Old Town Hall, Gateshead (oil on canvas, 12 x 14 ins.)
I was contacted recently by the Public Catalogue Foundation. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust commissioned two of my paintings: Newcastle Quayside I and Newcastle Quayside 2 (sorry, no photos available at present). and the PCF wanted to know if I'd give them copyright permission to reproduce these two paintings in the Northumberland and Tees Valley volume of the Catalogue.
Naturally, I agreed. The PCF is a very worthwhile charitable organisation, cataloguing works held by public bodies so that the general public - you and I - can know where they are and perhaps gain access to them (which we have a right to do).
In the course of the correspondence, however, I pointed out that early in 2008 I'd also sold a painting (Old Town Hall) to Gateshead MBC and assumed it was now hanging somewhere in the Council Offices. Perhaps they'd like to catalogue that one too?
To my surprise, I found out from the PCF today that the painting is now owned by the city of Komatsu, Japan, having been formally presented to the Mayor of Komatsu by the Borough! I'm really quite gobsmacked.
International acclaim at last. Well done.
ReplyDelete--Brian
Thanks, Brian. Maybe they'll invite me over to see it?
ReplyDeleteHey, that's great. Can I come too?
ReplyDeletePat
I'll speak to the Mayor personally. But first I may have to learn Japanese.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to start 2009! Brilliant. Where will they be hung or are they going to illustrate something? Just a thought - why are NHS Trusts buying paintings?
ReplyDelete--Simone
As is the way of these things, I wasn't informed directly, so I don't know where the Mayor of Komatsu might be hanging his picture. The two pictures held by the NHS Trust have been hanging in the Royal Victoria Infirmary since 1997. They're there (along with several others) to cheer up the patients and I understand they do just that.
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Who do I know that lives in Dorset and is on facebook?
ReplyDeleteHah! I now know what you are talking about - I only got half the story on Facebook! It's a pity you can't attach a tracking device to paintings so you know where they end up!
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Harry!
ReplyDeleteNHS Treusts quite often buy paintings, as long as they raen't for silly money, as finishing touches to new hospitals and health centres. It would be daft to build a place like that and leave its walls bare white - decor adds considerably to the therapeutic qualities of a place.
-- Rob J.
Harry said: "Thank you! Who do I know that lives in Dorset and is on facebook?"
ReplyDeleteNot me, Ian
Great news Harry! Congratulations.
ReplyDelete--
Bruce, in Polk Gulch not Dorset
Thanks, one and all.
ReplyDeleteRob -- the hanging of the pictures in the RVI is made doubly poignant by their being sited in the A&E Room of the Ophthalmology Dept, so that the only people who see them are people with things wrong with their eyes!
Hello Harry
ReplyDeleteWow that is some story. Well done with the commissions too. Do you like doing commissions?
I love the vibrancy in your work.
The reds really catch my eye.
All the best
Trevor
Thanks, Trevor. I don't do a lot of commissions, but I find the restrictions involved interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have to smile when you compliment me on my use of red. If you check out the references to "red/green" in my blog, you'll see I am, to a degree, "red/green blind"!
LOVE the lighting on that. Was it just before or after heavy rain? You've got a great knack for capturing lighting conditions perfectly. Great picture.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel. Welcome. I'm pleased you like the picture - I hope the Mayor of Komatsu likes it as much! It was one of those days when the sky goes really dark and rain threatens ... but then doesn't happen.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few public authorities have works of art - we have some of Birmingham (prints though, rather than originals). We do have some originals - our first Director-General (A.S.Byatt's first husband!) did abstracts and donated a couple to us when he retired. How kind.
ReplyDeleteHe also bought us a big abstract from one of his mates when the organisation was five years old. It's generally called 'the Blue Painting' and (appropriately for the water regulator) is supposed to depict, well, water. It's a big canvas - possibly five feet square - but we did have a bit of a problem with it. We used to employ two old boys as handymen, until the day the Blue Painting had been taken down to allow for some decorating work. They were told to put it back up. They did this by drilling through the four corners of the painting and screwing it to the wall! We were lucky to get them off the premises alive...
Bob -- don't! You send shivers up my spine.
ReplyDelete