Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 21

Paul Anthony Waplington
Mother with Injured Child, Forest Fields, Nottingham. Real Life. Drama.

About the Item

Paul Anthony Waplington. English ( b.1938 ). Mother with Injured Child, Forest Fields, Nottingham, 1968. Mixed Media on Board. Signed. Image size 29.5 inches x 38.4 inches ( 75cm x 97.5cm ). Frame size 30.3 inches x 39.2 inches ( 77cm x 99.5cm ). Available for sale; this original painting is by the Nottingham artist Paul Waplington and dates from the late 1960s. The painting is presented and supplied in its original anodized light metal frame (which is shown in these photographs). The painted surfaces and the board have benefitted from cleaning and conservation which was performed on our instruction, supervision and approval. This vintage painting is now in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display. The painting is signed lower right. Paul Waplington, is a self-taught working class artist, born and brought up in Nottingham. His father was a milkman. He hated his rough school and failed his 11 plus, and left school as soon as he could at 15. He wanted to be an artist but, without qualifications, was rescued by the lace industry where he got a job earning £1 a week as an apprentice draftsman, designing lace. He liked the job and over the next six years became highly skilled. At 21 he was however made redundant. He then went abroad for a while, to Belgium, where he worked as a pavement artist, and was introduced to by new friends to active politics. Once back in the UK he became politically active, taking part in the Vietnam solidarity campaign, and the Young Communists League activities, although he never joined any political group. He focused on movements, including the status of ordinary people, including the Labour and trade union movements. He returned to work in the lace industry, doing freelance work and teaching art classes. From the 1970s he painted professionally and tried his hand at landscapes, both locally and around Devon. He did not want to “sell out” to commercial tastes though and began to draw and paint what he saw, the terraced streets and factories around him. He also attended life classes at the Nottingham Society of Artists. His main subjects were to be workplaces and workers in their everyday environment. His works reflected affection and respect, but not sentimentality. He evolved a beautifully rhythmic, gutsy style and a quirky sense of perspective and detail to capture the liveliness of the scenes around him. His art had a political dimension, which is to praise ordinary working life, but had no stated agenda beyond that. He produced a solid and evocative body of work that both celebrated Nottingham and its human communities and portrayed the industrial decline that helped to undermine them. Waplington became a familiar and active figure in the British art scene in the 1970s and 80s, rising to critical notoriety after a significant exhibition at the Midland Group in 1978. In 1988, the lace business in Nottingham had all but collapsed and Paul, who was still designing for the trade in Italy and Spain, moved to northern Portugal. There, he bought and restored a ruined small -holding, learnt Portuguese, married Fatima and settled down. Then he gradually started to draw and paint again, this time not terraced streets but fields and the farmers who lived and worked on them. His former beautiful sense of rhythm came back as he expressed his admiration for peasant architecture, and a sense of goodwill towards the people who eked out a tough existence in the granite hills. Although his Portuguese work is in the rich Mediterranean hues of the countryside, his art still celebrates the ordinary man and is an unblinkered, heartfelt response to a hard but rich way of life that is rapidly being lost. Paul still lives in Portugal, near to Covas, with his wife, Fatima. In November 2013 to January 2014 there was a fine and long-overdue solo retrospective of Waplington’s art at Nottingham Castle. Waplington came back from Portugal for the opening and gave an afternoon talk. The show was in three parts, one being devoted to a documentary that was made about him and the work he did in the lace industry, the other two parts being dedicated to paintings of the steel and coal industries in Sheffield, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire in the 1980s and paintings of life in inner-city Nottingham, mainly in the 1970s. His portrayals of the decline of the mining industry in the region was very much in the proud tradition of the Pitmen Painters of the 1930s. At the centre of the Nottingham Castle exhibition was the large banner Waplington painted in 1986 for Hucknall NUM, commemorating the 1984-5 miner’s strike. Today the body of work that Waplington left in the UK are a colorful, vivid and exciting depiction of an era that has gone. His work now belongs to many public collections, including Glasgow Museums, Sheffield City Gallery, Sheffield University, Manchester City Galleries, Leicestershire County Council, the Arts Council Collection and Nottingham University NHS Trust. © Big Sky Fine Art This original mixed media work was painted by the artist in1968. He has directly described to us how he had just finished a day’s work in the factory and was walking home on Harcourt Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham. His wife ran towards him, with their young son Martin limp in her arms. The young lad had been playing with other children in the street and had been struck with a stick. Martin been knocked unconscious and his mother had been fetched. She now ran with the child to fetch help, frantic with panic. The artist was so struck with the emotion of the moment that he later felt compelled to capture the scene. In the background are the red brick terraced houses of the cityscape, with their sash windows and squat chimneys.
  • Creator:
    Paul Anthony Waplington (1938, English)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30.32 in (77 cm)Width: 39.18 in (99.5 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    This vintage painting is in very good condition, commensurate with its age. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.
  • Gallery Location:
    Sutton Poyntz, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU489314110652
More From This SellerView All
  • The Harbor, St Michaels Mount, Cornwall. Exhibited 1982. Unique Perspective
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Ken Symonds. English ( b.1927 - d.2010 ). The Harbor, St Michaels Mount, Cornwall, 1982. Oil on Artist’s Board. Signed. Image size 15.4 inches x 19.5 inches ( 39cm x 49.5cm ). Frame...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Church and Churchyard - Landscape Painting, Mid-20th Century, Oil Paint, Modern
    By Joan Gillchrest
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Joan Gillchrest. English ( b.1918 - d.2008 ). Church and Churchyard. Oil on Board. Signed. Image size 33.9 inches x 21.8 inches ( 86cm x 55.5cm ). Frame size 42.3 inches x 30.3 inch...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Donald McIntyre. Girl and Chapel, North Wales. Modern British. Rural Welsh Life.
    By Donald McIntyre
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Donald McIntyre. English ( b.1923 - d.2009 ). Girl and Chapel, North Wales. Oil on card. Signed with monogram twice lower left. Image size 12 inches x 15.6 inches ( 30.5cm x 39.5cm ...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Cardboard

