R AY M O N D B O OT H A MEMORIAL EXHIBITION
R AY M O N D B O O T H A MEMORIAL EXHIBITION
1929 - 2015
12th August to 9th September 2016 THE FINE ART SOCIETY 148 New Bond Street · London W1S 2JT
+ 44 (0)20 7629 5116 · art@thefineartsociety.com www.thefineartsociety.com
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Introduction
Raymond Booth was an intensely private man immersed in his own world of poetry, plant cultivation, and the natural history of the few square miles around Adel Woods on the outskirts of his native Leeds. His father was a member of the local police force and Raymond was born and brought up in one of the city centre’s old, soot-begrimed, back-to-back terraced houses, now long swept away. Although forced by circumstances to become a city-dweller his father was a countryman at heart, and managed over the years to save enough money to buy a bungalow in the leafy suburb of Alwoodley, where Raymond was to live for the rest of his life, and where I first went to see him sometime in the mid 1970s. At the age of seventeen Raymond won a scholarship to Leeds College of Art but his aspirations were at variance with those of his teachers, and when he graduated in 1953 - his time there having been interrupted by two years National Service in the RAF guarding the Suez Canal he was urged to take a teacher training course as the only possible way he might earn a living. Mercifully for him he was spared as he had contracted tuberculosis whilst in the RAF, and was sent to a sanatorium to recuperate. This gave him a respite and while there he seized the chance offered by this enforced leisure to make some of the earliest botanical studies, that were later to win him world-wide renown. With some trepidation he sent several of these to an exhibition in London organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, where they attracted the attention of, among others, Dr Harold Fletcher, Director of the RHS Gardens at Wisley, and 2 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. - W.B. Yeats
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the actor Ernest Thesiger, who encouraged Jack Naimaster, then a director of Walker’s Galleries at 118 New Bond Street, to go and view them. For the next few years Raymond showed, and sold, individual works through Walker’s, and when they closed in 1962 Jack Naimaster moved down the street to The Fine Art Society bringing the connection with him.
could be studied, analysed and recorded: badgers, roe deer, squirrels, foxes and many types of birds, carefully preserved in the deep freeze, were thawed, articulated and painted with meticulous care, surrounded by appropriate pieces of tree trunk and foliage. His only companions were the spiders he quietly encouraged on the grounds that they kept the flies away.
Throughout his life Raymond’s needs were simple, but in these early days he was still living with his parents, and was thus able to indulge his love of nature and solitude. Nothing delighted him more than the freedom to put a few basic requirements in a backpack and explore the countryside, sleeping under hedgerows or in woodland, and developing his intimacy with bird and animal life. He said, it was possible then to walk from Leeds to Scotland without going through a single town or city. Thus, intermittent sales of individual works sufficed, and it was not until 1975 that he had his first solo exhibition, and it was shortly after that I took on the responsibility of looking after his work, and made my first foray to see him. On that occasion, and with extreme reluctance, he was persuaded by his mother to bring a few works out of his painting room to show me. On subsequent visits over the next forty years, although Raymond was considerably less inhibited and freely showed me and discussed work in progress, I was never allowed into this inner sanctuary, which served, along with his garden and greenhouses, as a laboratory. It was sacrosanct, no one, not even his parents nor later his wife, Jean, were allowed to enter it. It was here specimens, both animal and vegetable,
Sadly, with increasing disability, and no longer able to paint, Raymond seldom went into this sanctum during the last few years of his life. It, like the greenhouses, had been allowed to gently go to seed. Entering it in July last year to clear the clutter and rescue, among other things, the fifty oil on paper studies of birds and animals included in this exhibition, I was acutely aware that I had to tread softly lest I should tread on Raymond’s dreams.
