in x 13.5in). Gifted by the artist to the vendor’s grandmother.
Estimate: £15,00 – £20,000

Peter Brook - "The Months of the Year"

Lot 93: Peter Brook (British 1927-2009) “The Months of the Year”
Complete set of twelve, 1978, each signed and numbered 100/150 in pencil in the margins, printed under the direction of Stanley Jones at the Curwen Studio, London, published by Thomas Agnew and Sons Ltd., London (originals in the Tate Collection), presented in original portfolio, lithographs printed in colours. Dimensions: each sheet 57cm x 77.5cm (22.5in x 30.5in)
Estimate: £1,000 – £1,500

Reg Gardner - "Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester"

Lot 94: Reg Gardner (British 1948-) “Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester”
Signed, oil on canvas. Dimensions: 29.5cm x 24.5cm (11.5in x 9.5in)
Estimate: £300 – £500

Kyffin Williams - "Snowdon from Llanllyfni"

Lot 106: Kyffin Williams (British 1918-2006) “Snowdon from Llanllyfni”
Signed and numbered 143/250 in pencil in the margin, limited edition colour print. Dimensions: image size 40cm x 49cm (15.75in x 19.25in)
Estimate: £200 – £400

William Turner - 
"Which Way?"

Lot 111: William Turner F.R.S.A., R.Cam.A. (British 1920-2013) “Which Way?”
Signed, titled on verso, oil on board. Dimensions: 19cm x 24cm (7.5in x 9.5in)
Estimate: £800 – £1.200

Olivia Pilling - "Mills and Canal in Halifax"

Lot 118: Olivia Pilling (British 1985-) “Mills and Canal in Halifax”
Initialled, titled on verso, acrylic on canvas board. Dimensions: 49cm x 39cm (19.25in x 15.25in)
Estimate: £300 – £500

Peter Stanaway - "Huddersfield Canal, Stalybridge"

Lot 125: Peter Stanaway (British 1943-) “Huddersfield Canal, Stalybridge”
Signed, titled and dated 2007 on verso, acrylic on canvas. Dimensions: 38cm x 48.5cm (15in x 19.25in)
Estimate: £500 – £700

Designer Desire: Stuart Walton

Montage of Stuart Walton artworks

Stuart Walton (b. 1933) is a self-taught fine art painter, born in Dewsbury and raised in the Middleton area of Leeds. He showed artistic promise from a young age, winning art competitions whilst at school. However, being a ‘working class lad’, he took a job as a sign writer at Lewis’s, a department store in Leeds city centre.

In the 1970s, he gave up his job of Assistant Display Manager to paint full time. In 1975, he was appointed first Yorkshire Television Fine Arts Fellow.

His ‘northern industrial’ subject matter often contains repeated motifs; rows of red brick terraces, smoking chimneys, clothes drying on a washing line and Victorian street lamps.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Stuart suffered from deteriorating eye sight forcing him to cease producing artworks. Thankfully, his eyesight has since been treated and Stuart continues to paint to this day.

Stewart Walton is a very talented artist who I used to work with in the Display Studio at Lewis’s on the Headrow in the late 60’s. He was producing at that time acrylics on canvas depicting old streets of Leeds mainly Holbeck, Armley, Beeston and Hunslet. Due to inner city re generation they were demolishing properties in these areas faster that Stewart could paint them so we got together to do some photo shoots. I took colour reversal pictures that Stewart was able to copy and between us we were able to make a considerable record. From a recollection of a person named ‘Kenneth’, Secret Leeds forum, August 2009

The Hepworth Wakefield and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool hold examples of his work in their permanent collections.

You can purchase original vintage artworks and limited edition prints at auction and on eBay.

Portrait of Stuart Waltoncredit

Additional image credits:
Artnet

Designer Desire: William Turner

Montage of William Turner artworks

William Turner (1920-2013), or William Ralph Turner to differentiate him from his more eminent namesake, is considered the last of the great Northern Industrial artists.

Famously, Turner was the only person to have painted L S Lowry’s portrait from life.

We have had a fair few of Will Turner’s paintings pass through our hands; all of them are pictured above. We bought them from Dave Gunning, the art dealer with a gallery in Todmorden who is credited with ‘rediscovering’ Will.

In 2005, there was a long overdue retrospective of his work that took place at Gallery Oldham for which an accompanying book was published – William Turner, An English Expressionist. Another monograph by Stuart Archer & Bill Clark was published in 2010.

Here’s a rare interview with the artist done by Granada’s North West Tonight news programme.

Designer Desire: Peter Stanaway

Mosaic of Peter Stanaway paintings | H is for Home

We have a Peter Stanaway oil painting hanging above the fireplace in our living room. A friend asked online about it, so I searched for the blog post that we did about him. I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t done one; so here it is!

Peter Stanaway (b. 1943) is a Greater Manchester born, bred and trained painter. His work was influenced by Keith Vaughan. Fernand Léger and William Roberts. His subject matter, unsurprisingly, is often post-industrial views of Manchester and its environs; especially city streets, disused mills & chimneys and canals & locks. He also paints coastal and fishing scenes of Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and further flung locations.

Photo credits:

Artnet | Invaluable | Mutualart