Francis Hamel | Theatre Paintings
at The Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London WC1

The curtain goes up on a suite of paintings by Francis Hamel at The Charles Dickens Museum next week! The Dickens Museum was his London home from 1837 to 1839 and was where he wrote Oliver Twist. Hamel’s work is being displayed to complement the exhibition Oliver! From Page to Stage which marks the 50th anniversary of Lionel Bart’s ever popular musical Oliver! originally opening at the New (now Noël Coward) Theatre on 30th June 1960.

Last year Cameron Mackintosh, Nick Allott and Cameron’s archivist Rosy Runciman opened doors front of house and backstage allowing Hamel to make a series of works within London’s wonderful and iconic theatres. Following a permanent commission for Wyndham's Theatre, Francis Hamel was given generous access to rehearsals for Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and several other theatres in the West End.

The resulting paintings are about light, atmosphere and space, and many of the pieces toy with the juxtaposition of figures on and off the stage. Illuminated figures and sets are framed by the dark shadowy structures of the auditoria and audience. Frames and steps within the pictures lead from the real world to the imaginary.
One of the few painters since Sickert to be granted such unfettered access, Hamel has created a magical group of paintings capturing the atmosphere and romantic appeal of the theatre, both in front and behind the stage.

To see paintings from this project please visit http://www.jmlondon.com/pages/eventthumbnails/507.html or visit The Charles Dickens Museum at http://www.dickensmuseum.com/visiting/events.html


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May Newsletter
Click here to download

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If you have read about the incredible restoration project at Chatsworth in Derbyshire and are planning to visit, don't miss Andrew Gifford's evocative painting Lone House, Fontaines, which is part of the collection and hung on the new visitor route. The Collection of The Duke & Duchess of Devonshire is well known for including leading contemporary and 20th century artists such as Lucian Freud, Michael Craig-Martin, Elisabeth Frink, Barry Flanagan and David Nash. For opening times and directions please visit :-
www.chatsworth.org/whats-on

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Stone carving is seeing a huge resurgence of interest at the moment, not least with the wonderful Henry Moore exhibition at Tate Britain until August 8th. Noticeable also is a greater, and growing, recognition of a generation of younger artists working in this demanding medium. From June 13th to July 11th William Peers will be one of 26 artists in 'On Form' at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire (open Wed to Sun), where a fantastic range of stone sculpture may be explored in beautiful surroundings.
http://www.onformsculpture.co.uk/

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Please note that Mark Adlington’s forthcoming exhibition in June has been moved forward by one week. 'Animals Of Arabia', which shall feature a superb selection of new drawings and paintings, will now run from June 25th to July 24th. For advance notice of the exhibition please do contact the gallery over the coming weeks to confirm your contact details.

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ART FAIR, GREECE

John Martin Gallery will be exhibiting at Art Athina, 13 - 16 May 2010.
For further information or tickets please contact ruth@jmlondon.com

www.art-athina.gr

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PRESS : Martin Finnin

The current issue of the Irish Arts Review features Mark Ewart's interview with Martin Finnin, as he prepares for his forthcoming exhibition here in May entitled 49 Ox hides and a lump of faith.

www.irishartsreview.com Spring 2010 (March–May '10) Vol.27 No.1

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E-Catalogues
Exhibition catalogues are now available electronically - to join our e-catalogue mailing, please write to catalogues@jmlondon.com
E-catalogues and pricelists may now also be downloaded from new exhibition pages.


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As part of the European Heritage Days initiative in September, the Katakouzenos House Museum in Athens will soon be hosting Richard Cartwright's first solo exhibition outside of Britain.

These Days at Katakouzenous House Museum, Athens will be open from 26th Sept - 12th Oct. Please contact the gallery for further details.

The 13 new paintings in this preview will be included in the artist’s larger exhibition to be held in London in January 2009.

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Frederick Yates
25 July 1922 - 7 July 2008

We are sorry to announce the very sad news that Fred Yates passed away on the 7th of July.
Fred will be dearly missed by all of us at the gallery and his many friends.
A Memorial Service will be held at St James's Church, Piccadilly on September 11th at 12 noon. All are welcome to attend.

