the role of architecture in my recent paintings

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THE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN MY RECENT PAINTINGS BY JOHN A WALKER (copyright 2015) Although figures and narratives are crucial subjects in my recent paintings, which are usually based on memories and documentary photographs, their settings have increasingly involved the depiction of streets and buildings. These I have found challenging to paint because they so often require the capture of perspectives and intricate detail. Yet the streets and buildings have powerful personalities in their own right that contribute to the mood or context of a painting and so they have proved essential to the compositions. Below are some examples with commentaries. ‘Life in the ruins’ (2014), oil on linen, 71 x 107 cm -------------------------------------------------------- A composite composition depicting the post WW2 world of the late 1940s and the early 1950s when children played in cobbled streets and on the bombsites in working-class areas of British towns. At that time, few residents owned cars and therefore children could play in streets and alleyways safely. In the foreground is a paper boy with a heavy delivery bicycle. This was a part time job I did later on as a teenager in 1

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Discusses buildings featured in my paintings from different places and periods.

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  • THE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN MY RECENT PAINTINGS

    BY JOHN A WALKER (copyright 2015)

    Although figures and narratives are crucial subjects in my recent

    paintings, which are usually based on memories and documentary

    photographs, their settings have increasingly involved the depiction of

    streets and buildings. These I have found challenging to paint because

    they so often require the capture of perspectives and intricate detail.

    Yet the streets and buildings have powerful personalities in their own

    right that contribute to the mood or context of a painting and so they

    have proved essential to the compositions. Below are some examples

    with commentaries.

    Life in the ruins (2014), oil on linen, 71 x 107 cm

    --------------------------------------------------------

    A composite composition depicting the post WW2 world of the late

    1940s and the early 1950s when children played in cobbled streets and

    on the bombsites in working-class areas of British towns. At that time,

    few residents owned cars and therefore children could play in streets

    and alleyways safely. In the foreground is a paper boy with a heavy

    delivery bicycle. This was a part time job I did later on as a teenager in

    1

  • the fishing port of Grimsby.

    Holme Hill Primary School (2012) oil on linen 66 x 96.5 cm

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I attended this school from the ages of five to eleven (1943-49). It was

    located at the corner of Heneage Road and Wellington Street, Grimsby

    and was a short walking distance away from my home in Newmarket

    Street. The Victorian building was designed by the London architect

    Charles Bell in 1876 and functioned as a primary school until 1967. It is

    now a grade II listed building. The buildings style is Gothic Revival and

    it is constructed from red brick and limestone. It has an attractive

    three-storey clock tower. To the left of the school in the painting is the

    Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue built in 1885-89. As a schoolboy I was

    unaware of the buildings religious function and that Grimsby had a

    Jewish community. To the right of the painting I appear aged five or six

    wearing a brown check shirt and short brown trousers. This image is

    obviously based on a family photo.

    2

  • 'Going to Sunday school Grimsby circa 1947' (2014) oil on linen, 30.5 x

    107 cm

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This painting depicts mostly children walking towards the Central

    Methodist Hall, a grand imposing building with a copper dome in

    Duncombe St, Grimsby to attend a Sunday morning school. The Hall

    dominated the working class houses nearby. It was designed by the

    architect Arthur Brocklehurst of Manchester and was built during

    1934-36. It remained a religious building until the 1980s. It is now a

    concert venue and community centre run by a charitable trust.

    (Currently threatened with closure.) Beyond the Hall is a tall red brick

    building that was a cinema called The Regal (1937-2004). Its frontage

    was located on Freeman St. We often queued in the street outside

    waiting to gain entrance because the cinema was very crowded during

    the 1940s and 1950s. It is now closed. Opposite the cinema was a

    public house called The Freeman Arms that was popular with

    fishermen and notorious for fighting and prositution. The pub still

    exists. My paternal grandmother Lily Walker, a widower, lived at 79

    Duncombe St on the right of the painting. In this row of houses can be

    seen the entrance to a passageway that gave access to a shabby

    3

  • courtyard and more terrace houses. An indication of how crowded

    together the people were. The courtyard was served by a single water

    tap located in the middle. The red brick terraces in the painting have

    now all been demolished. On the horizon beyond Freeman St and

    Railway St is a red brick flour mill - Victoria Flour Mill - then called

    Spillers dating from 1889. It still exists but no longer functions as a

    mill.

    Going to a Christmas party, (2013) oil on linen, 76 x 102 cm

    --------------------------------------------------------------------

    During WW2 my aunt Lily Munslow worked as a conductress on

    Grimsby buses. The buses emerged from huge garage situated at 42

    Victoria Street South which had previously been a tramway depot

    (1920s) and before that a hangar for seaplanes. At the rear of the

    garage, high up under the roof, was a large staff canteen where at

    Christmas time parties for children of the bus companys employees

    were held. Lily took me to one circa 1944 or 45 when I was six or

    seven. I dont remember much about the party but I do recall being

    impressed by the strange venue, the cavernous space and oily smells

    of the garage itself.

