SHADES OF GREEN

Locked down with an exhilaratingly beautiful view of the Somerset countryside, Sandra Higgins had the idea to invite different artists to respond to her home landscape. The results are unexpectedly varied, and not all are green, observes Emma Clegg

The exhibition Shades of Green is a personal project that art curator and art advisor Sandra Higgins has been working on since the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020. The idea was inspired by the dramatic views of the Somerset landscape from her Englishcombe home –this stimulating and expansive view was one that she was constantly in contact with during the course of her lockdown isolation (see image, right).

With degrees in Printmaking and History of Art, Sandra has worked in the art business for many years, first in her hometown of Chicago as an artist and art tutor, then in the UK as art administrator, curator and gallery owner of Sandra Higgins Fine Arts in Mayfair. So it was perhaps not surprising that what became the Shades of Green project was always planned to culminate in an exhibition.

“I gathered together a specially selected group of artists, intentionally diverse in their practices, and asked each to respond to the same landscape view after visiting the location,” Sandra explains. “The work of the 13 artists ranges from abstract and figurative to surreal and pop, and the exhibition is as much about their individual artistic connections with nature as about how they depict it through the works they have created.”

The result is an eclectic one, with the exhibition located in the Central Corridor at the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Combe Park, from 12 May –24 July. Here are some enlightening commentaries from a selection of the artists explaining how they approached the work:

“Often my painting starts with colour, though I have never worked with one colour alone. Sandra set me this challenge of working with green, painting with only one colour. I didn’t know what would come out... Of all the hues green seems able to offer the greatest number of variants without it losing its basic identification.” Roy Osborne

“The question of the relationship between nature and my own painting is an interesting one. One pre-eminent critic [Mel Gooding] has said that my work, though abstract, finds its root in the place where I have lived and worked for 50 odd years [Stroud]. Another [Chris Stephens, Director of the Holburne Gallery] states that the paintings could just as easily have been made in a studio block in Dalston. Perhaps these ambiguities are what fascinates me and I hope they are expressed in the light given out by naturalistic colour bodying forth from my canvases.” Pete Hoida

“I work en plein air as it is essential for me as a landscape artist to react to the three dimensions before me. I am a painter of the light. And it is the light that unifies a view before me.” David Walsh

“I have a fascination with sunken forests, but trees and greenery, well, it’s just not a palette I’m drawn to. I travelled over to Bath and slowly I started to see beyond the foliage and the green and concentrate on the structure of the garden and the hills and slopes beyond.” Day Bowman

“The day I visited Englishcombe, the valley was quiet and clothed in soft light and a gentle mizzle. I was impressed by the peacefulness of the valley... Other impressions were of benign neglect: a junglesque wildness but with well-trodden paths and subtle boundary making. there was evidence of former life. A path framed by overarching trees; a spoil-heap of fragmented terracotta...” Iain Cotton

OPPOSITE, clockwise from top left: Frayed Moss, acrylic on canvas, by Pete Hoida; View Over Englishcombe Valley, oil on canvas, by David Walsh; Wilding, foraged terracotta tile and enamel paint, by Iain Cotton BELOW LEFT: Chromotopia Study 21, acrylic paint on canvas, by Roy Osborne; BELOW RIGHT: Shades of Green 6, household paint, charcoal and graphite on cartridge paper, by Day Bowman

POLISH HERO’S MEDALS SHINE A LIGHT

ON HUMBLE HEROISM

All medals have a story to tell and with careful research we can unearth the most interesting and unexpected histories: citations may tell of bravery, tragedy and acts of heroism but the spirit of human endeavour is unavoidable.

Such fortitude is to be found within a set of Second World War pilot’s medals that will be included in our Militaria, Coins and Medals auction on the 19th May. The medals were awarded to a Polish pilot, Edmund Fojud, who flew with 300 Squadron in Wellington Bombers during 1942. Like many other Polish pilots, Edmund had made his way to Britain to serve with the Royal Air Force. He flew in the ‘1000 Bomber Raids’, all the while facing daunting odds against his survival.

Fojud flew with the squadron in Wellington Mk IV’s in early 1942 during intense night bombing across Germany. His sorties in April and May attacked Essen, Dortmund, Rostock, Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Mannheim amongst other places.

The `1000 Bomber Raids` hold a special place in the history of the Second World War and 300 Squadron served with distinction in the three well documented attacks on Cologne, Essen and Bremen. It seems that Fojud flew in the second of these raids. As an experienced pilot, Fojud’s skill blended with good fortune until one night early in June 1942 when his luck nearly ran out after a raid on Essen.

