2nd Mar, 2019 10:30 GMT/BST

Modern & Contemporary Art

 
  Lot 72
 

72

Tom McGuinness (1926-2006) ''Waiting for News'' Signed and dated (19)69, mixed media, 9.5cm by 41cm

Tom McGuinness (1926-2006)
"Waiting for News"
Signed and dated (19)69, mixed media, 9.5cm by 41cm

Provenance: Gallery 2, Darlington

Exhibited: Exhibition of Mining Art at the National Trust House, Nunnington, 2006

Artist's Resale Rights/Droit de Suite may apply to this lot, please refer to our Terms of Business

See illustration

Born in 1926 in Witton Park, County Durham Tom McGuinness showed a predilection towards sketching from an early age.
After leaving school in 1940, he worked in the Meadow Dairy Grocery shop, and then the timber trade until 1944, when he was signed up to the coal industry, as part of the conscriptions enforced by the Bevin government, to counteract falling labour within the industry during World War II.
His path to receiving formal training in art was initiated when his Colliery training officer found Tom sketching in chalk down the mines and suggested he join Darlington School of Art.
Like his contemporary Norman Cornish, Tom McGuinness was greatly encouraged in his artistic endeavours by Bill Farrell and the Spennymoor Settlement which he joined in the 1940's. Bill Farrell suggested the two men should "paint what they knew" and of course this direction led to the evocative renditions of the mining community which we appreciate today, albeit in two highly distinctive styles.
McGuinness exhibited annually at the Darlington Art Society, and held his first solo show in 1958, at the offices of the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation in Hobart House, London. His work was also exhibited at the Stone Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne which brought him high critical acclaim.
In 1983, he was made redundant from mining and finally turned to painting as a full time occupation. A major retrospective touring exhibition held in 1997 at the Bowes Museum "Mines a McGuinness" compounded his significance as a mining artist further. Throughout his career Tom exhibited in over 40 solo and over fifty joint exhibitions.

Sold for £550
Estimated at £600 - £800


 

Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 2nd Mar, 2019

Modern & Contemporary Art

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