Cubist Animal Drawings and Watercolors

This small 7 x 10–inch watercolor from the 1940s by Cleveland School artist William Grauer is a compact demonstration of how mid century modernism could be fused with a keen eye for ...

Geoffrey Key. English ( b.1941 ). Horse and Rider, 1988. Watercolor & Ink On Paper. Signed & Dated Lower Left. Image size 10 inches x 6.7 inches ( 25.5cm x 17cm ). Frame size 16.1 inches x 12.6 inches ( 41cm x 32cm ). Available for sale; this original painting is by Geoffrey Key and is dated 1988. The painting is presented and supplied in a sympathetic and contrasting contemporary frame (which is shown in these photographs) to suit the subject coloration, mounted using conservation materials and behind glass. The artwork and its presentation is in very good condition. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display. The watercolor is signed and dated lower left. Geoffrey Key is a leading figure in Northern contemporary art, widely regarded as Lancashire’s greatest living artist, noted for his realism, his expressive use of bold color and his graphic, linear style. His striking works, now much in demand, have established him as a major player of post war British figurative art. Geoffrey Key was born in Rusholme, Manchester in 1941. His mother, Marion, worked as an illustrator and encouraged him to draw and he took to this easily and with great enthusiasm. He was educated at Manchester's High School of Art, whose headmaster, Ernest Goodman, established the Salford Art Club. It is fitting that many years later, after Goodman's death, its members chose Geoffrey Key as Honorary President. In 1958 Key enrolled at the Manchester Regional College of Art, where he was tutored by the sculptor Ted Roocroft and the painter Harry Rutherford, both of whom influenced him greatly. After gaining the National Diploma of Design and the Diploma of Associateship of Manchester, the latter with distinction, Key took up a postgraduate scholarship in sculpture. His academic awards include the Heywood Medal in Fine Art and the Guthrie Bond Travelling Scholarship. Geoffrey Key’s early work included an important period of development during which he concentrated on painting and drawing a specific area of the Derbyshire landscape, the Whiteley Nab hill, south of Glossop. Key created literally hundreds of images of this one landscape and later revealed that the sole purpose of this dedicated period of study, was to build upon the firm foundation established by his academic training, whilst divesting himself of the influences he had absorbed in order to arrive at his own personal artistic language. In other words, this is where he found his own style. After graduating Key worked as a teacher at Duke Street Secondary Modern in Broughton, Salford, which later became Broughton Modern. In every spare moment though he painted and his talent was quickly recognised. As the likes of Salford Art Gallery, The Rutherston Loan Collection and North West Arts began to acquire his work he made the decision to relinquish his salary and to become a full time artist. Key was elected to membership of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts in 1968 and was a prize winner in 1971. During this time he was also commissioned by three North West England based companies – Mather & Platt, Richard Johnson & Nephew, and Wilson’s Brewery. The Richard Johnson & Nephew pictures are now held by the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. In the 1980s the French company Société des Caves de Roquefort also commissioned Key’s work and further successful exhibitions were held in both the UK and abroad. In 1987 the Manchester Evening News asked Key to write an article on L. S. Lowry, who Key had known well, for a feature marking the centenary of the artist's birth. This article was accompanied by a contemporary drawing of Lowry by Key. Apart from LS Lowry, Key is arguably Lancashire’s best-known and most collected contemporary artist. Key says ‘I knew Lowry and he was a lovely...