TITLES
Date Posted: 6th November 2024
A piece of art can be anything you want it to be but a title helps us understand what the maker hoped to achieve.
When I opened Castlegate House as a gallery in 1987 I soon discovered that a good title could sell a piece of work. When Percy Kelly died leaving a cottage packed full of his work I was overwhelmed with the task of listing, measuring and photographing them all. In the first exhibition of 100 paintings in May 1994 I realized I couldn’t just label them as numbers. So I titled them myself. Some were easy to locate in familiar towns but it was all the cottages, bridges, barns and farms that soon exhausted my imagination.
The painting you see above haunted me for many years. It is really special - one of his few brightly coloured works to set against the brown/black charcoals. Percy must have been in a happy mood the day he painted it and I decided that I would not frame or exhibit it until I could name the location – I kept my eyes open for a farmhouse near a red bridge. I’m surprised I never ended up in a ditch.
About 10 years ago two keen Kelly collectors from Durham went to Maryport one day and recognized the locations of some of their paintings and suggested I should create some trails based on Kelly’s works. I really enjoyed making 6 along the coast; Maryport, Workington, Parton, Allonby, Whitehaven town and Whitehaven to St Bees which I put into an attractive box. They sold really well - especially after BBCs Country File filmed Anita Rani walking round Whitehaven with me discussing Kelly's paintings and locations. (See merchandise for details.)
When I was putting the Allonby trail together, I drove north on the coast road towards Mawbray one day and I saw it – a farmhouse on my right that looked a bit like the painting in storage awaiting a title. I pulled over into a lay-by and walked back. The gate is still there in the right place. The field patterns match and the group of houses on the horizon is also right. But there was no sign of the red bridge – the centrepiece of the painting? After further investigation I found it - built in St Bees red sandstone - buried under 40 – 50 years of high tides and washed up gravel, sand and sediment. Kelly lived in Allonby from 1958 – 1970 and a lot can be washed up in 40/50 years.
I wandered back to the farmhouse Old Kiln Farm which is now a holiday let which explains the extra windows. As I had anticipated, the painting sold as soon as I had framed it. The buyer has become a good friend like a lot of people I’ve kept in touch with since I sold the gallery. She came to see me recently and asked me if I would sell it for her as she has a leaking roof that needs serious attention and she’s now in her eighties. She still has other paintings to keep her company. In fact I think she was one of the first Kelly collectors.
So here it is. It’s 30 x 25 inches framed and is a rare, colourful Kelly. Get in touch through the web site if you wish to know more. Oh – and the title – Old Kiln Farm, Allonby of course!