A New Work selection

Mike Bennett was born in Windermere, Cumbria in 1934. Studying at Lancaster and Leicester Colleges of Art from 1950-56, he was to meet June, a fellow student during this time, with them marrying in 1959 after Mike concluded a two year spell of National Service.

Already aware of, and influenced by a new wave of British artists, such as Vaughan, Hitchins and Sutherland, Mike spent much time during his college years painting at home for his own pleasure and development, and a number of paintings from this era are shown within the exhibition.

Starting off married life employed as art teachers in London, Mike and June would spend a huge part of their spare time in and around Bond Street and Cork Street, the Tate and Whitechapel Art Galleries. What was happening in the art world, and particularly within London, was having an impact on them, and it was this impact that Mike was to share with his students in his next teaching post from 1960 at the King Edward VI School in Nuneaton.

Mike loved his teaching role, and with it came the energy and physical studio space to allow him to let his artistic creativity explode. Recognition of Mike's work and talent grew, with successful exhibitions within many parts of the UK, including London, Nottingham and Leeds. In 1965, the newly-growing family moved to Yorkshire, where Mike had secured a teaching post as Lecturer of Painting at Bretton Hall (now better known as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park). He continued to exhibit his work, gaining further national recognition and critical acclaim, particularly once taken up by the Park Square Gallery, Leeds, one of the leading provincial lights for artistic talent. Mike's work was also exhibited at this time along side that of Sheila Fell and Sandra Blow at the influential Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, Surrey.

Further accolades followed Mike's acceptance into the Artists' International Association (AIA), a prestigious art group exhibiting work in it's Soho gallery. Mike was also accepted into the Midland Group of Artists. Despite its provincial underpinnings, it was regarded as one of the leading art groups during the 1950s and 60s, with Mike's work hung along side that of David Hockney.

The 1970s were to be a turning point for Mike and June. Moving to Seascale, the decision was made and both gave up formal educational employment to concentrate fully on their respective art careers. It was also at this time that Mike's work began to take on a more figurative bent. As Mike says "my work began to develop with much more realism, based on the landscape and the sea, sky and hills, but still retaining the ideas and shapes and movement of the earlier work".

Mike's work continued to be exhibited throughout the decade in both mixed and solo shows, including Abbot Hall, Kendal. As the decade progressed, Mike began to experiment with etching and was awarded a Northern Arts Printmaking Bursary in 1979 and 1980, working at Lowick House printmaking studios. 

Moving from Seascale to Port Carlisle, Mike and June spent the next thirty years looking out over the estuary; both influenced by its light and movement. During this time, Mike's work developed, but themes remained, and lineage can be seen back to even many of the large abstract works of the 1960s. Mike exhibited at Castlegate for over two decades. He deservedly has a reputation as an accomplished and highly gifted artist. 

Mike sadly passed away in October 2016. 

To become one of the most influential British artists of his generation, Roger Hilton was born in Middlesex in 1911. Studying at the Slade under Henry Tonks, Roger went on to study in Paris before in his immediate post-war years, teaching in Dorset. Hilton moved to Cornwall in 1965 after spending much of the previous decade within the county. Roger Hilton became an intrinsic part of the Cornish/St Ives artist "colony". Focusing on abstraction, Hilton was to win the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in 1963. 

A troubled personal life, in large part due to the excesses of alcohol, Roger Hilton was to be regarded as a leading talent in the post-war British art movement, especially with his figurative abstraction. 

Numerous significant exhibitions of his work have been held, including at the Tate. There is hardly a major public gallery within the UK that does not count within its collection a work by Hilton, including the aforementioned Tate, National Galleries of Scotland, National Gallery and the Fitzwilliam Gallery. 

Roger Hilton died relatively young in 1975.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF THE LATE NORMAN CORNISH
One of the most celebrated of the mining painters of the last century and this, Norman Cornish was born in 1919 in Spennymoor, County Durham.

As with most of his generation, he began work in the pits at an early age, but was driven to paint at a similarly early age, and was accepted into the Settlement at the age of 15, later to become known as The Pitman's Academy.

Exhibiting with his peers at the Laing Gallery, Norman Cornish held his first exhibition in 1959 at the Stone Gallery, Newcastle, one of, if not the leading contemporary art gallery in the North. There he exhibited with LS Lowry and Sheila Fell, and in 1963 was the subject of a TV documentary by a young Melvyn Bragg about both Norman and Sheila.

