The information resource for printmakers The information resource for printmakers
Berkeley Square Gallerypresents 20th September - 5th October 1996 It is with great pleasure but also sadness that the Berkeley Square Gallery presents a retrospective exhibition of prints by Wilfred Fairclough. Pleasure, because this is the first West End showing of work by one of Britain's finest and most durable printmakers. Sadness, because Wilfred Fairclough died earlier this year and the artworld lost not only a fine man and a fine talent but also a connection with an historic period of British printmaking. Fairclough was the final link with the great tradition of black and white printmaking which began at the end of the 19th century with Seymour Haden and Whistler. In his time he knew and worked with some of the printmaking elite of the early 20th century - Malcolm Osborne, Robert Austin, Henry Rushbury, Francis Dodd, Stanley Anderson - and he never forgot this finest of traditions.
Fairclough was born in Blackburn in 1907. At the age of 15 he left school and started work with a local firm of accountants. However, after three years he was desperate to change direction. He enrolled in classes at Blackburn School of Arts and Crafts and from that moment his future was determined. He studied there for over five years, but unimpressed by the standard of training, he put himself through exams and courses. He was successful and was accepted at the Royal College of Art, which he attended from 1931-1934. He was awarded the Rome Scholarship in 1934 and very unusually had it renewed in the following two years. In 1938 he was appointed to the staff of Kingston-upon-Thames School of Art. During the war years he was involved in the 'Recording Britain' project drawing important sites and buildings which were considered to be under threat of destruction or change. He returned to Kingston at the end of the war and in 1962 was appointed as Principal of the Kingst6n College of Art and Assistant Director of the Kingston Polytechnic. From 1970 until his retirement in 1972 he was Head of the Division of Design. However busy he was, he always continued to draw, paint and make prints. Following his retirement he concentrated on printmaking and painting and during this period until his death this year he completed over 60 prints, many created 'on the spot' during his travels in Europe. Fairclough was elected a full member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1946 and remained an active participant in the Society until his death. He had many friends here and at the Royal Academy where his prints were known for being surrounded by a swarm of red dots. We hope that this exhibition will give visitors an insight into all that Wilfred Fairclough accomplished as a printmaker in his lifetime. It was a great achievement. Kate Pierrepont |