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Peyton Skipwith June 2016
1. Elephant Hawkmoth on Foliage, 1981 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 4 1/4 x 3 1/3 inches | 11 x 8.8 cm the fine art so ciet y
2. Four Studies of a Brambling Oil on paper 141/4 x 101/3 inches | 36.5 x 26.5 cm
3. Three Studies of a Chaffinch Oil on paper 111/2 x 81/2 inches | 29.5 x 22 cm
4. Three Studies of a Goldfinch Oil on paper, signed, lower left 121/2 x 51/2 inches | 32 x 14.5 cm
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5. Study of a Black Bird Oil on paper, signed 5 x 101/3 inches | 13.2 x 26.6 cm
6. Study of a Swallow Oil on paper 10 x 7 inches | 26 x 17.6 cm
7. Study of a Jay Oil on paper 112/3 x 15 inches | 30 x 38.5 cm
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8. Study of a Chaffinch Oil on paper, signed, lower right 6 x 62/3 inches | 16 x 17.5 cm
9. Study of a Greenfinch Oil on paper, signed, lower right 5 x 52/3 inches | 12.8 x 14.8 cm
10. Two Studies of a Blue Tit Oil on paper, signed, lower right 62/3 x 9 inches | 17.5 x 23 cm
11. Study of a Lapwing Oil on paper 15 x 14inches | 38 x 36 cm
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12. Study of a Black Bird
13. Study of a Kestrel
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 71/3 x 91/3 inches | 19 x 24 cm
Oil on paper 131/3 x 92/3 inches | 34.2 x 50.3 cm
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14. Study of a Lapwing Oil on paper, signed, lower right 10 x 131/4 inches | 26 x 34 cm
15. Study of a Lapwing Oil on paper 11 x 81/3 inches | 28.5 x 21.5 cm
16. Study of a Lapwing Oil on paper 101/4 x 102/3 inches | 26.3 x 27 .6 cm
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17. Study of a Tawny Owl Oil on paper, signed, lower right 121/2 x 81/3 inches | 32.2 x 21.5 cm
18. Study of a Tawny Owl
19. Study of a Long Eared Owl
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 141/3 x 12 inches | 36.6 x 30.4 cm
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 161/2 x 101/3 inches | 42 x 26.6 cm
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20. Study of a Tawny Owl Oil on paper, signed, lower right 181/2 x 13 inches | 47.5 x 32.8 cm
21. Two Studies of a Pipistrelle Bat Oil on paper, signed, lower right 9 x 61/3 inches | 23 x 16.5 cm
22. Study of a Badger Oil on paper, signed, lower right 151/4 x 131/4 inches | 39 x 34 cm
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23. Study of a Hare
24. Study of a Common Hare
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 191/2 x 171/4 inches | 50 x 44 cm
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 211/3 x 13 inches | 54.5 x 33 cm
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25. Study of a Red Squirrel Oil on paper, signed, lower right 111/3 x 71/3 inches | 29.2 x 19 cm
26. Study of a Grey Squirrel Oil on paper, signed, lower right 91/3 x 131/3 inches | 24 x 34.2 cm
27. Three Studies of a Mole, 1968 Oil and pencil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 91/2 x 121/2 inches | 24.7 x 32.5 cm
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28. Two Studies of a Female Chaffinch Oil on paper, signed, lower right 7 x 101/4 inches | 18 x 26.2 cm
29. Two Studies of a Mistle Thrush Oil on paper, signed, lower right 13 x 92/3 inches | 33 x 25 cm
30. Four Studies of a Bull Finch Oil on paper, signed, lower right 12 x 10 inches | 30.7 x 25.6 cm
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31. Study of a Snipe Oil on paper 71/3 x 101/2 inches | 18.8 x 27 cm
32. Study of a Juvenile Black-headed Gull in Winter Plumage Oil on paper 13 x 152/3 inches | 33 x 40.2 cm
33. Study of a Black-headed Gull Oil on paper 122/3 x 16 inches | 32.7 x 40.8 cm
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34. Two Studies of a Jack Daw Oil on paper 191/3 x 131/2 inches | 49.5 x 34.8 cm
35. Two Studies of a Collared Dove
36. Study of a Raven
Oil on paper 171/2 x 141/4 inches | 45 x 36.5 cm
Oil on paper 11 x 9 inches | 28 x 23 cm
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37. Four Studies of a Coaltit
38. Two Studies of a Blue Tit
39. Four Studies of a Siskin
40. Three Studies of a Blue Tit
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 10 x 61/2 inches | 26 x 17 cm
Oil and paper on paper, signed, lower left 81/2 x 6 inches | 22 x 15.8 cm
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 111/3 x 9 inches | 29 x 23 cm
Oil on paper, signed, lower right 10 x 61/2 inches | 26 x 17 cm
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41. Study of a Badger’s Head Oil on paper 7 x 11 inches | 18 x 28.4 cm
42. Study of a Wood Pigeon Oil on paper 141/4 x 15 inches | 36.5 x 38 cm
43. Study of a Red Shank Oil on paper, signed, lower right 16 x 12 inches | 40.5 x 30.4 cm 32 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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44. Study of a Shrew Oil and pencil on paper, signed, lower right 61/3 x 61/2 inches | 16.3 x 16.8 cm
45. Two Studies - A Wood Mouse and a Harvest Mouse Oil and pencil on paper, signed, lower right 91/4 x 61/3 inches | 23.8 x 16.5 cm
