LINE OF BEAUTY

Date Posted: 8th September 2017

The Percy Kelly Retrospective catalogue is here. Its 108 pages are filled with lovely images tracing Kelly’s artistic development from his first found drawing at the age of 9 to the end of his life aged 74.  You will see many works here that have never been exhibited before.  They go from standard pale watercolours of West Cumbria, the Lakes and Kendal area where he worked in the Post Office as a teenager through big bold charcoal drawings to his massive panoramas of harbours and cliff tops and his little gems. His work is unique, impossible to pin down to a particular style, not belonging to any artistic school. Kelly was Kelly and he developed his own distinctive linear style overlaid on luscious iridescent washes of colour. There are essays by Blake Morrison and Andy Christian as well as reflections from people who knew him as well as a detailed essay on his artistic progress throughout his life. There are many illustrated letters and photographs of him; the earliest as a 3 year old with his twin brother John ending with his last taken by Joan David’s son on her last visit to Norfolk in 1992 showing him as Roberta in his Norfolk cottage.
The catalogue will be on sale at Tullie House throughout the exhibition but if you can’t get to the exhibition or can’t wait that long you can order on the web www.percykelly.co.uk/merchandise for £20 + £2 postage  (e mail me if you have a query).
Don’t forget to RSVP to suzanne.manuel@tulliehouse.org. if you intend to come to the informal opening of the exhibition on Saturday 23rd 2.00 – 4.30. I will be around to chat and discuss any particular works or artefacts. Every picture tells a story – literally.  Each piece in the exhibition has earned its place.
The Tullie House etching Newlands Church is proving popular. There are only 75 in all so you can e mail and reserve one to be waiting at Tullie House for you or I can courier it to you - details on the website or e mail me.
There is a lot more but I will save that for the next newsletter. The excitement could be just too much!