On Loan
Rachel Reckitt
(1908 - 1995)
The Tower
Private Collection
On Loan
Rachel Reckitt (1908 - 1995)
Signed
Tempera on board
41 x 40 7/10 (104 x 78 cm)
Size:
Height – 104cm
Width – 78cm
This painting shows luzzu traditional fishing boat from the Maltese islands
Reckitt studied wood engraving at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London from 1933 to 1937, where she was taught by the School’s founder, Iain Macnab. Although painted in tempera, this work has all the hard-edge stylisation of a print, and stays true to the mission of the School in its rendering of ordinary subject matter with great movement and vitality.
Photograph of Rachel Reckitt in her studio
Artist in mild steel, wood, stone, paint and wood engraving, born in St Albans, Hertfordshire. She studied at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in late 1930s under lain Macnab, and in 1970-5 at the Roadwater Smithy, Somerset, with Harry and Jim Horrobin. After training Reckitt worked from home in west Somerset at Rodhuish, Minehead. Carried out commissions for pub signs; wood-engraved book illustrations and single prints; and did sculpture in five Somerset churches and for private commission. She was an honorary member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen and SWE and a member of British Artist Blacksmiths’ Association. Other group shows included Wertheim Gallery and LG. Had solo exhibitions at Duncan Campbell Contemporary Art and Bridgwater Arts Centre. A retrospective publication, Rachel Reckitt: where everything that meets the eye… appeared in zoos, Hal Bishop’s survey of her work, supported by Somerset County Museums Service and the Golsoncott Foundation, accompanying shows in Taunton, Glastonbury and Exeter. Public collections in Salford and Bridgwater hold examples, as do Withycombe, Old Cleeve and Leighland.
