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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: ogohogoh on Friday 28 January 11 22:02 GMT (UK)
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THE CONTEXT:
On the 23rd June 1944 a V1 Flying Bomb fell at the South East end of Beechdale Road, Brixton, with a loss of 9 lives. It totally demolished 12 houses and badly damaged 20. A further 20 houses were damaged in Endymion Road which intersected with Beechdale Road.
My parents and I moved to nearby Medora Road in June 1951 when I was aged 6, and my aunt and uncle moved to a prefab in Beechdale road with their children aged 6 and 4 at about the same time. Beechdale Road was only a 5 minute walk from my home, so between the ages of 6 and 10 I would often visit my cousins for an hour or so.
I passed the bombsite on my way, and would often linger to explore the remains of the buildings. Everything structural above ground had been demolished and cleared away, but at surface level there were the openings to house cellars and bomb shelters, and the ground was still strewn with fragments of the lives of the people that once lived there...shards of china, shoes, books, etc. It was always worth a root about on the way to or from my cousins. The unkempt look of the place also made it an ideal dumping ground for unwanted rubbish.
THE OBJECT:
I didn’t know what they were at the time, but my all-time favourite bombsite finds were the wonderful artist’s palettes. These were large rectangles of board or glass completely covered in tacky blisters of paint in the most beautiful colours imaginable. I loved them. I would spend ages bursting the blisters until the lovely soft paint oozed out. They were the first things I looked for whenever I visited the bombsite.
THE QUESTION:
Years later I became an artist myself...and it dawned on me that they were artist’s palettes...and that finding them in my youth was a sensual and formative experience. They helped shape my life.
I have always wondered about the artist who dumped his palettes on that bombsite in the early to mid 1950s. This was not an amateur artist...this was a professional and successful individual. The palettes were very large, perhaps a metre or more square, and the paint impasto was very thick. This was someone who could afford to spend whatever was needed on materials...someone who almost certainly had a studio in the area, and probably worked in a dynamic abstract impressionistic style to judge by the character of the palettes.
So – what chance would there be of identifying the artist? If needs be, I can live without knowing!
Fred
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Hi Fred
How many palettes did you find? It seems odd that an artist should dump more than one.
Is it possible that they were in one of the buildings before the bomb fell? So perhaps a school or college?
Will watch the progress on this one with interest :)
Linda
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Hi Linda,
Lots - but never more than a couple at a time. Perhaps 15 or so in all over the years. These were not shop-bought palettes, but large and practical mixing surfaces to be disposed of once all the clean surface was used up.
I think there was nowhere else to dump them...too large for a bin, and oily wet too...ideally they would have been burnt in the garden, which is what I image happened to them on the bombsite. They appeared over several years.
The photo is of the actual bombsite before it was cleared.
Fred
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Have you tried obtaining a yellow pages of the time to see what artists were advertising around that way?
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No - I didn't know where to start. I'm not sure that yellow pages were around then...owning a phone was a luxury few could afford, and I doubt a fine artist would be in the book. I'm certain this was a painter and not a commercial artist. I very much doubt that he/she would work to commission.
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Its worth purusing that way but I would expect if the pallettes were as expensive as you suggest it would be a commercial artist rather than a hobbyist.
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Hi - they were not expensive palettes...just large pieces of wood and glass...just as artists might use today. But the amount of paint was the expensive part...these palettes were thickly covered. In todays money...if I were to dispose of a palette with that amount of paint on it...I would be spending hundreds of pounds a week on materials. This was not a hobbyist or commercial artist...more like a Tate Gallery modernist of the 50s. Fred
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Hi Fred
Are there any 'old' art schools nearby, with someone who would know of an artist who had this untidy habit of throwing the palettes on the bomb site?
Or even one of the big galleries might know?
Sounds like a good theme for a mystery novel / film?? ::) ::)
Dawn M
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That's certainly a line of enquiry Dawn, although I'm pretty certain there were no art schools in Brixton or Streatham...most were some considerable distance away in central London. But it might be worthwhile contacting a couple of our national galleries to see which major artists of the period came from South West London.
We'd have to add a love interest to turn it into a novel/film :)
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We'd have to add a love interest to turn it into a novel/film
..or a murder or two!
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...and just occasionally, for sweet revenge, she would break into his studio and dump his latest abstract masterpieces on the bombsite at the end of Beechdale Road, then place a fresh new board on his easel.
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A good start (or end) - just another 150 pages or so to go :)
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Yellow pages were introduced in the UK in the late 1960s. What I think you need is a commercial guide to the district.
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They're called directories, Red - trade, or post office, sometimes almanacs.
They were still being produced in the 1940s
Dawn M
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This is a really intersting quest. I wonder if the local history society would know of any artists who once lived in the area. Keep in mind that they may have been wealthyor keen amateurs tather than commercially successful or well known .... Or any elderly residents still living in the area?