Edmund made a report of the incident: ‘I was the pilot of a Wellington -- V. for Victory -- We went to the great raid on Essen. Unfortunately for us, while still over Germany we met a Messerschmitt 110 which gave us three long bursts of fire at close range and damaged our aircraft very severely. Our rear gunner was seriously wounded, he had sixteen bullets in his arms and legs and he is still in hospital. We were flying on only one engine, as the starboard one had been damaged. A few minutes later the damaged engine caught fire. Bullets had pierced the exhaust pipe and flames were pouring through the hole. It was no joke trying to fly back over the enemy territory with the engine burning and making us a very splendid target. We were very thankful when at last we found we were over the sea, so that we did not need to worry any more about the enemy defences. It was not easy to fly at all, but at least the danger was less when we got away from the Nazi’s A.A. fire. Somehow we managed to reach the English coast, and we succeeded in making a fairly good landing at the first aerodrome we came to. We all felt we had been lucky to get back at all and to be able to land without a bad crash, for it was very difficult to do because of the bad trim of the damaged tail-plane.’

The official report of the incident adds that the attack occurred 35 miles West of Essen and that the wireless operator was also slightly wounded. Remarkably, the 2nd Pilot baIled out over enemy territory. The crash landing occurred at Martelsham Heath and it is also suggested that the enemy aircraft was hit by return fire as it was seen to dive steeply below cloud.

In their history of 300 Squadron, Ward and Korcz suggest that the 2nd pilot panicked and was taken prisoner when he parachuted into enemy territory. Despite these desperate events, Edmund Fojud seems to have been emboldened by his heroic efforts. He was in the air again on the 22-23rd June in B-1326 when he reports ‘a successful and satisfying trip’ bombing the docks at Emden. Following service with 300 squadron, presumably having completed his tour, he rested for a while in Blackpool until February 1943. He then flew Transport with 691 Transport Squadron and 216 Transport Group. Following the war, Edmund stayed with the RAF as part of the Polish Resettlement Corps (Royal Air Force) signing up for two years on the 22nd November 1946, working in air traffic control at RAF Cranwell. He was discharged on the 22nd November 1948 at the termination of his service with a record of ‘Very Good’ character. He became a naturalised British Citizen on the 17th July 1950. He lived on for many years, one of the lucky few to survive service as a Bomber Pilot.

Appearing at auction for the first time, this collection comes with an extensive archive of photographs and accompanying literature. This is just one of many lots of medals from the Victorian era and Twentieth Century, all awarded to people who found themselves in life-threatening situations fighting for their country. Bravery, heroism and loyal service shine through in each and every one. The catalogue will be online prior to the sale and further inspiring stories await!

If you would like to talk to someone about selling or buying militaria then please contact the specialist: matthew.denney@lawrences.co.uk

T: 01460 73041 E: enquiries@lawrences.co.uk FREE VALUATIONS AVAILABLE: In Person | Online | Email | Phone | WhatsApp Home visits available on request.

Lawrences

AUCTIONEERS

The Linen Yard, South Street, Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 8AB.

lawrences.co.uk

The Fine Art of Corruption

DUNCAN CAMPBELL

Antique silver specialist

Villainy in plain sight

If you have stolen billions of pounds of your country’s resources and you want to get them off-shore before you are arrested, you better buy fine art. I’m sure superyachts are all very sociable and fun, but difficult to liquidate ‘on the hurry up’. Compared to paintings, even gold and diamonds are just too bulky.

The top end of the art market is, in part, a vast money laundering operation. The effect of international sanctions on the shady transactions that go on within the duty free warehouses of Geneva is nil.

The magic of the art market is the cultural smokescreen that obscures all its dirty dealings. Take for example the so-called ‘Lost Leonardo’. At best, the Salvator Mundi is a problematic, partial painting with a very dubious provenance and yet it holds the world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold.

This is easier to explain when the cast of characters involved in its sale are known.

A rather optimistic art dealer, a very over enthusiastic art restorer, a shifty Swiss middle man, a typically dodgy Russian oligarch, Christies and the ruler of Saudi Arabia. Salvator Mundi, whatever its merit as a painting, has morphed into a celebrity image. Such is the picture’s fame and high price that the substantial overpainting and murky history have been all but forgotten in the excitement. The natural human craving for a good story - and this is a good story - seems to have caused even some normally thoughtful experts to lose their minds. If the same set of circumstances surrounded a more ordinary “Old Master” the art world would laugh the seller out of town.

It would appear that the profoundly wishful notion of a ”Last” or “Lost” Leonardo is romantic enough to arrest the critical faculties of some of the best museums in the world. I suspect the auction world is more mercenary than gullible.

So long as the bubble remains unburst, the despicable will continue to launder their loot and reputations through the ownership of art in a tradition that would have made the Borgias very proud. n beaunashbath.com; 01225 334234