Tom McGuinness, artist (who was also a miner)
Hyfler/Rosner
The Times (London)
March 2, 2006, Thursday
Tom McGuinness, artist, was born on April 30, 1926. He died
on February 8, 2006, aged 79.
Gorgeous painting:
Not the least remarkable aspect of the life of the artist
Tom McGuinness was his decision to remain a coal miner all
his working life.
Born in Witton Park, Co Durham, in 1926, he was conscripted
as a Bevin Boy in 1944. He would continue in mining for 39
years, and what was to prove to be his life-long
obsession -illustrating the mining industry -arose by sheer
chance.
Although a talented artist, he had no formal instruction in
art until his colliery training officer, impressed to find
McGuinness drawing on a coal tub, encouraged him to attend
Darlington School of Art. He became a member of the
pioneering Spennymoor Settlement where he met other artists,
experimented with different media and began to develop his
characteristic style.
His early life drawings demonstrated his tremendous skill as
a draughtsman.
Gradually he used distortion to create a more powerful and
emotive effect which rose above mere social documentary. The
ethereal quality to his work was heightened in his oil
paintings by his use of glazes. The same luminosity was also
apparent in his recent stained-glass windows. A superb
printmaker, he also extended his repertoire to include
etching, engraving and lithography.
His association with the Labour peer Lord Hirshfield, his
agent, led to sell out exhibitions in London in the 1970s,
and his work featured in several radio, cinema and
television programmes including the BBC's Omnibus. He
exhibited widely, with more than 50 solo and 40 group
exhibitions at home and abroad and his work is represented
in private and national collections worldwide.
A modest and unassuming man, McGuinness produced the best,
most accurate and complete artistic record of any industry.
A retrospective of his work will be held in April in the
gallery which bears his name in Bishop Auckland town hall,
and this will coincide with the publication of the book
McGuinness by Robert McManners and Gillian Wales.