46. Three Studies of a Stoat in Winter Oil on paper, signed, lower right 192/3 x 131/2inches | 50.5 x 35 cm
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47. Two Studies of a Young Robin Oil on paper, signed, lower right 61/3 x 81/2 inches | 16.5 x 22.2 cm
48. Two Studies of a Blackbird Nestling, 1966 Oil and pencil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 10 x 7 inches | 25.5 x 18.4 cm
49. Study of a Young Swift in Flight Oil on paper 9 x 8 inches | 23.3 x 20.8 cm 36 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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50. Study of a Female Kestrel Oil on paper, signed, lower right 11 x 15 inches | 28 x 38.4 cm
51. Study of a Buzzard Oil on paper 17 x 191/2 inches | 43 x 50 cm
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52. Alpine Campanula
53. October Flowers, 1987
Oil on board, signed 12 x 20 1/2 inches | 30.5 x 52 cm
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 29 x 15 inches | 73.5 x 38 cm
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54. A Morning at the End of Winter, 2002
55. Wood Anemones, Late April, 2006
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 12 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches | 32 xx 39.5 cm
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 12 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches | 32.5 x 26 cm
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56. Fritillaria Pallidiflora, 1993
57. Fritillaria Eduardii
Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 34 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches | 87.8 x 44.6 cm
Oil on board, signed, lower right 27 x 17 1/2 inches | 68.5 x 44.5 cm
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58. Mahonia Japonica, 2008 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 26 1/2 x 29 inches | 87.8 x 44.6 cm
59. Orchids, 1994 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 22 3/4 x 37 inches | 57.5 x 94 cm
61. Rhododendron Morii, 2002 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 16 x 17 1/2 inches | 40.6 x 44.5 cm
60. Orchids, 1996 Oil and pencil on card, signed, lower right 20 x 23 1/4 inches | 50.9 x 59 cm
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62. Landscape, 2008 Oil on canvas, signed and dated, lower right 31 x 48 inches | 79 x 122 cm
63. Dove in a Woodland, 2007 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 20 1/4 x 27 1/2 inches | 51.5 x 70 cm
64. In the Woods - A Midsummer Evening Oil on board, signed, lower right 30 3/4 x 39 inches | 78 x 99 cm 48 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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65. Iris Acutiloba, 1991 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 10 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches | 27.4 x 22.3 cm
66. Orchid, 1996 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 25 x 20 3/4 inches | 64 x 53 cm
67. Catasetum Pileatum ‘Pierre Courlet’, 1994 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 32 3/4 x 23 inches | 83 x 59.2 cm
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68. Aloe Variegata, 1988 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 21 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches | 31.7 x 30 cm
69. Orchid, 1993
70. Iris Spuria, 2002
Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 39 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches | 100 x 52 cm
Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 40 x 22 inches | 100.8 x 56 cm
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71. December at Dusk: Mist Over the Fields, 2005 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 9 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches | 23.5 x 37.5 cm
72. Willow Catkins at the End of Winter, 2005 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 9 x 12 inches | 22.5 x 30.5 cm
73. From the Vegetable Garden, 1990 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 18 x 25 inches | 45.7 x 63.5 cm 54 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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74. Celandines Along the Laneside, 2004 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 15 x 14 inches | 38 x 35.5 cm
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75. Autumn: A Fox Resting Amongst the Fallen Leaves, 2005 Oil on board, signed, lower right 25 x 19 1/2 inches | 63.5 x 49.5 cm
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76. Iris Lutescens, 2001 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 10 1/4 x 15 inches | 26 x 38 cm
77. Hemerocallis Dumortieri, 1987 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 18 x 13 inches | 45.7 x 33 cm
78. Rhododendron Dauricum Oil on paper, signed, lower right 17 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches | 45 x 29 cm 58 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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79. A Shelf of Plants, 1989 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 12 x 27 inches | 30.5 x 68.5 cm