    4

  • The paperboy and the policeman, (2013) oil on linen, 71 x 107 cm

    -----------------------------------------------------

    As a teenager during the 1950s I earned pocket money delivering

    Sunday newspapers in the East Marsh district of Grimsby close to

    Freeman Street. The paper round and several more were owned by a

    very ill shopkeeper - W. Barnett & Sons (who sold and repaired

    bicycles) - located at 140 Victor Street. The painting features a

    composite of two streets one of which is Hamilton St. The industrial

    building with the chimney on the left was a soft drinks bottling factory

    - W. M. Hill & Son - which dated from 1890. The company closed down

    in 1967 and the building became derelict and is due to be demolished.

    The corner house with fancy brickwork on the left of the painting

    belonged to the owner of the factory.

    5

  • Arrival at Thornton Abbey Gatehouse, (2013) oil on linen, 71 x 107

    cm.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ----As a teenager I sometimes cycled with a friend to Thornton Abbey,

    a ruined Augustinian monastery (founded 1140 and suppressed in

    1539) located close to the River Humber in North Lincolnshire about 16

    miles from the town. King Henry VIII once visited the monastery. The

    Gatehouse, built from brick in 1377-82, is the best preserved section of

    the ruins. It was a picturesque place to visit and provided a goal for a

    days outing in the countryside. Given the youth of the cyclists and the

    fact that they are travelling towards the vanishing point on the

    horizon, it would seem they are heading for the future but,

    paradoxically, the building towards which they are heading dates from

    the distant past.

    6

  • 'Boy running to escape bullies' (2015) oil on linen, 112 x 81 cm.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This painting depicts an incident from my last year at Holme Hill

    primary school circa 1949. Cornered at leaving time by a group of

    bullies who wanted a fight, I proposed an alternative: that I could

    escape from the school even though they were guarding all the

    entrances. I succeeded by running through a classroom - a class was in

    progress - in the neighbouring school Wintringham Grammar School,

    whose impressive frontage was located in Eleanor St. It is the red brick

    building depicted in the painting. After I passed the 11 plus exam, I

    began attending Wintringham. The building dates from 1895 and was

    designed by the well known Grimsby architect Herbert Charles Scaping

    (1866-1934). It had a swimming pool and many other facilities. It was

    once a reason for civic pride and for a time it was used as an art

    college but, sadly, it is now a ruin.

    7

  • 'Star struck', (2015), oil on linen, 81 x 111.5 cm.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    This painting recalls a moment in February 1956 (when I was aged 17,

    a horny teenager without a girlfriend) in the Ritz Cinema, Grimsby

    Road, Cleethorpes (a luxurious cinema built in 1937 which closed in

    1982 and was demolished in 1993) when I fell in love with Kim Novak.

    The American actress (b 1933 of Czech heritage) was playing the part

    of Madge Owens, a fictional character in the technicolor, CinemaScope

    film Picnic (Columbia Pictures, 1955). Her co-star in this romantic

    melodrama was William Holden and the director was Joshua Logan.

    Picnic was adapted from a play and novel by William Inge. Novak had

    appeared in some films before Picnic but it was the one that made her

    world famous. It was the first time I had seen her. Clearly, Hollywood

    was employing Novak because of her extraordinary, cool, physical

    beauty; therefore, it was ironic that Madge is a 19 years old Kansas

    beauty queen who resents the fact she is admired only for being

    'pretty'. Madge has a wealthy suitor whom she does not love. She is a

    8

  • teenager on the cusp of womanhood. Her own sexual passion is

    aroused in the film by the charming personality and muscular body of

    a drifter called Hal (Holden).

    Watching Novak/Madge I was entranced by her youth and beauty

    and consumed by a longing and sensual desire for her. This is obviously

    a very common psychological/cinematic experience after which

    millions become adoring fans. However, I did not join a fan club or

    travel to America to stalk her (as some obsessive fans do) because my

    rational mind reminded me that I did not know Novak as a real person

    and that my chances of meeting her and becoming her lover were

    virtually nil. Our 'love affair' was totally one sided - she was

    completely unaware of my existence and infatuation. I also realised

    that when seeing Novak on screen I was not watching a documentary

    about her but her playing the part of Madge - a fictional being who did

    not actually live in Kansas. Furthermore, my intense emotional

    response to Novak/Madge was to a screen image, a pictorial

    representation, not to a living human being and that my desire for her

    was doubly impossible which made it even more poignant and tragic.

    Novak/Madge, in short, was an unobtainable object of desire. (This

    was before the days of video recordings and DVDs, so I could not even

    possess a copy of the movie to watch over and over again. In the 1950s

    one never knew when one might see a favourite film again.) I left the

    cinema still glowing from the encounter with the screen goddess but

    profoundly sad and frustrated because of the futility of my desires.

