Chris Wadsworth
Writer and Art Consultant
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Percy Kelly
Notes from the Pink Egg
ART DETECTIVES
1st December 2022
Percy Kelly rarely titled his paintings. Why would he if he didn’t want to show or sell his work? HE knew where they were of course! I have spent years figuring it out and not always succeeding. His sketch books have been a boon as I could sometimes follow him on one of his sketching jaunts and he did sometimes put an initial on his sketches to remind himself where he’d been (I’ve come to realise M is Maryport and that’s one of the easier ones!) but sadly only a few sketchbooks have survived. I...
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PERCY REVISITS THE BEACON
2nd November 2022
The Beacon in Whitehaven opened its doors for the first time 25 years ago in 1997. To my joy it had a state of the art gallery. Even better, Northern Arts, the northern branch of the Arts Council who had provided a lot of the funding, asked me to mount the first exhibition in The Harbour Gallery with the works of Percy Kelly with particular emphasis on the area around Whitehaven. Percy’s son Brian, who had inherited what we both thought was all his father’s work, came to the opening and was ...
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A VISIT TO SEE SASKIA
13th October 2022
The Beacon in Whitehaven is a friendly and interesting place to visit. It sits in pole position on West Strand of the harbour like a lighthouse- you can’t miss it - and is open for visitors every day except Mondays (I misled you in my last newsletter – sorry). It combines a museum and gallery and lays on special events and workshops. It’s an important part of the community in these parts. I went there yesterday to see a very special lady called Saskia. I met her up on the fourth floor behind ...
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REMBRANDT COMES TO WHITEHAVEN!
3rd October 2022
Sorry for the long silence. It’s been a bit busy here. I’ve just returned from a visit to London on several missions ( including 3 projects + a wedding and a funeral not all in London) and it is good to see the rhythm of life returning in the art and culture world. But it’s even better when London comes north. The National Gallery has chosen just three venues outside London to be part of what they call their MASTERPIECE TOUR when a major work is selected from their permanent collection and...
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THE SUNDIAL
20th July 2022
THE SUNDIAL Last week found me in Gilcrux one of the lovely small Cumbrian villages scattered between the west coast and the Lake District prompted by a Percy Kelly watercolour of the church on the back of which he had written SUNDIAL in very faint pencil which I found intriguing. Most of Kelly’s works don’t give any clues to a back story but this one is full of them possibly because he was not yet averse to selling anything. He had joined Lake Artists and went off painting with Heaton Cooper. ...
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ALLONBY BACKS - THE STORY OF A PAINTING
9th May 2022
Sorry for my recent lack of communications. I have been grounded for the last 6 months. My partner Michael has been seriously ill and my world shrank to the circumference of just a few miles. My position as chief carer was all-embracing which meant that the Kelly website suffered from neglect. I will update it very soon. But things are changing and I’m pleased to say Michael is now slowly recovering and my days are filled with surprises, coincidences and some remarkable findings which I will t...
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WORDS BY THE WATER & ANON3 Last chance to buy!
12th March 2022
Two years ago, in March 2020, I gave my talk on Rosalie’s Painting (an Anne Redpath oil which had hung in a barn in Borrowdale for 50 years unnoticed and then has lain unseen in the store room of Keswick Museum) in the main house of the theatre in Keswick. BUT … The news about Covid was spreading and we were all feeling uneasy and fearful. Nobody realised then that this would be the last Words by the Water Festival for two years. Nobody knew what was going to happen - there was an underlying s...
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THE RELUCTANT AUCTIONEER
8th February 2022
I’ve always been fascinated by auctions. They are pure theatre; full of drama, excitement and sometimes skulduggery. When I was first asked to advise on the resale of the 1992 winning Wallbank in November 21 last year, I had decided not to get involved. My partner Michael had just been admitted to hospital with a damaged spine. I asked around the people who I thought might be interested but had little time to devote to it. The owners got in touch again after Christmas when Michael had been re...
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THE WINNING PAINTING
6th February 2022
I met up with an old friend I hadn’t seen for thirty years yesterday. It was a large and very special painting by Karen Wallbank whose story I told in my book Hercules and the farmer’s wife. (She is the titular farmer’s wife). It is a magnificent piece of work and it brought back many memories. Like so many paintings, the story lies on the back. The original labels are all there. The Laing Art Competition is printed at the top of the label provided with the entry form. (Laing was a building/...
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THE BIG REVEAL
23rd December 2021
ANON3 - THE BIG REVEAL ANON3 was a great success. It cheered everyone up because it was so good to see something new and fresh with a bit of excitement and unpredictability after all the lockdowns and isolation. When I arrived at 9am on the opening day there was a lovely chattering excited queue waiting expectantly. As each group of 12 was let in for their 5 minutes, the silence was palpable until a decision had been made and a red spot placed. Then it became relaxed and chatty until the 5 min...
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