‘Boats at Whitby’. Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries
Frances Watson Sunderland, (1866 – 1949) watercolour artist and art teacher, was born in Keighley, the daughter of Wilkinson Watson, a local butcher, and she lived all her life in the town. Frances studied art at Keighley School of Art and Crafts and later taught there for much of her working life.
Frances was also an active member of the Keighley Art Club, who, in 1946, mounted an exhibition of 90 of her watercolours. She married Asa Sunderland, a local plumber, in 1908.
She painted watercolour scenes whilst on European holidays, but most of her work focused on Yorkshire and other parts of northern England, including harbour scenes at Whitby, which was a favourite subject for her artwork. Frances’ paintings were characterised by their subtle colouring and her work proved popular with local people.
Estuary. Evening. Image: in a private collection.
The Doubler Stones. Image: in a private collection.
Liverpool. Image: in a private collection.
In 1937 she described an incident whilst painting at Whitby to the ‘Leeds Mercury’. Frances was painting a harbour scene when a woman and a young girl took up position behind her:
They remained probably half an hour and the lady (?) gave the girl a lesson on my work. “She is making that paler because it is further away” is one remark I remember. Now I am too hardened to be bothered with anyone watching me work, but what fixed it in my memory was the absolute rudeness of it, as they never spoke to me or asked if I minded being watched.
The Whitby children are priceless; they like to watch but they are never a nuisance as visitors’ children often are. One boy will take it on to keep the other children at bay –“keep out of the woman’s way” – but he always keeps a front place for himself. I have always found that people in the poorer part of any town are better behaved in this respect.
She also became a familiar figure in Keighley town centre, seated on a stool, sketching and painting the older parts of town. As such, her work now provides a valuable early 20th century record of streets and buildings in the town, many now demolished (see examples, below). The Keighley market scene below, for example, with women in shawls, offers a vivid 1920’s perspective on the town’s outdoor market, which was replaced by an indoor market in 1971.
Keighley Market. C.1920. Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries, Cliffe Castle
High Street, circa 1926. Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries, Cliffe Castle
Keighley Church/Old Church Street. Image: Bradford Museums & Galleries, Cliffe Castle
Briggs Brothers (Printers) of Keighley bought many examples of her work and displayed them in Keighley Town Hall. Frances’s paintings were also widely exhibited, including at Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and the Royal Cambrian Academy. She also, for 50 years, mounted an annual exhibition of her art work in her own studio/home. In January 1966 Keighley Library also mounted a retrospective exhibition of her work.
The Bradford Museums & Galleries Service, at Cliffe Castle, Keighley, has a collection of her paintings of Keighley Town Centre on display (see the three examples, above).
Boats in Whitby Harbour. Image: In a private collection.