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Congratulations to BARRY McGLASHAN who has been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award this year. Barry's self-portrait will be viewable at the National Portrait Gallery from 12 June - 14 September 2008, following which the exhibition will tour to Wolverhampton Art Gallery (27 September - 14 November 2008) and Aberdeen Art Gallery (November 2008 - 24 January 2009).

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Barry's next exhibition at JMLondon is planned for Spring 2009. Before this time please contact the gallery for information and images of currently available work.

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In April NEALE HOWELLS featured as the artist on Arts Hub's 'Proust Pin-Up questionnaire'. The resulting interview is viewable on their website: www.artshub.co.uk/

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Gallery Technician Dan Weill's team 'DKNYeah' have just been announced as winners of Coyote Banger Rally (www.coyote-rally.co.uk), a 5 day rally travelling from Paris to Amsterdam, via Prague and Munich. The team raised over £1,500 in aid of Sue Ryder charity's Nettlebed Care Home in Reading. Well done team!

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FRANCIS HAMEL has recently completed a collection of paintings for the newly refurbished Fortnum & Mason at 181 Piccadilly, London. Images of the installed work may be viewed on Francis Hamel's website: www.francishamel.com

A small exhibition of recent paintings is hung in our lower gallery in celebration of the major commission.

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PRESS :-

- Melita Denaro's forthcoming exhibition Upon the Glad Earth features in the Spring 2008 edition of Irish Art Review, as reviewed by Brian Fallon.

- Olivia Musgrave recent exhibition at Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin was reviewed in The Irish Times by Aidan Dunne. Published 20th February 2008.

- John Caple's Sea and Hill and Wood was reviewed by Mary Miers in Country Life magazine, published 13 December 2007.

- David Whetstone interviewed Andrew Gifford for an article feature in Culture Magazine, Newcastle. Published 29th October 2007.

- John Martin was interviewed by Terrence Rodrigues in relation to Andrew Gifford's exhibition Tyne Bridge Tower Paintings. The resulting article was published in Country House magazine in October 2007.



NEW PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FROM THE GALLERY :-

For a full listing of Publications please select the link on the left

SOMERSET: THE PAINTINGS OF JOHN CAPLE
Introduction by Nell Leyshon
170 x 170 mm 96 pages, 50 colour illustrations
ISBN 978-0-955-26674-4
Price £15.00
Published: November 2007

For generations John Caple’s family have been farmers and land-workers in the Mendips, and much of his art is concerned with the land, its inhabitants and the folklore of this area of Somerset.

When Caple began to paint, the collective folk memory of the Mendips still lingered on in certain villages: the festivals, the healers and the cures, fortune-tellers, witches and ‘cunning men’. His neighbours still knew which house ‘Cunning Beacham’ used to live in; a relative might remember the way to repel an adder bite and how to use a heart charm to bring love. You were still as likely to find a magic charm as a bus ticket in a Somerset pocket.

A unique painter with an extraordinary vision and remarkable skill as a storyteller, this beautifully designed new book reflects six years of John Caple’s paintings; interweaving his striking images with the folklore that inspires his work.

To pre-order copies please contact rose@jmlondon / +44 (0)20 7499 1314



FRED YATES: C’EST VOTRE PASSION, MONSIEUR!
210 x 165mm
112pages, 70 colour illustrations
ISBN 978-0-955-26672-0
Price £20.00
Published: 18th October 2007

Born in Manchester in 1922, Fred Yates worked as an insurance clerk, before serving as a Grenadier Guardsman in the war. He taught art for many years, then moved to Cornwall, where he started to paint fulltime. His idiosyncratic paintings are easily identified by their brilliant vibrant colour, often squeezed straight from the tube. The apparent naïve style masks a sure skill in creating his world of Manchester city life, Cornish villages and French landscapes, populated by his familiar cast of characters. He moved to France in the early 1990s where, now in his mid-eighties, he continues to paint as obsessively as ever.

Published by White Lane Press, this new book documents Fred Yates' years in France from 1992 to the present. John Martin was invited to write the introduction and the many illustrations are peppered with excerpts from Fred's letters, journals and other correspondence.

To pre-order copies please contact rose@jmlondon / +44 (0)20 7499 1314