    The experience recalled in this painting is a tribute to the power of

    moving pictures - plus sound and music - projected onto a huge screen

    in a darkened auditorium. I have surrounded her head with a white-

    yellow border or halo to signify the quasi religious aura or charisma

    typical of major movie icons. Her face is enlarged and floats in front of

    the screen to symbolise the process of emergence and engulfment that

    reaches out from the screen and overwhelms the viewer. At the time

    of writing (2015) Novak is 81. She is a keen painter and sometimes

    depicts in a surrealist fashion self-portraits and scenes from her films

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  • (such as Vertigo). Before she became a movie star, Novak was an art

    student and model in Chicago.

    Midwife heading towards the West Marsh circa 1920 (2014) oil on

    linen, 71 x 107cm

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This historical painting depicts a midwife riding a bicycle set against an

    industrial townscape of the 1920s. Like delivery boys, midwives have

    recently become icons of popular culture in Britain. The composition

    was based on an old documentary, black and white photograph. The

    midwife has just crossed the old Corporation swing bridge that

    spanned the Haven Dock in Grimsby. The dock dated from 1800 but

    became part of the Alexandra Dock in 1879. It created a barrier

    between the East and West Marsh districts of the town, hence the

    need for the bridge (1872-1925) available to pedestrians and cyclists

    only. The tug boat seen on the left was used to open and close the

    bridge. In the background are buildings that have since vanished. On

    the extreme left is a brick structure that was part of Marshalls flour

    mill complex (1889 and 1906, demolished in the 1950s). Next to it is

    the blank rear wall of the Palace Theatre (1904-79) a music hall and

    later cinema. Adjoining the Theatre is the Palace Theatre Buffet which

    is the only building still standing at the time of writing. Across the

    bridge in the centre can be seen the Central Market square built in the

    10

  • 1850s with a clock tower dating from 1870 (all demolished in the 1950s

    and 1960s). On the right is an engineering works that no longer exists.

    Modern Grimsby was a consequence of 19th and 20th centuries'

    industrialisation but has since been subject to the opposite process of

    de-industrialisation.

    Geordie Girl in a red dress, (2011). Oil on linen, 90 x 120 cm

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In 1956 I moved to the industrial, northern city of Newcastle upon

    Tyne to study fine art at the University. I was tremendously impressed

    by the city's architecture and monuments but, of course, it had its

    slum areas. I met Margaret Clark at the art school. She lived with her

    sister and parents in the poor, working class, West End district of

    Elswick (178 Stone St) not far from the Scotswood Rd. The houses

    consisted of two flats and she lived in an upper one. To reach an

    outside toilet and coal bunker one had to descend a flight of steps into

    a small back yard. (There were no gardens front or back.) It astonished

    me that such an attractive and smartly dressed young woman could

    emerge from such an unpromising environment.

    11

  • Romantic tryst at Seaton Delaval Hall circa 1959, (2013) oil on linen,

    30 x 40 inches

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the late 1950s I acquired a cheap old car and used it take trips into

    the Northumberland countryside from Newcastle. One day I invited a

    female art student (Pauline Armstrong) to a day out at Seaton Delaval

    Hall, Seaton Sluice, in the hope of furthering a romantic relationship.

    The stately home - 1718-29 - was designed in an English Baroque style

    by Sir John Vanbrugh and housed portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds,

    Godfrey Kneller and Benjamin West. However, the architecture and

    setting proved gloomy and oppressive; the building was partly ruined

    by fire in 1822 and the history of its aristocratic owners was an

    unsavoury one. The place was not conducive to seduction.

    12

  • Glories of modern architecture: London Wall in the 1970s, (2013) Oil

    on linen, 76.3 x 101.7 cm

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    By the early 1960s I was living in London. I can only recall visiting

    London Wall once during the following decade. I found the

    environment aesthetically sterile, inhumane and repulsive hence the

    title is ironic. Nature had been virtually eliminated by the designers -

    in the painting just one tree is visible. This part of the City of London

    had been reduced to a wasteland by Nazi bombers in WW2 and the

    new, international style modern buildings - oblong tower blocks or

    slabs with curtain walling - were erected in the 1960s. High level

    pedestrian walkways made from concrete appeared at their bases

    whose purpose was to separate people from traffic. Amazingly, most

    of these office blocks were soon outdated and were demolished to be

    replaced by buildings in a post-modern style.

    13

  • 'In Esher they encountered the ghost of Queen Victoria', (2013) oil on

    linen, 71 x 107 cm

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In recent years I have lived in the Surrey town of Esher. One of its

    noted historic buildings is St George's church, a stone and brick

    structure set in a graveyard. It dates back to the 16th century and for

    300 years it was the town's Anglican parish church. The young Queen

    Victoria often visited relatives at Claremont House near Esher and at

    the church of she had her own box overlooking the nave. The white

    door behind her ghost was a private entrance to the box. St Georges is

    now used as an arts centre. I do not believe in ghosts but when visiting

    the church and its graveyard I was often conscious of its Victorian

    connection; hence, I devised a narrative to enliven an otherwise

    traditional landscape scene.

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