Gerald French (1927-2001) Bobby, Oil on Board

Code: 3060

Dimensions:

A beautiful signed and dated 1953 oil on board portrait of a young sailor named Bobby by Yorkshire artist Gerald French, who was friends with David Hockney. Original Yorkshire Artist's Exhibition label from 1953 on the reverse with title. Presented in a silvered frame with white slip.

Artist: Gerald French (English, 1927-2001)
Title: Bobby
Medium: Oil on board
27 x 18 in (68 x 45 cm) framed approx
Condition: Very good condition

Provenance: Yorkshire Artist's Exhibition 1953, no. 219A

Gerald French was a painter of portraits, landscapes and abstracts, mainly self-taught, who studied part-time at Bradford School of Art. He studied alongside David Hockney, who he sketched on a number of occasions. He was a member of Bradford Art Club. He attended Hanson School in Bradford and lived at Carrington Street, Low Moor, for most of his life.

His work was featured in a Royal Academy show in London, and at the Yorkshire Artists’ Exhibition in Leeds City Art Gallery 1965, and at other exhibitions in Bradford at Cartwright Hall, and in Wakefield.

In particular, he had solo exhibitions locally at the Lane Gallery, Bradford in 1963, and Manor House Gallery, Ilkley in 1964.  Other solo exhibitions included ‘Retrospective’, Dean Clough, Halifax, 1994; ‘Circle and the Square’, Bretton Hall, 1993; and ‘Icons and Landscapes’, Smith Gallery, Brighouse, 1994.

In 2002, a selection of his paintings were shown alongside other Bradford artists, including David Hockney and Doug Binder, at ‘The Bradford Years’ exhibition at the Dean Clough gallery, Halifax. Doug Binder wrote that he was particularly impressed by French’s ability to blend colours on the palette.

Examples of his work are in the collections of Dean Clough, Halifax; Granada Television, London; Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal; Cartwright Hall, Bradford; Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council;  and The Hepworth, Wakefield.