  • Llangynidr Bridge over the River Usk in Winter.Powys.Crickhowell.Wales.Landmark
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Anthony Morris. English ( b.1938 ). Llangynidr Bridge over the River Usk in Winter. Oil on Board. Signed. Image size 6.7 inches x 8.7 inches ( 17cm x 22cm ). Frame size 10.4 inches ...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • Rural Derbyshire.A Palette of Blues, Greys & Greens.Impressionist.Nottingham Art
    By Arthur Spooner
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Arthur Spooner. English ( b.1873 - d.1962 ). Rural Derbyshire. Oil on Card. Signed. Image size 6.7 inches x 9.1 inches ( 17cm x 23cm ). Frame size 10.2 inches x 12.6 inches ( 26cm x...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Cardboard

  • Cornish Fishing Boats at First Light. Mid-20th Century. Cornwall. Modern British
    By Joan Gillchrest
    Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
    Joan Gillchrest. English ( b.1918 - d.2008 ). Cornish Fishing Boats at First Light. Oil on Paper Mounted on Board. Signed with Monogram. Image size 26.2 inches x 22 inches ( 66.5cm x 56cm ). Frame size 35.8 inches x 31.3 inches ( 91cm x 79.5cm ). Available for sale; this original oil painting is by the Cornish artist Joan Gillchrest and dates from around the late 1980s. The oil painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic new replacement frame (which is shown in these photographs) that suits the artwork’s color palette and behind non-reflective Tru Vue UltraVue® UV70 glass. This painting is in excellent condition and presents superbly. It wants for nothing and is ready to hang and display. The painting is signed with a monogram lower right. Joan Gillchrest is one of Mousehole’s and Cornwall’s most recognised and celebrated artists. Her vibrant art sits firmly alongside other great artists of the St. Ives School from the 1960s. She was born Joan Scott in London in 1918 into a wealthy and illustrious family. She was the third of four children. Her father was a pioneer of radiology – and a skilful caricaturist - and her Australian mother was an accomplished pianist. Sir George Gilbert Scott was her great grandfather, who designed the imposing Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras as well as countless parish churches. Grandfather, George Gilbert Scott Jnr, is remembered for three Cambridge colleges, Christ’s, Pembroke and Peterhouse. Her uncle Giles, (Giles Gilbert Scott) to whom Joan was close, is best known for his magnificent Anglican Liverpool Cathedral, Battersea Power Station and the iconic and ubiquitous red telephone box. Coming from such a long line of eminent architects it is not surprising that Joan always loved architecture and the churches and chapels of the Penwith peninsula feature prominently in her work. She said that buildings were “in her blood”. Her early childhood was spent at the family home in Buckinghamshire, but she was a difficult child – the family hired one nanny for her and one for the other three children- and at one point she was sent to Upper Chine School in the Isle of Wright to give her family some peace! She was however the apple of her father’s eye and he encouraged her obvious artistic talent. In 1934, aged only 15 but encouraged by her parents, she went to Paris to study art and learn the language. There she met Gwen John and studied in various studios, sometimes working as a model. In 1936 she enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Art and subsequently studied there under Iain McNab, whom she described as a marvelous teacher. Her early artistic career was very promising; she first exhibited at the Royal Academy when she was just 18 and showed works at the New England Art Club in 1937 and the London Group in 1938. When the Second World War broke out Joan was 21. She took a crash course in nursing and first aid and volunteered as an ambulance driver for Westminster Hospital. She later drove a mobile rescue unit. She was not able to paint much during the war but kept in touch with McNab; when the area around St Paul’s was blitzed, leaving the cathedral relatively unscathed, McNab got Joan and a few others to paint the scene. Her work, created with a thick paint and a palette knife, hung in the art school for many years. Joan’s painting career stalled in the 1940s. In 1942 she married a barrister and Coldstream Guards officer Samuel Gillchrest, and they soon had a son, then a daughter. With a young family, she had little time to paint, and had to hide the work she did produce as her husband thought that work as an artist was beneath them. Sadly, the marriage broke down and in 1953 they divorced. In leaving a difficult marriage at this time, she forfeited money, security and her previous place in society. Despite the huge changes in her life, her overwhelming desire to paint remained constant. She ignored the disapproval of her friends and family and started to explore new ways of expressing herself on canvas. She moved to a studio in Chelsea, an area much favored by the artistic community. To support herself, her children and her painting she also found regular work as an artist’s model. She was tall, strikingly good looking and combined elegance with bohemianism. She also carried an air of mystery from her rich and privileged past, and so she became sought after as a fashion model. In the flat below hers lived an artist who had enjoyed some professional acclaim, Adrian Ryan...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil, Board