80. September Afternoon at the Edge of Adel Woods, 2004 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 26 1/4 x 12 inches | 66.4 x 31 cm
81. Midwinter Thaw with Holly Oil on paper, signed, lower left 10 3/4 x 17 inches | 27 x 43.5 cm
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82. Rhododendron Luteum, 2003 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 11 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches | 29.2 x 67.3 cm
83. By Adel Crags- A Brilliant September Morning, 2001 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 24 x 32 3/4 inches | 61 x 83 cm
84. Gathering in the Wild Harvest, 1995 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 16 x 20 inches | 41 x 50.7 cm
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85. Dandelion, 2004 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 16 x 15 1/2 inches | 40.6 x 38.6 cm
86. Summer Flowers Oil on paper, signed, lower right 25 1/4 x 11 inches | 64 x 28 cm
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87. Rhododendrons, 1999 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 13 1/2 x 23 1/4 inches | 34.5 x 59 cm
88. Rhododendron Microgynum, 1997 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 17 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches | 43.8 x 66.4 cm
89. Camellia, Cyclamen and Other Flowers, 1993 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 25 x 20 1/4 inches | 63.5 x 51.5 cm 66 | Raymond Booth 1929 - 2015
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90. Sunlight Through Clouds, 1963 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 6 x 10 inches | 15.2 x 25.5 cm
91. Fieldfares at Eccup, West Yorkshire, 1989 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 23 x 44 inches | 38.5 x 111.5 cm
92. Golden Eye in a Winter Landscape, 1982 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 17 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches | 44.5 x 75 cm
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93. Lilium Grayi, 1992
94. Fritillaria Persica, 1998
Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 40 1/2 x 23 inches | 102.5 x 58.5 cm
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 40 x 20 inches | 101.5 x 40.5 cm
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95. The Way into the Woods, 2004
96. Primroses in Adel Wood, 2004
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 14 1/2 x 22 inches | 36.8 x 55.8 cm
Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 15 x 14 inches | 38 x 35.5 cm
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97. Tread Softly Because You Tread on My Dreams Watercolour on paper, signed 22 3/4 x 13 inches | 57.7 x 33 cm
98. Man Watching a Bird, c.1970
99. Fox by the Old Barn, 1992
Watercolour on paper, signed, lower right 9 1/2 x 5 inches | 24 x 12.5 cm
Pencil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 21 3/4 x 17 1/2 inches | 55.3 x 44.5 cm
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100. Adenophora Species Oil on paper, signed, lower right 39 x 12 inches | 99 x 30.5 cm
101. Barkeria Skinneri Oil on paper, signed, lower right 28 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches | 72 x 27 cm
102. Tulipa ‘Zoomerschoon’ and Other Spring Flowers, 1989 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 26 x 11 1/2 inches | 66 x 29 cm
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103. Zygopetalum Hybrid, 1992
104. Angula Clowsii, 1987
105. Rose and Clematis, 1989
Oil and pencil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 33 x 22 inches | 83.8 x 55.8 cm
Oil and pencil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 25 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches| 65 x 42 cm
Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 25 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches | 65 x 46 cm
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106. Spring Studies, 1971 Oil on paper, signed and dated, lower right 29 x 12 3/4 inches | 73.5 x 32.5 cm
107. Madonna Lily Oil on board 25 x 18 1/2 inches | 63.5 x 47 cm
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108. Streptocarpus and Rose Oil on board, signed, lower right 13 1/2 x 11 inches | 34.3 x 28 cm
109. Orchid with a Japanese Vase, 1990 Oil on board, signed and dated, lower right 16 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches | 42 x 39.3 cm
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Published Published by by The The Fine Fine Art Art Society Society for for Raymond Booth - A Memorial Exhibition, Raymond - A Memorial Exhibition, held at 148Booth New Bond Street, London, from held August at 148 New Bond Street, London, 12th to 9th September 2016 from 12th August to 9th September 2016 978-1-907052-69-9 Catalogue © The Fine Art Society Text © The authors 2016 · All rights reserved Designed by Patrick Duffy Printed in the UK by ArtQuarters Press Front cover: cat. 102 (detail) Back cover: cat. 1
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