Stefan Orlowski, BBC Countryfile, Charles Oakley and more

A gallery full of new work

As always, we’ve been very art-busy at Castlegate House, with new bodies of work from Stefan Orlowski, the late Charles Oakley and more; much of which may be seen in our Winter Wamer exhibition or in Latest Work (click for both).

BBC fame for Stefan

Firstly, Stefan Orlowski. We’ve just received, hung and listed online seven new paintings by Stefan, and it really is a compelling focused body of work. Stefan will be appearing (I’m told for seven minutes (of fame)) in the BBC Countryfile programme to be broadcast on Sunday 30^th November, so watch out for that, in fact you may see one of the paintings listed being created in the open countryside!

A collection of landscape works, all have a power and immediacy born of being painted out in the open; just look at “Huddled Mass of Stone”, or “The Long Winding Lane”, you really do feel like you’re there yourself.

Compelling and monumental

The exception to plein air painting is the monumental “Winter’s End, the North”, which was painted fully in-studio. This is a painting that needs to be seen in the flesh to appreciate just how strong and accomplished it is, but also intriguing; the figure to the foreground, on his way out of frame, to another event, whatever that may be. Just darn fine painting.

Charles Oakley

Many of you may know the name of Charles Oakley. A highly respected artist and teacher, Charles was widely exhibited across the UK during his lifetime, with works shown at Castlegate before our time.

There was a major retrospective in 2015 at the Fine Art Society in Mayfair and we’re proud to have secured eight paintings from the early 1950s through to the early 2000’s, directly from his family, for exhibition once again on the walls of Castlegate.

A 1942 beauty

On the new acquisition front, amongst several works, we’ve acquired this quite wonderful 1942 portrait of Charlotte Ann Routledge by artist Henrique Medina de Barros. What’s been wonderful has been researching the painting and actually speaking with the nephew-in-law of Charlotte! After a decade in London, Henrique settled in southern California and was commissioned to paint many of the famous actresses of the day. Indeed it was he who was commissioned by MGM to paint the title-named portrait in the 1945 film “The Picture of Dorian Grey”. Charlottle worked for one of the Hollywood studios behind the camera, and it was a meeting in Hollywood that led the artist to paint Charlotte’s portrait. Just wonderful.

All for now,

Steve and Christine