Maurice A. Wade (1917-1991) was a British painter who specialised in documenting the industrial landscapes of the Stoke-on-Trent area.

Maurice Wade worked in using a monochromatic or very limited palette in a manner reminiscent of Trevor Grimshaw or Jack Simcock. He had a very Northern Industrial sensibility, although he and his subject matter are from the Potteries. Even though

Wolstanton-born Wade studied at Burslem School of Art. After moving away for many years – initially serving in the army during WWII – Wade returned to the Potteries in 1951, to teach art at a local primary school. He made his home in Longport, an area that he would use as the subject of many of his landscape paintings, of which there’s believed to be around 300 to 340 in total.

During his career he exhibited at Société des Artistes Français (where he was a gold medallist and exhibitor hors concours), the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Industrial Painters Group.

On a simple level, these paintings of kilns, mills and huddled houses, often reflected in the tranquil canal waters, were recording the future past, but like Hammershoi’s grey Copenhagen facades and Hopper’s Cape Cod cottages, they tell us something about our own lives and of our own place in the world. ^_credit

Wade’s work is collected by OMD lead singer and bass guitarist, Andy McCluskey. The musician owns at least 21 of his paintings and held an exhibition of the works entitled Silent Landscapes which took place at Trent Art Gallery in 2022. A book to accompany the exhibition was published. Entitled Maurice Wade Silent Landscapes The Andy McCluskey Collection (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark OMD).it is available via Trent Art or Amazon.

McCluskey has shared:

These paintings are a snapshot of a moment in time – they don’t have any people in them – and they connect me to my own background. There’s a ubiquity to these neglected, northern industrial landscapes, although they are the same but different.

Wade’s work is held in the Government Art Collection, the  V&A Wedgwood Collection (one of the most important industrial collections in the world and a unique record of over 260 years of British ceramic production), Beecroft Museum and the University of Hull.

Image credits:
ArtUK | Invaluable | Trent Art

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/mar/18/andy-mccluskey-maurice-wade-artist-silent-landscapes-exhibition