In 1966 Norman Cornish left the work of a pitman and became a full time artist. Continuing to live in and amongst the mining community continued to provide him with a seemingly endless source of material from which to create his paintings. His work is a wonderful record of the life of a northern mining community, at work and at leisure, and one that is highly sought after across the UK and internationally. Norman sadly died on 1st August 2014, aged 94.

Castlegate House Gallery is proud to represent the estate of Norman Cornish, working with his family, and has a number of Norman Cornish paintings for sale depicting scenes from his time living and working in the colliery town of Spennymoor. If you would like more information, please call 01900 822149.

John Shelton, 1923 - 1993, was initially to study and graduate from the Burslem School of Art, where he studied with and was a friend of another notable Staffordshire artist, Arthur Berry. In 1945 John was accepted into The Slade School of Fine Art, completing his studies by 1950, with a hiatus of a couple of years between.

Shelton resided and worked in Fitzrovia, London in the mid to late 1940s and was in the circle of John Minton and Robert Colquhoun, the latter who was particularly influence Shelton at this time. 

John Shelton was to have a notable career as both professional artist and art tutor, with notable public institutions acquiring his works, including The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. 

William Crosbie was a highly regarded Scottish painter (1915 - 1999), graduate of the Glasgow School of Art with numerous exhibitions including Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Ewan Mundy and The Scottish Gallery

Castlegate House Gallery are proud to have a number of paintings for sale from renowned British artist, Mary Fedden ranging from still life to oil paintings inspired by her trips to Tuscany.

Mary Fedden OBE, RA, was born in Bristol on 14th August 1915, studying art at the famous Slade School of Fine Arts between 1932 and 1936.

Mary Fedden became a tutor of painting at the Royal College of Art, teaching David Hockney, amongst many others. In 1951 Mary married the world renowned artist Julian Trevelyan, who was to figure regularly in her own paintings.

She spent most of her adult life living and painting at the Thames-side home she had shared with Julian since getting married. Mary sadly died in 2012, aged 96.

A wide selection of Mary Fedden’s paintings has been exhibited in many galleries such as the Redfurn, Beaux Arts Gallery and many more.

In her paintings, Mary Fedden uses a range of mediums such as watercolours and oil pastels. She mainly focuses still life and landscapes.

If you would like more information about our collection of Mary Fedden paintings for sale, please call 01900 822149

John Bellany was born in Port Seton, a coastal town in East Lothian, Scotland. Born into a fishing family, both his father and paternal grandfather captained fishing boats.

Regarded as one of the most notable British artists of the 20th century, he was viewed as an outstanding student at Edinburgh College of Art from 1960 to 65, during this time gaining the Andrew Grant Scholarship in 1962, taking him to Paris. He went on to win the Burstain Award to attend the Royal College of Art in London in 1965, where he studied under Carel Weight and Peter de Francia.

In 1968 he became Lecturer in Painting at Brighton College of Art and 1969 – 1973 he was Lecturer in Painting at Winchester College of Art.

He moved to London where he was the visiting Lecturer at the Royal College of Art. It was during this period that he separated from his first wife that his reputation for being a heavy drinker began. From 1978 until 1984, Bellany was Lecturer in Painting at Goldsmith College of Art. He remarried in 1978, but his second wife spent long periods of time in hospital suffering with schizophrenia which contributed to his increased bouts of heavy drinking, a “curse” that was to persist throughout his life.

In 1986 Bellany was given the first solo show ever at the National Portrait Gallery, and a solo show at the National Portrait Gallery, Scotland in 1986. In 1988 he survived a pioneering liver transplant. His surgeon Sir Roy Calne said he was the only patient he had known that had gone back to work the day after surgery.

John Bellany died in 2013, he was found in his studio clutching his paintbrush.

Works by John can be found in The Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, National Galleries of Scotland, to name but a small few.

Among Bellany’s honours are a Major Arts Council Award (1981), Athena International Art Award (1985), Royal Academy’s Wollaston Award (1987).
He was made a Royal Academician in 1991 and awarded the CBE.

