It was wonderful today to have the opportunity to visit the retrospective exhibition of work by the late Graeme Willson, at the Manor House Museum in Ilkley. Graeme died suddenly in 2018, in the middle of a great career covering a variety of artistic disciplines. His most noteworthy contribution was possibly in the realm of what could generally be called “public art”–notably a series of very imaginative murals, but also ecclesiastical works of one kind or another. He also worked in more general “easel painting” and portraiture. The exhibition included a film of his career, and additional documentary material.
I had the enormous privilege many years ago to be assigned to Graeme as my mentor in a scheme organised by the former Bradford arts organisation Fabric. It was great to be reminded both of that experience in itself, and of my tremendous good fortune in receiving that stimulus to work. I will always be grateful for that.
Seeing Graeme’s work again reminded me of just what a tremendously inventive painter he was, working in a variety of media, and drawing together inspiration from very diverse traditions. He himself always acknowledged his debt to Piero della Francesca, and an early admiration for Van Gogh. My wife made the perceptive observation today that some of his work reminded her of Stanley Spencer’s murals of the Glasgow shipyards. His wonderful, luminous use of colour brought to my mind John Piper. One could extend this range of reference, but the end result was always distinctively Graeme’s work and his vision.
We had a little time left to us after lunch, and my wife wanted to make a couple more visits to shops, so the inspiration suddenly struck me, that I might visit St. Margaret’s Church in Ilkley, which is the location of his mural, behind the font there, of the Madonna of the Moor. This combines a range religious symbols with a profound knowledge of local landscape. I have seen it before, but on this occasion I became aware in particular of the diversity of elements he had combined into the final image, and of his skill in composition.
I am delighted to be able to pay homage to a wonderful artist and a personal inspiration.
You said he died in 1918…either this is a typo or you’re wearing VERY well!
Ouch! Thanks for spotting that. It should, of course, have read 2018. I’ll change it.