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Inspiration from Artist Wk158 Featuring Artists : Fred Lawson and George Heiron.
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Message
Posted
Real trains - I think I have heard of the artist, I've certainly heard of Terence Cuneo, and like my father Heiron was a Bristol boy - my father was born in 1918, but knew all about Temple Meads. They're very well done, but what actually appeals to me just as much is the painting of those war ships: you don't necessarily think of a frigate or destroyer as things of grace and presence (and these could be either, though I suspect destroyers) and yet they have such beautiful lines - the same could be said, by the way, of the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Tirpitz, Bismark - they were just beautifully designed for their purpose; not always the case with war ships; we and the Germans had a few of the top-heavy, lumbering kind - Renown, Rodney, Schleswig-Holstein: I went through a period of drawing them years and years ago: guess what - all lost. I wouldn't do it now, the detail confuses me and challenges my patience.
Hitler admired the German ships too - but complained about the vast sum in Reichsmarks then gracing the bottom of the Atlantic. Ah well. I digress. Again. Why is it though that many of us love these old or warlike machines, be they trains or battleships?
Posted
I think it's because they'd got character, they weren't all the same. Look at modern aircraft or cars, all basically the same shape because the wind tunnel test says that's the most efficient. The same applies to trains. Having said that although I love painting steam trains or sailing ships when I want to travel I'm more than happy to be on a modern one!
Posted
Glorious work. I'm not a railway buff, in the same way that I suspect Peter is, but I just love these old trains...and old cars and ships for that matter. It's nostalgia of course, a longing for what seemed to be better times. My first, and most loved car, was a 1952 Ford Consul, already old when I bought it, and I wished I'd had the space to keep it. They often appear at vintage car shows, lovingly restored and my drool faculties go into overdrive. My fond memories conveniently forgetting that on slightly frosty mornings the thing would refuse to start. When I was a nipper, our local railway station laid on day excursions to the seaside, always powered by a steam locomotive. Back then, due to lack of money, these day trips represented our summer holidays. We'd visit exotic places like Ramsgate and Margate, and spend the day on the beach, my clothing alternating between my Sunday Best and the dreadful swimsuits my Mum knitted for me. Golden days.
We added personality to these old trains, their huffing and puffing when at rest made them seem alive to my young imagination...like some old Uncle huffing and puffing up the stairs. I don't feel the same way about modern trains, although I enjoy those rare occasions when I use them. Sailors think of ships as 'she'. This is based on old traditions, and the fact that these ships are their homes. The 'she' appellation bringing with it a sense of nurturing. I don't know if railwaymen called these great locomotives 'she'. I suspect they may have. All this being a long-winded way of saying I love these old engines.
The posters for rail travel are all part of this nostalgia, and the artists masters of their craft to me. I don't recall this artist's name, but don't doubt that I've seen his work before...it's a huge pleasure to see it again. Good art can provoke many thoughts, in this case warm memories and that shouldn't be undervalued.
Anyway...enough waffle.
Peter's point that paintings such as this are difficult to make is well made. Take a look at this...
...I couldn't contemplate painting such a picture, the train itself would be difficult enough, but I'd be utterly defeated by all those railway tracks.
A few more I like.
A great choice.
...I couldn't contemplate painting such a picture, the train itself would be difficult enough, but I'd be utterly defeated by all those railway tracks.
A few more I like.
A great choice.
Posted
A fabulous painting - of brilliant technology you can't help but wish had been put to better use, but that's not the artist's fault. Donkey's years ago I had a book - I may still have it - which enabled me to identify German aircraft: my best guess here is Dornier or Junkers, which almost certainly means it's a Heinkel: perhaps I should invest in something enabling me to identify Russian aircraft - though I fear any threat from that nice Mr Putin is going to be something we don't see coming, until it's come. Who'd have thought that 100 years on from the first war to end wars, and 80 on from the second, we'd still think that blasting people to pieces in the name of territory or resources was a bright idea?
Sorry, I'm a bit depressed about the world!
Posted
I wondered why I hadn’t come across George Heiron’s work when researching for the Railway Posters thread, but he was born in 1929, and the ‘Golden Age of the Railways’ was considered to have been from 1923 to 1948 when most of the posters were commissioned from individual artists - from the 1940s onwards railway posters were increasingly produced by design agencies. Although trains are not ‘my thing’ I do like his work and can appreciate the great skill that went into producing it.
Edited
by Jenny Harris
Posted
Tony - so it was a Junkers: well, glad I sort-of identified it; glad I never had to identify the blessed things "in anger", as it were. I've found my book, by the way - aged Odhams publication, dating from either the last war itself or just after: from my father's collection. One of those I managed to save from my mother's "oh we don't want those old things, taking up space and gathering dust!"; so she filled every available space on shelves with her blasted ceramic piggies.... Ah well; dear old mum ....