A 2017 graduate of the prestigious Duncan of Jordanstone Art School in Dundee, Alice Campbell embodies all that is great about the true resurgence in British contemporary painting. Inventive, skilled, mature and aesthetically exciting, Alice's work has both the energy you'd expect from a immediate post-art school artistic life and the maturity to recognise influences and produce something truly unique in itself. 

Based in Glasgow, Alice could almost be described as a latter-day Scottish Colourist; her ability to deploy strong colour whilst avoiding distraction and confusion shows a maturity and talent beyond her years. 

Awards to-date include:
Alexander Graham Munro Travel Award,  Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, 2018
Ninewells Hospital Radiology Art Prize, Dundee, 2017
Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour invited artist for the ‘Student Award’, 2017
John Kinross Scholarship, Royal Scottish Academy, 2017. Award based in Florence, Italy, October – December, 2017.
Watermark Award, presented by the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, 2015

Exhibitions to-date:
RSA John Kinross Scholarship group show, Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh, 2018
RSW open exhibition, Edinburgh, 2018
Gallery Heinzel, New Faces exhibition, Aberdeen, 2017
DJCAD degree show, 2017
‘Sneaky Peeks’, DJCAD reception, Dundee, 2017
‘Multi’, DJCAD reception, Dundee, 2017
Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen (N.Ireland), 2016
‘Selection Box’, Tin Roof, Dundee, 2016
Laurel Gallery, Edinburgh, 2016
Velvet Easel, Edinburgh, 2016
RSW open exhibition, 2015
Edinburgh Macmillan Art Show, Edinburgh 2014/15

Collections include:
Royal Scottish Academy Collection
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Collection, (University of Dundee)
Ninewells Hospital Art Collection, Dundee

Born in 1931, Sheila Fell grew up in Aspatria, a typical West Cumbrian mining village. Whilst gaining a place at the Carlisle College of Art at 17, within two years she had obtained  a place at St. Martin’s School of Art, London. Here, she befriended Frank Auerbach, amongst other contemporaries, and went on to teach at the Chelsea School of Art.

Sheila Fell held her first exhibition in 1955, courtesy of Beaux Arts, London. It was from this that she met L S Lowry, who purchased a number of paintings from this exhibition, and many more in the years that followed. This was to be a friendship that lasted until Lowry’s death in 1976. Indeed, he assisted her financially to the tune of £3 per week for two of her early London years.

Acclaimed by critics, collectors and her peers, she began exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1965, being elected an Associate  Member of the Royal Academy in 1969, and a fully blown Member of the Royal Academy in 1974.

Sheila Fell died in 1979, aged just 48. It is likely that she only painted some six to seven hundred paintings during her life, but what arguably makes them so powerful is her almost unique ability to convey the emotion inherent in a landscape; not just the landscape itself, but the impact it has on you. As Lowry suggested, Sheila Fell was arguably the greatest landscape painter of her age.

Many of Sheila’s paintings are held in major public and private collections throughout the UK, including the Tate Gallery, Walker Art Gallery and in the Government Art Collection.

Anthony Whishaw RA studied at Chelsea School of Art from 1948 to 1952 (awarded NDD) and the Royal College of Art, London from 1952 to 1955, when he was awarded the ARCA (first class hons), the RCA Travelling Scholarship, an Abbey Minor Scholarship and a Spanish Government Scholarship.

His work deals with explorations of memory and experience. On the edge of representation, varying in intent, scale and depiction, it seeks to reconcile illusion and allusion, the abstract and the figurative, past and present pictorial languages to create unforeseen visual experiences.

His first solo show was held at the Libreria Abril, Madrid in 1956. Subsequently, he had regular exhibitions at Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London, throughout the 1960s and went on to have numerous solo shows throughout the UK at venues including the ICA, London (1971), the Oxford Gallery, Oxford (1978) and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (1982). He also exhibited in many key group exhibitions from 1952, and has participated regularly in the Whitechapel Open, the Hayward Annual, and the John Moores Painting Prize.

He has many awards to his name, including the RCA Drawing Prize (1954), Perth International Drawing Biennale Prize (1973), South East Arts Association Painting Prize (1975), Arts Council of Great Britain Award (1978), Greater London Council Painting Prize (1981), Abbey Premier Scholarship (1982), John Moores Minor Painting Prize (1982), Lorne Scholarship (1982-3), Joint winner Hunting Group National Art Competition (1986), and Korn Ferry Carre Oban International Picture of the Year in 1996.

