The book, The Highs-The Lows. Past Artists of the Bradford District, by Colin Neville, features 17 past artists who were born, or lived, in the Bradford district of West Yorkshire, and describes and illustrates the highs and lows of their lives and/or work. The artists are: Dorothy Bradford, Tom Butterfield,George Demaine, Hugh Manning Spencer, Thomas Shackleton, Anthony Earnshaw, Kathleen Gorell, Alice Goyder,Robert Lee, Doris Riley, Donald Rooum, Herbert Royle, Arthur Reginald Smith, May Tremel, Augustus Spencer, and Charles Wells.
For some the highs were very high indeed. The Bradford-born etcher and sculptor, May Tremel, for example, is now largely forgotten. But in her heyday, her prints were exhibited internationally alongside some of the finest British printmakers and artists, including Dame Laura Knights, Robin Tanner, and W. Russell Flint. Dorothy Bradford too, gained respect and admiration, both for her sublime paintings of musicians and dancers, as well as for her talent as an arts administrator. And Herbert Royle gained early success for his landscape paintings that were exhibited worldwide, and which still command high prices today.
Etching, street scene, London, by May Tremel
For others, like Donald Rooum, Alice Goyder, and Anthony Earnshaw, the highs came gradually and progressively, leading to wide recognition and acclaim by their peers and supporters.
Etching by Alice Goyder
For others, particularly those operating in the hinterland between amateur and professional art, the highs came with public recognition and praise locally for their work – Doris Riley, and Kathleen Gorell, for example. It also came for Charles Wells, recovering from a life-changing illness, with his determination to go to art college and develop his own very individual artwork style.
But the low fortunes of fate are recorded here, too. There can surely be few things worse for an artist than to go blind, as was the case with Tom Butterfield. And there were those artists whose lives were ended brutally by war (Hugh Spencer and Thomas Shackleton), or blighted by it (George Demaine and Robert Lee); or who, like Arthur Reginald Smith, died in mysterious circumstances. We can also trace the slow, inexorable decline of Augustus Spencer’s career at the Royal College of Art from the time he exchanged angry words with the artist and Suffragette, Sylvia Pankhurst.
The Deposition, by Robert Lee
The book is soft cover, size A4, p.50, with 70+ illustrations, mainly in colour. Condition: new. Price £8.00 including free postage. Can be ordered via Ebay, link below:
Click on this link to buy the book: Ebay.