You May Also Like
  • Homage to Mondrian
    Located in Santa Monica, CA
    glass beads on board
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Modern Mixed Media

    Materials

    Board, Mixed Media

  • Radha, Figurative, Mixed Media on Board by Modern Artist Suhas Roy "In Stock"
    By Suhas Roy
    Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
    Suhas Roy - Radha Mixed Media on Board , 11 x 14 inches , 2010 Suhas Roy 's mystic woman which he calls 'Radha', either Oil on canvas or soft colored pastel on Paper or board are a series of work where he sees an ethereal mystic godlike and innocent spirit in every woman he meets. Style : He is one of the biggest and the most enduring names in the genre of Indian modern art. Often dubbed the father of female figurative forms. Radha Series and the Christ Series in soft pastel on paper and intense Oil on canvas paintings .Consequently, his recent body of works, "Drops of Silence", executed in oil, pastels and pen-and-ink etchings on backdrops in watercolours, are all studies of "mysterious slightly surreal nude women floating in a void". Roy's forte is Radhika - dark, enigmatic, beautiful Indian women with the slightest smile and ethereal in its quality . About the Artist & his work : Born : 1936, Bangladesh. Education : 1953-58 : Diploma in Painting, Indian College of Art and Draughtsmanship, Calcutta. 1956-66 : Studied graphic art under the guidance of S.W. Hayter, Atelier 17 and mural art at cole Superior Des Beaux Art, Paris. Exhibitions : His works have been exhibited all over the world through exhibitions like the Asian Graphic Prints Traveling Exhibition, USA, the Tokyo Print Biennale, Japan, Contemporary Indian Art...
    Category

    2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Mixed Media

  • Head Series, Mixed Media on Board by Modern Artist Sunil Das "In Stock"
    By Sunil Das
    Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
    Sunil Das - Head Series Mixed Media on Board, 10 x 8 inches, 1997 (Set of 2 works) (Unframed & Delivered) Sunil Das (1939-2015) was a Master Modern Indian Artist from Bengal. Extremely successful right from his college days, Sunil Das has been extremely well lauded by art critics, the press, artists and the art and culture glitterati across the world. Sunil das was the youngest artist to have won the National Award - The Taj Shiromani Kala Puraskar Recipient of the much coveted Govt. of India's 4th Highest Civilian Award: The PadmaShree (2014). Highly talented Sunil Das has done shows all across the world, got fame as early as while he was still in college, youngest recipient of the Lalit Kala Academy Awards and received a scholarship to study at L’Ecole Nationale Superior des Beaux arts, Paris. “There are painters who transform the Sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into Sun" - Pablo Picasso. Sunil Das was exactly one such artist. Style : Sunil Das' style of work is very original and shows no specific influence. He had risen to fame like MF...
    Category

    1970s Modern Mixed Media

    Materials

    Board, Mixed Media

  • Cirque du Soleil n.20
    By Sergio Barletta
    Located in Roma, IT
    Hand Signed. Mixed technique and collage on cardboard. Small stain on bottom right. Passepartout included. Image Dimensions : 42 x 30.5 cm This artwork is from the series "Cirque du Soleil...
    Category

    1990s Modern Mixed Media

    Materials

    Mixed Media, Cardboard

  • Untitled (Cadillac Automobile Show)
    By Evelyn Harper
    Located in New York, NY
    Evelyn Harper, "Untitled: Cadillac Automobile Show" , Mixed Media on Illustration Board, 15 x 10, Mid-20th Century, 1948 Colors: Black and White A 15 x 10 Black and White Illustrat...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Mixed Media

    Materials

    Mixed Media, Illustration Board, Pen

  • Untitled, Oil on Acrylic Board, Black, Blue, Green by Indian Artist "In Stock"
    Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
    Amitabh Sengupta - Untitled Oil on Acrylic Board , 12 x 18 inches , 2015 (Unframed & Door Delivered) Born : March 3, 1941, Mysore Bangalore Style : In his Cholamandal years, Vasude...
    Category

    2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Acrylic, Board, Mixed Media

Recently Viewed

View All