He was elected a Member of the London Group in 1979, an Associate Royal Academician in 1980, a Royal Academician in 1989 and a Member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1992. Between 1958 and 1992, he taught on an occasional basis at Chelsea School of Art, and St Martins.

He lives and works in London.

Percy Kelly was born in Workington, Cumbria in 1918, being one of eight siblings. Despite an early aptitude for drawing, Percy left school at 14 to work for the Post Office. Interrupted by war, he served in the Royal Signals, where his talent for draughtsmanship was utilised in the production of maps.  In 1946 Percy returned to Post Office employment, and obsessional painting, working at the Post Office until taking up a full time place at the Carlisle College of Art and Design from 1961 until 1965. In the early 1950s, Percy submitted works to the Royal Academy, Royal Institute and Royal Society of British Artists; all were accepted, and from 1956 until 1963, Percy was a member of The Lakes Artists Society.

Percy’s first solo exhibition was in 1966 at the Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven, courtesy of Sir Nicholas Sekers, as too was an exhibition in Sloane Street in 1968. In 1969 a solo exhibition of his work was held at the Fermay Gallery, Kings Lynn, and in 1976, a seventy-painting exhibition was held at Abbot Hall, Kendal. His final solo exhibition was held in Troutbeck, Cumbria, 1984.

During his life, Percy rebuffed many approaches to exhibit his work, amongst them from the Crane Kalman Gallery in London, Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, and not least from Chris Wadsworth at Castlegate House Gallery.  There was much interest in his work during his lifetime, but despite this, only five exhibitions were held; Percy refused to sell all but a very small number of his works.

Percy moved to Norfolk in 1980, and died there in poverty in 1993. After many successful exhibitions at Castlegate House Gallery, the works of Percy Kelly have been shown in two highly successful solo exhibitions at Messums, London.

Mosek Josek Herman (Josef) was born in Warsaw into a Jewish family in January 1911. His childhood was one of adject poverty and, at the age of 13 he initially trained to be a typesetter, however by 1930 attended the Warsaw School of Art, leaving in 1932. In 1938 to escape Nazi persecution he moved to Brussels, however two years later with Germany about to invade Belgium he fled to France and then onto Glasgow. In 1940 Herman discovered he had lost his entire family in the Holocaust, he channelled his grief into his work, producing ‘memory paintings’ that evoked his childhood and Jewish heritage, along with compositions addressing the horrors of the pogroms.

In 1943, moving to London, Josef exhibited with LS Lowry and was subsequently discovered by the highly respected dealer, Roland Browse and Delbanco in Mayfair, with whom he was then associated with for 35 years.

Herman is best known for his paintings of working people, including peasants, fisherman and most notably, coal miners. In 1944 he moved to Wales to a mining community in Ystradgynlais where he lived for 11 years. In 1951 he was commissioned to paint a mural of miners for the Festival of Britain, this is now housed in the Museum of Wales in Cardiff. In 1952 he joined the London Group and over the next 20 years had many solo exhibitions, displays and retrospectives including Leicester and York (1953), Wakefield (1955), the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the Auckland Gallery in New Zealand (1956), Melbourne (1957), Frankfurt and Sheffield (1958), Bradford (1959) and Swansea (1963). Dresden, Toronto and Montreal also hosted solo exhibitions, while galleries in Britain and abroad started to acquire his work. The Tate Gallery owns many drawings by him and some of his best paintings.

He had a third retrospective exhibition in 1975 at the Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery, and in 1976 his fourth and most important at the Camden Art Centre.

In 1962, Herman was awarded the Royal National Eisteddfod's Gold Medal. He was awarded the OBE in 1981, and in 1990 he was elected to the as a Royal Academy and he had an exhibition, Children of North End Road, at the Royal Academy, London.

Herman died in February 2000

When scouring the UK looking for modern British (20th century) works for the gallery, we often come across wonderful artworks which are unattributed or by less well-known names than we usually deal in, but which have strong appeal and ooze that "50s and 60s" style which revolutionised British art. We've decided rather than letting these works pass by, we'll acquire them and bring them to the gallery and provide others with the opportunity of owning some wonderful work but benefiting from a more modest budget.