Sunday, 22 April 2012
Going to see a family friend for advice: part one.
The image shown is of a painting by William Townsend, painted in 1952. William was a lecturer at the Slade Art School, along with his friend Coldstream, he of the infamous Coldstream Report of the early 1960s, which introduced the need for O Levels for art school applicants, and thereby introduced a wholly unnecessary obstacle for would-be artists to surmount.
The image shown here is more vivid than the original: the original sky, for example is more Cobalt than Electric Blue. In any case, the bright pigments of today were unobtainable in the !950s.
This is all a digression: the point is that William Townsend and his family were well-known to my parents. I went to see William at his house in 1971 to ask his advice, I was then two years into an architecture course, which I badly wanted to leave,
Going to see a family friend for advice: part two.
Cut to the chase: William looked at a painting or two that I had brought along with me, and said words to the effect of ' don't give up the day job. ' To be fair he knew that I was an architecture student at the time, and was obviously trying to protect me. As things turned out he was absolutely right: I have never made any money out of painting.
The whole business was dismal; he was depressed, and died two years later, and his wife was seriously ill.
The whole business was dismal; he was depressed, and died two years later, and his wife was seriously ill.
Madness on Stilts
This is day one of my new blog, The old one is accessible by clicking the web link on my profile page.
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