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What's the old postcode designator for Brixton? Like SW1, EC2 and so forth
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Hi China
From this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SW_postcode_area
it looks like SW2
Linda
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Thanks for all your recent input Red, Dawn, Ruskie, China and Linda. I'm trying to follow up as many leads as possible.
The old postcode was SW2
The only other thing that springs to mind is that the artist was probably youngish - between the ages of 25 and 45. My reasoning is based on the modernity of the palette (the actual colours used, not the surface on which the paints were mixed) and the vitality of the knife and brushwork in the mixing proces. The thickness of the paint and the number of small modulated colour mixes suggests, to me at least, the possibility of someone working in a semi-figurative or abstract impressionist manner. The size of the dumped palettes, and their frequency, makes me think that he/she was either working quite large, or very quickly. Traditional painters, and most amateurs of the day, would have used the normal hand-held artist's palette, and I am pretty confident that our artist would not have been engaged in any form of traditional portraiture or landscape.
It's strange that I should recall in such detail the precise nature of these palettes, especially as I was so young at the time and had not the faintest idea what they were...but they were my favourite find...and I physically handled them, and enjoyed the tactile feel and visual aspect as I burst the blisters of colour. Were it not for the fact that I went to arts school myself (Goldsmith's) in the early 60s I would still not know what they were...nor would I have the artist's language that enables me to describe their nature.
Please keep your suggestions coming in...and if it was YOU...please get in touch! :)
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They're called directories, Red - trade, or post office, sometimes almanacs.
They were still being produced in the 1940s
Dawn M
Of course they are Dawn, sometimes at my age, even on what was my birthday, a word escapes me for a few seconds, minutes etc. etc.Regarding the thread, unless the site is on or near the edge of the SW2 postal district I would confine my search to that immediate area, he (or she?) wouldn't want to go far I would think.
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A quick google shows there is a Brixton History Society. Do you think it worthwhile making contact?
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Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Let's hope the Brixton History Society are friendly and don't think they are 'above' family history :D
Dawn M
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My experience of historical societies has overall been positive, so it's certainly worth a shot.
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Brixton History Society are very friendly. I know someone there will try to help. Just a very short journey from Brixton is Camberwell College of Arts. They might be worth contacting too.
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The Camberwell college looks a very good potential lead, when was it founded though?
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Well over one hundred years ago and in the 50s it was a centre for contemporary arts. Some very well known artists studied there.
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I had completely forgotten about Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts...and there's some great info about it on Wikipedia, including a list of prominent artists associated with it during WW2. Plenty of food for thought there!
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Looks like a very strong lead!
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Have been checking out the established Camberwell artists - no joy yet.
This is a very very long shot but maybe no stone should be unturned in my quest, however unlikely. I have a semi-conscious memory, a faint half-memory, of seeing one of the palettes in the front garden of the large corner house that sits between Beechdale Road and Fairmount Road. I can't see the house number on Google Earth but it has an old painted Beechdale street sign on its wall. I wonder if the artist lived there (unless it was a half-way house to the bombsite lol)?
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Hi Fred,
Do you know the number of the house where the palettes were found?
Nigel
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Hi Nigel,
Unfortunately not. I can see the house clearly on Google Streetview, but not the number. However...it's just a half-memory that I saw a palette there...as I also associate that property, or possibly the one next door, with a dark-haired beauty called Olga (but I suspect that was a few years later when I reached puberty).
And no, haha, this is not an underhand quest to find Olga! It would be so funny if she turned out to be the artist!
Fred
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More likely his model if she was a looker :o
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Nothing really to do with your question but for those of us who love the whys and wherefores the fourth entry here is probably the bomb that caused the damege!
http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V1_summary_sw2.html
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Hi
Just caught up with this thread; I thought those road names were familiar ::)
The house on the corner of Beechdale and Fairmount with the painted road sign is number 39.
KR
Maryam
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There was an Art, Crochet & Lace place at 3 St Saviours Road
There was Art Supplies Ltd, 188 Clapham High St
Couldn't find any London directories, these are from the 1950 phone book. Not very helpful I know :P
Cheers,
China
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Thanks China - my guess is a connection to Camberwell School of Art and Crafts...possibly a lecturer there. Or maybe just an independant professional artist. I'd love to get to the bottom of it though. Fred
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Good luck with your search
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Just a thouight, why not try the voters lists for the address from say 1949 through to 1960? You should at least find the identity of Olga, if she was British, and may be able to trace back from there.
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Thanks, that sounds like a good idea - although I have a strong notion that Olga was a Russian or Polish refugee. I only saw her once or twice, at her window, but it was sufficient to make a lasting impression. I think she's probably a red herring as far as the search for the artist is concerened. Fred
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I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful efforts in attempting to answer the unanswerable...indeed we have failed (to date) but it was great fun trying! I haven't quite given up on the search and I'll keep you posted if I have any joy. Kind regards to all. Fred
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Thank's for that Fred, hope you are successful.