Private
Collection
Collection
Walter Bonner Gash
(1869 - 1928)
A young girl skipping in a glade
Private Collection
Walter Bonner Gash (1869 - 1928)
Signed l.r.: W.B.Gash
Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. (76.7 x 63.4 cm.)
Size:
Height – 0cm
Width – cm
Exhibited: Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Nottingham, 1913 Provenance: The Artist’s daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 14
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 32
The present picture is one of Gash’s first major works painted at his home at 145 Stamford Road, Kettering. It was probably completed in c. 1912 soon after moving there the year before. The sitters are Gash’s young wife and her sister.
Gash was clearly aware of the success of the composition himself, executing another version of the work in watercolour (cat. 16) and painting a variation of the same subject A piece of Music, in which the composition is reversed, the standing figure shown holding a violin looking over the shoulder of the seated figure who holds a piece of music. The painting proved one of the most widely admired works in the exhibition at the Castle Museum in Nottingham in 1913: the beauty of it lies in the simplicity of the subject. The easy graceful pose of the figure and ‚Ķ the toning of the white dresses with the light streaming through the curtained window.’ The Nottingham Daily Express, 10th May, 1913 Cat. 14 Kenneth McConkey has kindly pointed out that this composition is very reminiscent of Clausen’s The Window, 1912 (South African National Gallery, Capetown) – even down to the Orpen-esque convex mirror.
Walter Bonner Gash was born in Lincoln on February 2nd 1869 the youngest of four children. Early in his life, the family moved to Nottingham and it was there that he was brought up and educated.
Although art was not encouraged at his home, records show that his talents developed early. After leaving school, it seems that he worked on the design side in a lace factory. However, the urge to make his career in Art was so strong that he decided to return to the place of his birth and become a student at the Lincoln School of Art. The reward of various prizes and medals while he was there, is proof of his success:
In due course he was advised to further his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Are in Antwerp and this he did in the years 1893 and 94.
Following his return to England and after a spell as an assistant tutor at the School of Art in Lincoln, he moved south to Kettering and that became his home for the rest of his life. He set up a studio there, and continued to develop his own painting while teaching some adult groups and in 1907 taking on the post of Art master at the Old Grammar School.
He married in 1911 Sarah Ann Miles and they had two children – Norman and Margaret. From then on he led a busy life teaching, accepting commissions, mostly for portraits, and exhibited widely in many cities over the country and in London at the Royal Academy of Arts. On a number of occasions his work was also shown at the Paris Salon.
Portraits and general figure subjects, as well as landscapes formed the main part of his output and he appeared to enjoy working as much in water-colours and pastels as he did in oils.
He died in Kettering in 1928 aged 59 years.
With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk
